The trophy awarded to the winner of the Big Ten Championship game will no longer be called the Paterno-Stagg trophy (or whatever amalgamation of the two names it was).
Big deal.
Amos Alonzo Stagg, along with being one of the most important coaches in the history of college football (nay, all football), was fundamental to the foundation of the Big Ten. He coached for the same number of games as JoPa. He made numerous contributions to pre-T formation football such as the 7-2-2 defense (which could be considered a forerunner to today's 3-4 defense).
Joe Paterno was an active coach when the trophy was named -- not a fan of that kind of thing, just throwing that out there (think about it, he could have won a trophy that had his name on it already; the Lombardi Trophy wasn't named until Vince was way done with fooball, possibly even life). Plus, Paterno isn't even memorable as a Big Ten coach. He made a name for himself, had all of these undefeated and one loss teams -- including two national titles -- as an independent. After joining the Big Ten, he has only 3 conference championships or co-championships, 1 undefeated season, and 2 completed one loss seasons (he had only one loss this season before being fired). His lifetime Big Ten record is only 63.8%, compared to his overall of 74.6%. Between 2000 and 2004, he had only one winning season -- wherein Larry Johnson rushed for over 2,000 yards and averaged about 8 yards a carry.
Is Joe Paterno important to the history of college football? Yes. Is he important to the history of Big Ten football? Not Really.
I guess what I'm saying is -- is it that big of a deal that Paterno's name is being taken off a trophy that I'm really not sure he deserved to have his name on in the first place?
-- Knuttel
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