STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Hundreds of Penn State students rallied and marched Friday to celebrate the career of late football coach Joe Paterno and the NCAA’s agreement to restore 112 team victories deducted amid the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal.
About 300 people gathered outside the university’s administration building in State College for a subdued rally lasting 20 minutes. They said Paterno didn’t deserve to lose his title as major college football’s winningest coach and they’re glad he has it back.
The crowd grew to about 500 as it marched to the nearby Beaver Canyon apartment area, where someone projected a huge photo of Paterno onto the side of a building. Other people chanted Paterno’s name and “We are Penn State!”
Earlier, as word of Penn State’s new settlement with the NCAA reached the campus of 35,000, many students said they hoped it would help the university continue to mend its reputation, which was shattered with Sandusky’s arrest in 2011 and subsequent allegations Paterno and top university officials helped conceal the abuse.
“We need to restore our program back to its past glory because we have such a strong and well-respected program and, unfortunately, with the scandal, it destroyed us,” said T.J. Lindsay, a student from Darian, Connecticut.