Penn State Football Unveils New Exhibit Honoring Joe Paterno

The Paterno Family Football Experience Room is a new exhibit at the Penn State All-Sports Museum at Beaver Stadium.

Former Penn State Nittany Lions football coach Joe Paterno speaks to the crowd at Beaver Stadium as his wife Sue looks on after his 400th career win in 2010. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Penn State is opening a new football exhibit at Beaver Stadium that recognizes the late Joe Paterno, recreating the original desk where he worked, and commemorates more than a century of Nittany Lions football history. The permanent exhibition marks Penn State's most significant remembrance of Paterno since the coach was fired during the 2011 season.

The Paterno Family Football Experience Room opens Sept. 3 at the Penn State All-Sports Museum, which is located Beaver Stadium. Penn State said it financed the exhibit through donations, including a lead gift from an anonymous donor to create and name the space for the Paterno family.

Among the exhibit's highlights is its focus on Paterno, who became Penn State's head football coach in 1966. He won 409 games in nearly 46 years as head coach and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007.

The exhibit will include Paterno's "original office desk and workspace" that he used in the Lasch Football Building. It also will feature "personal artifacts" and a timeline of Paterno's more than six decades with the Penn State football program.

“Penn State Football’s history belongs to generations of student-athletes,
coaches, staff and supporters who helped build this program,” Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft said in a statement. "This room gives us an opportunity to preserve that history, present it thoughtfully and create an experience that connects the proud tradition of Penn State Football with its future.”

The Paterno Family Football Experience Room, an interactive collection, honoring the history and tradition of Penn State Football, is coming to Beaver Stadium. #WeAre | https://t.co/UzaMFhhrmK pic.twitter.com/O6lyBjSoPT

— Penn State Athletics (@GoPSUsports) September 1, 2026

Paterno arrived at Penn State in 1950 as an assistant to Rip Engle. He became head coach in 1966 and was the nation's longest-tenured coach in 2011, when the Board of Trustees fired him after former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was charged with child sexual abuse. In 2012, six months after Paterno died at age 85, Penn State removed the statute of Joe Paterno that stood outside Beaver Stadium.

Since then, Penn State has debated how to recognize Paterno. In 2024, a former Penn State trustee introduced, and then withdrew, a resolution to name the field at Beaver Stadium after Paterno. A fellow trustee who played football for Paterno called the resolution a "political stunt."

In 2025, Penn State sold the naming rights to the field at Beaver Stadium to the Pennsylvania-based company West Shore Home. Former Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin, now an alumni-elected trustee, said that Penn State was "trying to erase" Paterno's memory by not naming the field for the late head coach.

"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 new Paterno Family Football Experience Room builds on Paterno's career and the larger history of the Penn State football program. It will feature interactive displays showcasing program milestones, awards including John Cappelletti's Heisman Trophy, a Beaver Stadium timeline and a presentation from current coach Matt Campbell about the direction of the program.

The exhibit opens at 10 a.m. Sept. 3 and will be open until 8 p.m. The Penn State All-Sports Museum will be open from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, the day before the Nittany Lions host Marshall for the 2026 opener. The museum also will be open from 10-4 on Sunday.

Former Penn State Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno gets a victory ride after defeating the Georgia Bulldogs in the 1983 Sugar Bowl at the Superdome. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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