Paterno's Secret...it's in the Staff

Joe Paterno has won more Division 1 Football games than any coach in NCAA history. Though his coaching style has gone in and out of popular favor in the past

Joe Paterno has won more Division 1 Football games than any coach in NCAA history. Though his coaching style has gone in and out of popular favor in the past decade or so, Paterno has come out with a share of the Big Ten Championship twice in the past five years. Joe Pa’s return to the top of the conference is due in large part to the efforts of his long standing and loyal Coaching Staff.

“Continuity…to me…has been the secret of Penn State’s success,” Paterno recently told Spartan Nation. “That’s the reason we’ve had it.” As simple as that sounds, it’s hard to argue the premise. Paterno is in his 43rd season at the Nittany Lions’ helm, and many of his Assistants have been with him for decades in Happy Valley. Paterno’s staff is led by two Coaches with more than 30 years experience working for Joe Pa, and a combined staff total of 150 years coaching at Penn St., under Joe Paterno.

Tom Bradley is perhaps the quintessential Assistant Coach, and probable top choice to succeed Paterno if the Nittany Lions choose to promote from within. 2009 marks Bradley’s 31st season coaching at State College. He was a letter winner at PSU in 1977-78, a Grad Assistant in1979, and a full time staff member starting in 1980. To give you a current Spartan frame of reference, that would be like Blair White or Trevor Anderson returning as a GA next year and then coaching as an MSU Assistant under Dantonio until 2041!

Paterno feels that staff continuity discourages the internal dissension that can destroy a program from within, while promoting a sense of trust and unity that can lead to longevity and championships. “There’s a real free dialogue that goes on (between the staff), and there’s a lot of trust there that we’re all in it together. There’s nobody kinda pecking away, trying to get a little more credit than he deserves, or pointing a finger at somebody else when maybe things haven’t quite worked out as well as they should’ve.”

Paterno told Spartan Nation that coaching with such a familiar staff brings the advantage of comfort. “I can come in there ranting and raving, and they don’t pay any attention to me because they’ve been around me long enough to know that every once in a while I go off half cocked,” the Coach joked. “We understand each other...we don’t waste a lot of time.”

The Spartan Nation’s Head Coach Mark Dantonio knows the distinct advantage Penn St. has enjoyed with such an ingrained and consistent staff. “(Staff continuity) is vital, it gives you an opportunity to always critique things, and always draw on past experiences that relate to the whole group.” Coach D believes that a hidden secret of Penn St.’s success has come from their ability to reflect back on strategic decisions the coaching staff had made in the past. “They can look back to ten years earlier and see how they were doing things…see when they had problems, and how they were able to fix those problems.”

The Nittany Lions’ staff continues to be the model for Big Ten programs, and is one Coach Dantonio intends to follow even though he’s not ready yet to commit to coaching into his 80s (he would be Paterno’s current age in 2038). “I can’t coach for 40 years…but on a short term basis, we’ve been able to keep our staff together, basically since I’ve been a head coach…and I think it pays great dividends,”

The Spartans’ staff has under Dantonio has been nearly the complete opposite of the various staffs under John L. Smith. That word, “various,” was one of Smith’s key downfalls at MSU. From defections early in his regime, to probably not having enough Assistant led support when his attention was rightfully turned to the health of his family, the JLS era was a prime example of just how important it is to have a united staff that operates on the same page. Perhaps he said it best himself, in one of the most honest in-game coaching interviews in sports history. Perhaps the Coaches really were screwing it up.

Fortunately, the dark days of MSU football are safely now in the past. The Dantonio staff operates as one unit. Whether staff members played at MSU in the past, coached at MSU in the past, or first became Spartans late in 2006, they all consistently appear to be on the same page, going in the same direction. Their streamlined and focused approach has instilled the consistency and discipline needed to build a competitive Big Ten program. And it has established an environment around Spartan Football that emulates what Paterno has built at Penn St. “When you’ve been on a staff that long,” Dantonio explained, “…you really get to know people, and get to know their families and children…So I think there’s a sense of loyalty there as well…and those are the things that we’re trying to do here.”

So Long to a Special Spartan Senior Story

Every Senior class is unique, and every Senior’s relationship with Spartan Football its own individual tale of success, failure, hard work, and luck. From Blair White to Brett Swenson, this Senior class has its share of characters and storylines. But perhaps none is as unique and personal to the staff as Trevor Anderson’s.

Anderson joined this staff at the University of Cincinnati in Mark Dantonio’s second year as a Head Coach. “He was an immediate starter for us really when he came into camp, once we came out of shorts,” the Coach remembered to Spartan Nation earlier this week. “He’s always been a guy that will compete and never back down from anything or anybody on the football field.”

When Dantonio and the staff left for MSU after the completion of the 2006 regular season, Anderson felt it was worth the sacrifice to follow them to East Lansing. Not only did Anderson have to sit out playing in games for the 2007 season, he had to work double time in the classroom just to be academically eligible at Michigan St. “He needed to get 48 semester hours in one year,” Dantonio said. “The norm is, to be eligible…24.”

If that challenge wasn’t enough for Anderson, the University of Cincinnati Athletic Department wouldn’t initially release him from his scholarship. Thus, he had to pay his own way as a student just to get to MSU. Anderson’s unique commitment to Dantonio and the staff will therefore always distinguish his time at MSU. His outstanding efforts will not soon be forgotten by his Head Coach. “He’s a person…when you talk about trust…he’s been with me for five years, so he’s special.”

Land Grant Game Gathers Steam

For the second straight year, the Spartans and Nittany Lions play in the 3:30 time slot on ABC/ESPN. Though the Big Ten title is not on the line this year, both teams still have a lot to play for. Penn St. with an outside shot at a BCS bid, and MSU needing another win to completely assure a Bowl invitation, and possibly line up a third straight trip to Orlando.

Coach Paterno knows MSU has a lot weapons on Offense, but he’s recently taken notice of MSU’s electric return game. “That kid (So. WR/KR Keshawn Martin) who returns for them is awfully good,” Paterno told Spartan Nation. “They have speed, confidence, and a little swagger in their return game where they figure, “hey…we’re gonna get one,” and they keep plugging away.” But don’t think that Penn St. comes into Spartan stadium deficient in talent. The Lions are stacked with quality and experienced football players across the whole field. And they might feel they have some unfinished business from the last time that Penn St. came into Spartan Stadium.

In the 2007 Land Grant game, Penn St. took the opening drive of the 3rd quarter down inside the Spartan 5 and set up for a chip shot Field Goal. But the Nittany Lions had something up their sleeve that they thought could catch MSU off guard and likely knock them down for the count. When Lions K Kevin Kelly took the fake Field Goal into the end to put PSU up 24-7, the game seemed likely out of reach. And if you saw the reaction of the Penn St. sideline that day, of players and coaches other than Paterno, you knew instantly that the Lions thought their work was done and they’d be heading back to Happy Valley with smiling faces. They acted like the game was over.

In all my games at Spartan Stadium, I cannot remember seeing such a turning point where one team had convinced themselves that the game was over, only 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter. Talk about and over confidence fueled backfire. MSU battled back from there and ended up toppling the Lions 35-31 in a true thriller and terrific chapter in the Land Grant series. So as Penn St. returns this year, don’t think for a second that Joe Pa hasn’t been reminding them all week that it takes a full 60 minutes to have a chance to knock off a Mark Dantonio Michigan State team.

This one should be interesting, and it could be tight. The simple key for MSU is the play of the Offensive Line. After being so sorely overmatched last year, things won’t get much easier for the Spartans this time around. Penn St. features a healthy rotation of fast and powerful Defensive Lineman who can get to the edge and make it very difficult for any QB to have time to set and throw.

The Spartans will have to find a way to run the ball, to give them a chance to stay balanced in their offensive attack. My biggest fear is that Penn St. will stuff the MSU ground game early, making the Offense one-dimensional, and making for a very difficult day for MSU’s passing attack of Cousins and Nichol.

Senior day is the final chance the likes of Swenson, Cironi, Decker, and White, to play at Spartan Stadium. If the game is tight coming down to the end, the Spartans overwhelming sense of urgency to send all their Seniors out as winners, while inking a third straight winning season for the program, might be just enough to push them past a very solid Penn St. team. What a fitting way that would be for these MSU Seniors to say their final goodbye.