Matt McGloin has had an interesting few months. The Penn State Board of Trustees member stepped down from his position on the Lackawanna Country Board of Commissioners to take a coaching job with Bill O’Brien at Boston College, only to change his mind a few days later. Now, the former Nittany Lion quarterback believes he is coming to the support of his other former coach in his opposition to the Beaver Stadium naming rights deal.
This week, Penn State sold the naming rights of the field at Beaver Stadium to West Shore Home for 15 years in exchange for $50 million. That agreement will help the athletic department offset the $750 million renovations that are already underway at Beaver Stadium. However, McGloin, one of the eight dissenting votes by the Board of Trustees on this issue, feels that the deal is erasing the legacy of legendary Penn State head coach Joe Paterno.
McGloin said in a statement to the board, “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 urged the board to do what he described as “the right thing” and name the field after Paterno as Alabama has with Saban Field at Bryant Denny Stadium, Florida State has with Bobby Bowden Field at Doak S. Campbell Stadium, along with plenty of others.
In naming those other venues, McGloin failed to mention how differently Paterno’s 46-year tenure at Penn State ended compared to those other coaching legends. Paterno left a complicated legacy, one I’m not interested in re-litigating, which is exactly what would happen every time the words “Paterno field at Beaver Stadium” were uttered by a TV announcer.
Instead of arguing the morality of naming such an iconic venue after such a complicated figure, I’ll instead take issue with McGloin’s absurd framing of this issue. No history is being “erased” as he attempted to put it, because the field was never named after Paterno or anyone else. In fact, this move is the best way for Penn State to preserve its history – which is bigger than Paterno – by selling the naming rights to the field instead of the stadium.
McGloin continued in his statement, “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.”
There is, however, a price for a national championship, and the only programs that are going to win in the upcoming years, are the ones willing to pay it.