Is Jay Paterno trying to undermine Penn State football coach James Franklin by voting against improvement? Is there a racial component in all this?

Lavar Arrington at a Penn State-Ohio State game in 2019

… Former PSU great LaVar Arrington rips Paterno

The Penn State Board of Trustees approved a decision to improve the football facilities on campus last month in a vote that was overwhelming, 27-6.

Some of the six who voted against the proposal did so for philosophical reasons as the school has cut back on programs and did not have ticket revenue from last season — and may not have this year. 

However, four of those who did are being questioned as to why they did so. 

And one may have an ax to grind with the current football program since he was in effect fired after long-time coach Joe Paterno was dismissed because of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. 

In fact, one former PSU great alleges that Jay Paterno’s vote against the $48.3 project for the Lasch Building had more to do with evening the score than for philosophical reasons.

Paterno’s alleged rationale is realistic, but motivation may not be

Four who voted against the project were Paterno along with Anthony Lubrano, who continues to rail against the Freeh Report and the firing of Joe Paterno in 2011 after the indictment of Sandusky was announced in November. 

The other two are Laurie Stanell and Allison Pope, who are Paterno-enablers on the board. 

The other two are state officials who agree with Paterno’s rationale and are looking at it from philosophical reasons. Some of what he has said makes sense, but many question whether he is just using that as a smokescreen, 

Those who voted against it questioned the idea of financing a $48.3 million project while the university has cut budgets, furloughed staff and frozen capital investments.

Paterno noted that, when the two-phased Lasch Building project is complete, the athletic department will have spent more than $105 million on football upgrades over a 10-year period. Penn State's athletic department is self-funding and said it plans to pay for the projects through donations and borrowing.

"At the same time we have students sleeping in the [Hetzel Union Building] at night, we have students who are hungry," said Paterno, who coached at Penn State from 1995-2011. "We battle to make Penn State more affordable. We have a moral obligation to do that. How do we look the people we are asking to make sacrifices in the eye and then borrow and spend this money?"

Mark Wogenrich, “After debate, Penn State Board approves $48.3 in 

football upgrades,” Sports Illustrated, February 19, 2021

Paterno is right about the cutbacks and how students are hurting. However, the son of Joe Paterno was not retained by incoming Coach Bill O’Brien in 2011, which led him to sue the school even though his contract had run out and the new coach had the right to hire his own assistants.

Brandon Short supports the project and would add more to it

For star linebacker Brandon Short is also a member of the board, and he is very much in favor of the project,

On Thursday, trustee Brandon Short, a former All-American linebacker at Penn State, urged the board not only to fund the program but also to "invest much more." He repeated that statement at Friday's board meeting, saying that Penn State "has a strong balance sheet" and the financial flexibility to "withstand unforeseen events."

Short also quoted his former coach to explain his position.

"Joe use to say you either get better or you get worse, you don't stay the same," Short said. "... Our competitors are making massive investments in their football programs. If we do not match or exceed these investments, we will be left behind. We need to invest in this project and much more if we want to be competitive."

Mark Wogenrich, SI, February 19, 2021

However, another star player lambasted Paterno for voting against the measure. 

Former PSU and NFL player LaVar Arrington hammered Paterno

LaVar Arrington was a first round NFL draft pick, number two overall, by the Washington Redskins in 2000 after a great career under Joe Paterno, and he is well respected in the league. 

Arrington was very critical of Paterno’s son,

The plot thickened when LaVar Arrington got involved and tore into Jay, accusing him of trying to undermine James Franklin.

“It was a power play by Jay Paterno, and I didn’t like it,” Arrington said on his “Up on Game” radio show last weekend. “Because you know what? Right now, we have a coach who saved our program basically … and (by voting no) we’re saying we’re not giving him any more resources to be able to try to build the program.”

Speaking about Jay, Arrington added: “But if you were the head coach, which you tried to be the head coach, you would want all of the resources possible for you to have success so that you could build that program and keep your job and try to rebuild the brand and the legacy that was built there by your dad.”

Neal Rudel, “Jay Paterno sparks outrage with former players,” Altoona Mirror, February 27, 2021

Racial component? Is Paterno trying to undermine Franklin?

When Bill O’Brien left to take an NFL job and James Franklin was hired in 2014, Jay Paterno reportedly was interested in being hired back as an assistant. 

Arrington also believes Paterno’s action “was the start of a campaign to create cracks to actually, possibly, get James Franklin out of coaching at Penn State.”

In addition to being one of the Nittany Lions’ most recognizable players over the last 25 years, Arrington trains young athletes and appears regularly on national platforms such as “Speak for Yourself,” a sports roundtable that often focuses on race relations. He’s an influential and important voice.

Neil Rudel, Altoona Mirror, February 27, 2021

Both Brandon Short and Arrington are black players. Franklin is also black. Paterno, obviously, is white. 

Read into that what you may, but Neil Rudel was blunt about Paterno’s vote in his column. 

Does Paterno have someone in mind? Will it even matter?

The truth is that the name Paterno, once revered, does not carry the cachet that it once did. The Sandusky saga did immeasurable to Joe Paterno’s reputation, and the family’s attempts over the past decade to absolve him of any blame in the Sandusky scandal that cost the university more than a quarter of a billion dollars, has often been disgusting. 

Penn State got back on track by implementing the changes outlined in the Freeh Report that Jay and his family and minions have decried. Former Sen. George Mitchell gave the administration rave reviews and Franklin earned a Big Ten title and got the program back to the top of the college ranks — until last year. 

However, Neil Rudel questions Jay Paterno’s motivations,

Just as Arrington spoke for himself, so, too, did Jay, who should be able to take a position that he believes — if he can be objective about a program his father built.

That’s a hard thing to do, but if Jay can’t do it, he should abstain from football-related issues. But, such as being the offensive team spokesman when he wasn’t the coordinator, that’s not been his style.

Arrington raised a question that goes deeper. Was Paterno trying to plant seeds for Franklin’s departure?

Surely by now, Paterno realizes he’s not going to be Penn State’s coach, but does he have somebody, a former Nittany Lion, in the back of his mind who will embrace the tradition and be more accepting of the facilities already in place? Somebody who might like him to call plays?

Can he get over that Franklin makes more annually than the entire staff made when he was on it?

Neil Rudel, Altoona Mirror, February 27, 2021

In other words, Neil is asking whether this is simply envy on the part of Paterno and if he is truly undermining Franklin with the hope that somehow, someday, Jay will return to the PSU sidelines. 

That will never happen, even if he remains on the board. Even those PSU fans who revered Joe have tired of Jay, and many, quite frankly, though that the son hurt the program immeasurably during Joe’s last years — and that Joe either did not recognize it or could not bring him to discipline his son. 

In any case, Paterno should actually resign from the board if he is trying to destroy the Nittany Lion program.