[Penn State News]

When Bryce Jordan became Penn State's president in 1983, talk of the university joining the Big Ten Conference had been trickling into administrators' ears for a few years.

But before he settled in full-time, as he was still commuting from Austin, Texas, to State College, Jordan had a talk with football coach Joe Paterno, who had recently tried to spearhead an eastern all-sports conference. The idea was strong in Jordan's mind, and he knew the topic was of great interest to the coach.

"We ought to consider becoming a part of the Big Ten," Jordan told Paterno.

Less than a decade later, Paterno's football team, 22 of Penn State's other 27 varsity teams and the university itself were members of the oldest and arguably most distinguished major athletic conference in the country.

The in-between was a quick and mostly pain-free transition that changed both the sporting landscape Penn State had left and the one it had entered, and more than 15 years of competition have elapsed since. Coaches have come and gone, Big Ten titles won and lost, rivalries ended and established.

www.centredaily.com | 05/20/2007 | Big Dreams: PSU saw opportunity in joining the Big Ten

[njpsufan]

I still think it was one of the worse decisions we ever made as far as football goes. We play in a conference that still considers us an outsider and we have no real rivalry to name a few reasons. We would have been better, football-wise, joining the Big East. PSU, WVU, Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers, Louisville..... not a bad conference.

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by njpsufan

I still think it was one of the worse decisions we ever made as far as football goes. We play in a conference that still considers us an outsider and we have no real rivalry to name a few reasons. We would have been better, football-wise, joining the Big East. PSU, WVU, Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers, Louisville..... not a bad conference.

I know for sure the Lions would've always been more consistantly in the top 3 teams int he conference in the Big East, and with the way the BCS is structured, it probably would've really meant some nice paydays for the university. I wonder if there's ever much regret among Paterno and the PSU staff about it?

[njpsufan]

I'm sure when we had that string of losing seasons or when OSU beat us 63-10 there was. But I think JoePa likes the challange that OSU and Michigan give.