Matt McGloin Says Penn State Is 'Trying to Erase' Joe Paterno With Naming Rights Deal

McGloin, a Penn State trustee, delivers pointed address regarding Penn State's naming rights agreement for the Beaver Stadium field.

Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin gets off the team bus prior to the Nittany Lions' 2011 game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the first after head coach Joe Paterno was fired. | Evan Habeeb-Imagn Images

Matt McGloin, a Penn State trustee and former Nittany Lions quarterback, told board members that the university was making a mistake by not naming the field at Beaver Stadium after late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. Penn State's Board of Trustees on Monday approved a $50 million naming-rights agreement for West Shore Field at Beaver Stadium in partnership with the Pennsylvania-based home remodeling company. The 15-year deal takes effect with the 2025 Penn State football season.

McGloin, elected to the board in 2024 through an alumni vote, told the board that Penn State instead should consider naming the field after Paterno, who was Penn State's head coach for 46 years and won two national championships. Penn State's Board of Trustees fired Paterno in November 2011 in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal. Paterno passed away in 2012. Several groups since have initiated campaigns to name the field at Beaver Stadium after Paterno.

"You’re trying to erase 46 years as a head coach, and what’s happening now may look like a successful move, but I don’t believe it’s a very honorable one," McGloin said in a statement to the board. "And success without honor is an unseasoned dish. It will satisfy your hunger, but it won’t taste very good. I’m urging you to do the right thing for Penn State, to do the right thing for the Paterno family, to do the right thing for Joe. There shouldn’t be a price for our identity here at Penn State."

Penn State's Board of Trustees voted 22-8 to approve the naming rights proposal. McGloin voted against the resolution, along with fellow former football players Brandon Short and Jay Paterno. Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft called the $50 million gift, the second-largest in Penn State history, "transformational" for the athletic department as it funds a $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium. Still, several board members said during Monday's meeting that the university should honor the Paterno family by naming the field at Beaver Stadium after Joe and Sue Paterno.

McGloin, who recently resigned his position on Bill O'Brien's coaching staff at Boston College, began his statement by noting other college venues where fields are named after head coaches. They include Saban Field at Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium, Bobby Bowden Field at Florida State's Doak S. Campbell Stadium and Barry Alvarez Field at Wisconsin's Camp Randall Stadium.

"There’s a great amount of us that still carry on Joe’s legacy and will continue to do so," McGloin said. "But by not giving him the honor he deserves, you’re trying to eliminate the past and everything he stood for: every player that played for him, every player that walked through that tunnel, every player who graduated, every player who may not have made it, every player whose life may not have been changed for the better."

Here is the full text of McGloin's comments to the Penn State Board of Trustees:

Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Barry Alvarez Field at Camp Randall Stadium. Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium. I played for Joe Paterno for four of my five years at Penn State and had the honor and privilege of being his last quarterback. In the summer of 2011, the university had decided to name the field after Joe, and here we sit 14 years later, and the field at Beaver Stadium has not yet been named Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium.

Is this because we’re fearful that we may receive some criticism for it? Personally, in my career, if I was concerned with criticism, I would have never set foot on Penn State’s campus in 2008. If you listen to criticism, this university would not have gotten through the 2012 year which, as we all know, was the darkest period any university had ever faced. Without 2012, the year in which we essentially faced the death penalty, this university would look a lot different than it does today.

And believe it or not, even without Joe in that year, it was still a major part of Joe Paterno’s legacy. How, you ask? Without his teachings, we all don’t get through it. Without the impact he had on us, we all don’t rally together. Without the things he instilled in us — dedication, teamwork, honor, commitment, being a part of something bigger than yourself — we all don’t get through it.

There’s a great amount of us that still carry on Joe’s legacy and will continue to do so. But by not giving him the honor he deserves, you’re trying to eliminate the past and everything he stood for: every player that played for him, every player that walked through that tunnel, every player who graduated, every player who may not have made it, every player whose life may not have been changed for the better.

You’re trying to erase 46 years as a head coach. And what’s happening now may look like a successful move, but I don’t believe it’s a very honorable one. And success without honor is an unseasoned dish. It will satisfy your hunger but it won’t taste very good. I’m urging you to do the right thing for Penn State, to do the right thing for the Paterno family, to do the right thing for Joe. There shouldn’t be a price for our identity here at Penn State.