In the winter of 2002, Joe Paterno’s 36-year tenure as Penn State’s head football coach (he had been a member of the coaching staff since 1950) was in potentially serious trouble. A series of embarrassing incidents were beginning to draw Paterno’s reputation as a man who ran an unusually disciplined and “character-building” program into question. In 1997, Paterno suspended his two biggest offensive stars, Curtis Enis and Joe Jurevicius, for relatively minor infractions. In 1998 he defended LaVar Arrington, his all-American linebacker, after he brutally assaulted a defenseless Pittsburgh punter in the middle of a game. Then in 2000 he allowed his quarterback Rashard Casey to start every game despite being charged with assaulting (this time off the field) a cop. (Update: A grand jury subsequently declined to bring charges against Casey, although his companion that evening ended up pleading guilty to the same charge brought against Casey. Casey later sued the police department and received an undisclosed cash settlement).