Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 19, 1991 TAG: 9102190015
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Brill
DATELINE: KANSAS CITY LENGTH: Medium
Penn State Joe is a voice in the wilderness.
In an era when his peers are screaming about projected cuts in coaching staffs and scholarships, Paterno talked Monday about increasing the academic standards for college eligibility.
Joe's lucky they don't throw him out of the fraternity. Doesn't he know he's talking about making recruiting tougher?
Asked at the NCAA College Football Forum about the standards of Proposition 48, which determine whether a youngster can be admitted at most Division I schools, Paterno said, "I hope they'll move it up a little bit."
"It" is Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, considered controversial and biased in many quarters.
Right now, a student-athlete has to score 700 on the SAT, as well as make a 2.0 grade point average in 11 core courses in high school to be eligible to play as a college freshman.
"700 is not very high," said Paterno, knowing well that many members of the coaching group want the scores lowered or dropped altogether as part of the criteria.
"I'd like to see them go to 750, then eventually to 800 or 850 by the year 2000."
It's Penn State Joe's theory that would send a message to the high schools, which he says aren't educating the youngsters.
"Our problem is not lack of ability, but lack of teaching and training," said the man who has won 229 games in 25 years.
Paterno addressed the racial issue head-on, as he does everything. Aware that black athletes tend to score lower than whites on the SAT, Joe used the Gulf War as an analogy.
He acknowledged that a disproportionate number of minorities are in the military, fighting against Iraq.
"You see the way our minority kids are performing in the armed forces? They're magnificent. They're trained."
His point was clear. He thinks the U.S. elementary and secondary educational process is lacking, and he believes that sending out a strong message is the only way to get the point across.
If an athlete wants to go to college, Paterno believes they must first be better educated in high school and junior high. He's not in favor of coddling; he doesn't want to teach them how to read when they arrive at college.
Paterno even said he'd go along with drastic changes, partly because he believes the biggest problem of athletes today is the lack of accepted social behavior.
He refers to the legal problems, the drugs, the sexual assaults, that he believes plague the present college athletic program.
He said when he read that Southern California athletes allegedly could circumvent the steroid test, he went into the locker room, picked out eight healthy specimens, and watched them urinate. "I want to find out for myself if you can get around the tests."
The results, Paterno said, hadn't come back yet.
That is consistent with Paterno's career. He is respected, but is not necessarily popular with all coaches, because his drummer often plays a different beat.
Paterno said it was a disgrace for the NCAA presidents to make 10 percent cuts across the board.
"There will never, ever be a level playing field" in college sports, he said.
Paterno knows there will be big winners and regular losers, no matter the rules. What he wants is to improve the image.
"We need heroes," he said.
The idea of athletics, according to Paterno, is to give support to all sports. "What all athletes, men and women, want is meaningful competition."
That responsibility, Paterno said, lies with the coaches. The athletes, he said, need "hands-on" treatment.
Joe is almost a senior citizen and he's concerned. He's not sure the athlete of today is getting the proper signal.
The message, which is that "education will give you an opportunity to make something out of your life," must be delivered earlier. And in no uncertain terms.
by CNB