[Penn State News]

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Albany Times Union Joe Paterno Elected to College Football Hall of Fame
GoPSUsports.com - 16 hours ago
... According to recent NCAA data, the Penn State football team earned a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 84 percent, well above the 65 percent Division IA average ...
Hall Opens Doors for Paterno, Bowden ABC News
Paterno takes his place in College Hall of Fame Patriot-News
STATE OF EXCELLENCE Orlando Sentinel
Sun-Sentinel.com - PensacolaNewsJournal.com - all 286 related

Tue, 16 May 2006 18:23:00 GMT

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[Gotham Dark Knight]

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., May 16, 2006 – Joe Paterno, who has built Penn State into one of the nation’s premier football programs on the field and in the classroom during his 40 years as head coach, has been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Paterno will be inducted with other members of the Class of 2006 at the National Football Foundation’s 49th annual awards dinner on December 5 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

He will become the 21st member of the Penn State program inducted, joining 16 former players and four Nittany Lion coaches. The most recent Penn Stater so honored was guard Keith Dorney last December. Running back Lydell Mitchell was inducted in 2004, giving the Nittany Lions a Hall of Fame honoree three consecutive years.
Three of the four most successful coaches in college football history will enter the Hall of Fame in December, as Florida State’s Bobby Bowden and St. John’s (Minn.) mentor John Gagliardi also will be inducted. Gagliardi has been a head coach since 1949 and is tops among all NCAA coaches in victories with a 432-118-11 record. Legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson is second with 408 wins, followed by Bowden (359-107-4) and Paterno (354-117-3).

Papa Joe to go into the College Football Hall of Fame. I always thought you had to be retired from the game to get elected...I guess not?...Is it an age thing?...do you reach a certain level where they say, "hey we better get'em in before he dies?"

[Lefty Noob]

Coaches don't need to be retired, at least not of the college hall. I'm a little stunned because I thought JoePa was already in there, but apparently not. I can't think of a football coach who has done more for his school, athletically and academically, than Joe Paterno.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

Coaches don't need to be retired, at least not of the college hall. I'm a little stunned because I thought JoePa was already in there, but apparently not. I can't think of a football coach who has done more for his school, athletically and academically, than Joe Paterno.

See that's the point...if they don't need to retire...why isn't he, or Bowden in there?...and yes Bowden runs a minium security prision, but he still has a great overall record...

[Lefty Noob]

What took them so long? Wish I knew. Same with Gagliardi -- he passed Eddie Robinson a few years ago, so why didn't he get in before now? I'm not too familiar with how they run things at the college HOF, so maybe there's a minimum age or years of service committment. That wouldn't make sense either, though... so I don't know.