Paterno family says no to Penn State renaming the stadium

After one of the messiest breakups between a coach and a college football program, the Penn State brass wants to rename Beaver Stadium after Joe Paterno. Not so fast says the Paterno family. They don't want the stadium named after the late Joe Paterno, because Paterno said he never wanted the stadium named after him. Part of the reasoning is also because it would have meant signing a release that exonerating the school from being sued by the family.

 "[Renaming the stadium] has always been a fan-driven matter. It was never important to Joe," a source close to the family told the newspaper. The family said it would rather have the school library named after the coach, who invested in the facility.


The problems came up in January when Penn State University was trying to make the final contract payment to the late coach's estate in exchange for a full release signed by the family. That showed that there is a lot of bad blood between Penn State and the Paterno family.

The Paterno family is still upset that the university didn't let JoePa follow through with his retirement plan. Joe wanted to retire after the season in January and Penn State canned him before the end of the season. They also feel that the university made some misleading statements to justify Paterno's firing.

Paterno was Penn State and it's sad that he had to go out this way but the truth lies somewhere in the middle.