Jay Paterno 'Unhappy About the Current State of My Profession'

Football coaches have a kind of professional courtesy that dictates that they don't often criticize each other publicly. When he became the head coach at Tennessee, Lane Kiffin wasted no time in demonstrating that he wasn't interested in professional courtesy. So it's fitting, I suppose, that after Kiffin left Tennessee for USC, another coach wrote a screed holding up Kiffin as an example of everything that's wrong with college coaching.

The other coach is Jay Paterno, Penn State quarterbacks coach and son of Joe Paterno. Jay writes in a column for the State College, Penn., newspaper that when his father was hired in 1966 it was a handshake deal that paid him $20,000 a year. Much has changed since then.

He continues:

As a professional lifer in college coaching I am unhappy about the current state of my profession. The big money and media attention has altered the pressures and the dynamics of the job. ...

Pete Carroll bolted USC for the NFL. Some have suggested it is because the NCAA posse is heading towards campus to sort out a myriad of allegations. ...

A year ago The University of Tennessee took a shot at a young coach who had been fired following a 5-15 stint with the Oakland Raiders. That coach, Lane Kiffin, rewarded Tennessee for its hiring of him by bolting after one 7-6 season for the vacancy created at USC.

The University of Tennessee paid out more than $5 million in coaching salaries (not to mention several million dollars to buy out the previous coach's contract). At a time when universities are cutting staff and faculty, Tennessee spent more than $7 million to win seven games. A year later it is right back where it started.

This profession has lost touch with the reality of the world around us, and some coaches have lost touch with what the mission of our profession should be.

Paterno and Kiffin actually have a lot in common, having entered the coaching profession because of their famous fathers, and there may be a faint whiff of jealousy in Paterno's comments about Kiffin. But the fundamental point of Paterno's column is correct: Kiffin represents a lot of what's wrong with college football coaches.