Book exceprt: Paterno deeply pained by firing
The upcoming Joe Paterno biography due on newsstands Aug. 21 details some of the most painful of the late Penn State coach's final days.
Author Joe Posnanski, who moved his family to State College to work on the book last year before the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke and Paterno was fired days after the grand jury indicted Sandusky. The following excerpts are due to appear in the September issue of GQ:
"On Thursday, Paterno met with his coaches at his house. He sobbed uncontrollably. This was his bad day. Later, one of his former captains, Brandon Short, stopped by the house. When Brandon asked, "How are you doing, Coach?" Paterno answered, "I'm okay," but the last syllable was shaky, muffled by crying, and then he broke down and said, "I don't know what I'm going to do with myself." Nobody knew how to handle such emotion. Joe had always seemed invulnerable. On Thursday, though, he cried continually."
Posnanski described an acrimonious relationship between Paterno and the Penn State Board of Trustees via the family public relations representative Dan McGinn.
"This is when McGinn learned just how far Paterno's influence and reputation had fallen. He asked (family adviser Guido) D'Elia for the name of one person on the Penn State board of trustees, just one, whom they could reach out to, to negotiate a gracious ending. D'Elia shook his head.
"One person on the board, that's all we need," McGinn said.
D'Elia shook his head again.
"It began in 2004," he whispered, referring to an old clash Paterno had with (university president Graham) Spanier. "The board started to turn. We don't have anybody on the board now."
That's when McGinn realized that this was going to be the worst day of Joe Paterno's professional life."
