Joe Paterno Quotes (222 Quotes)

I said after we beat South Florida, that was a fine team. But nobody was paying any attention to me.

They appear to be a little bigger and stronger than us physically across the board, ... This is one of the best teams that you'll ever see not just this year, but in all the years I've been coaching.

I've been as conservative as I could in evaluating my football team. I think we're a good football team. I think we can be better.

You take a look at that run of Tony Hunt's and you see how (Williams) literally just busted his butt to get over there to make a play,

I thought Tony got tired and a little heavy-legged.

We're going to work and try to get the right combination and maybe one of these days, we'll walk off the field and say 'I think we are a good football team,

I have gotten in trouble with the coaches' association because I voted for three teams to be No. 1. They said, 'You can't do that. You will screw up the computer.'

I think they're one of the best four or five football teams in the country right now. I don't think we'll play anybody with better talent.

Basically, all we want is for the kids to win the game we don't want the officials to lose the game. And the officials don't want to lose the game. We put them in positions sometimes where it's impossible now for them to be on top of every play.

I think we're a little bit better than I thought we'd be.

The name on the front of the jersey is what really matters, not the name on the back.

We've got to be careful we're not tired. It's still gonna come down to whether you can suck it up against some really good people and find out how good you are.

I looked at my watch 1230, quarter to one. I kept saying to myself, 'When are we going to get this thing over

We were ahead. I didn't want to do a lot of dumb things and give them an easy one, ... I thought we played the game the way we'd like to play. If I had to do it over again, I'd probably play the game the same way. I don't know what I could tell you that I'd do differently.

Both teams played as hard as they can play. Both teams overcame a lot of adversity.

I think Paul is as good of a linebacker as there is in the country. I think he has done everything you could ask a kid to do. He has played almost every play. He plays the pass well and plays the run well. He is a great leader.

probably better suited for the outside. He can run. He's a good athlete.

I think we have to make up our mind to get him in the game, ... Where, when and how you do it is always tricky.

The one thing I said to some people in the university at times when they asked me about the future was, 'Look, everybody just stay stable. We will be OK. I have a bunch of great (coaches) around me. We have to go out and recruit a couple of kids and we will be OK,' ... I'm not sure they believed me, but at least they didn't fire me.

I think Kelly has a little something about him, ... If I said to him, 'Go out and try a 55-yarder,' he wouldn't look at me and drop dead. I really do like Kelly, even if he is Irish. I think he has done a really good job for us.

It's very flattering. The only thing I feel sometimes is that the head coach gets too much credit. I think sometimes it ought to be coaching staff of the year.

I think they got a little tired, ... It was like in 1994 when former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky would come over to me and say, 'Please don't score in a hurry we'll get tired.'

He's got the makings of a good back, he just has to have a little more patience. Once in a while, he'll take it to the outside and try to get cute, when he ought to just go straight up the field.

But they still want to be able to sit down with you, and you tell them what you feel about them. The thing that has changed more than the kids is you guys media. The media has changed so much. If I get up in the morning, I push a button on my remote, . . . and I got Lou Holtz or I got Jim Donnan on. That is not bad because there is so much interest in football, but it is just a different world.

No question, Derrick Williams is worth a touchdown. I doubt he will play. He wants to play but the doctors are concerned. He had a very severe broken arm.

Hopefully we've got some of that behind us, where we don't make dumb mistakes, and we do things that we've gotta do in the clutch to win close games. We'll be OK. And if we don't, we don't.

The kids we have gotten who you people want to talk to all the time, who are freshmen, seem to be a little bit more poised and able to handle it. So far, so good.

Derrick Williams is worth a touchdown, but I doubt, really, if he'll play.

Believe deep down in your heart that you're destined to do great things.

I didn't even know I had e-mail.

When Robinson got sacked and fumbled the ball without knowing and it was a backside guy coming, we did a terrible job. I won't mention names but somebody just thought it wasn't important and, as a result, when you have a chance to put the game away, you don't put it away.

They're not house-trained. And neither are horses. I stepped in something the mule dropped.

The only thing I have control over, ... is to try to get our football team to play as well as it can play, and have them realize they are playing against a team which has talent, coaching and tradition. And we are on the road before 110,000 people. Unless you're stupid, you've got to understand that.

I need another big game like I need a hole in the head. I'm sure Bobby feels the same way.

I'm happy for him. He's a good football player. He lacked a little confidence, and maybe he thought we lacked a little confidence in him.

We debated last year whether to move him to offense because we were struggling at receiver. We had staff meetings after the season and Butler came up as a guy that I probably should not have held out.

He's obviously taken over this football team, ... He plays so well in the clutch when he has to make plays. He's just a great competitor. We wouldn't be nearly as good without him.

We didn't get the (defensive) lineup we thought we were going to get. It's a good thing that (Kelly) put it through, because he had to kick it.

I think we played a pretty good football game overall. I think we played as well as we could at this time of the year.

The losing hasn't really bothered me as much as people think it has, ... It certainly did not distort the values or distort my convictions as to how we can win. Who knows It may have made me a better coach.

I've been around a lot of good football teams and I've been in a lot of locker rooms where we've felt pretty good about what we had done. The kids are the ones that are all fired up and they should be, because they went though all that junk -- the losing years, everyone doubting them and they got together and went to work. They're the guys that should be happy.

I think that this team has played so well together that they've played themselves into being a good team. I told the team before the season that we weren't going to practice to win six or seven games. Now, fortunately, things have worked out for us.

Barry said he knew when it was time. I don't know. I honestly wish I could tell you. I think I'll know when it is time,

For their first game in front of a crowd, I was really impressed. They made some mistakes, but once they get consistent, they are going to be good.

I hope it doesn't come down to where it's Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno because he can't run and I run slower.

Oh... that darn horse. Is he going to be on the field I ought to make Bobby ride him. Well, when I first started to coach we played Army, and Army used to have a mule, and that thing would go up and down the sideline. You know, they are not house trained, and neither are horses. And I stepped in something that the mule dropped.

I thought the defense was absolutely superb. There was a lot of pressure. One mistake and it's the entire ballgame.

I doubt if he'll play. He wants to play he's out there running around but the doctors are concerned. He had a very severe broken arm, and they're worried if he did something with it there could be nerve damage and so forth. I don't think it's worth the ki

With the turnovers and penalties five for 50 yards, we're at a point now where we're having some adversity. But we're overcoming it.

I kept saying to myself, When is this going to end I was looking at my watch. It's 1230, quarter to one. I'm usually asleep three hours at that time.