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Ivan Maisel has a story on Bill O'Brien's balancing act.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- By the time you read this, Bill O'Brien will be the head coach at Penn State in name only. As of Thursday morning, he immersed himself in his role as the New England Patriots' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, trying to dissect the New York Giants' defense in preparation for Super Bowl XLVI.

The challenge that he will pick up on Feb. 6, the one he agreed to tackle a month earlier, is the number of people who forever will see him as the Penn State coach in name only. He is not Joe Paterno and never will be, although, like Paterno, O'Brien played football at Brown.

"He came down to speak to the athletic community at Brown. I think I was a senior," O'Brien said. "I think it was '92, and he spoke to the whole athletic department. And then we had the chance as football players to meet him. I took a picture with him, with a guy who was playing offensive line for us, Rene Abdalah."

His face lit up.

"I think I still have that picture somewhere," O'Brien said. "I've got to find that."

At 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, he is beginning his third hour in his office at the Lasch Football Building, the office Paterno used to complain about for its opulence. While at Penn State, O'Brien worked his Patriots job vampire-style -- after the sun came up, he wore his Penn State hat. Next to his desk, the Giants' defense was queued up on the screen. It is an upgrade from Paterno's VCR. Other decisions about what to change at Penn State won't be so easy.

Read the rest of Maisel's story here.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Bob Bair drove the usual 41 miles into work on Friday morning, and when he was about six miles from State College, he saw the glow. The lights were from Beaver Stadium, where they'd been on all week in memory of Joe Paterno. Bair knew more about those lights than anyone in the world. He turned them on.

Bair has been an electrician at Penn State for 27 years -- it will be 28 next month -- and for the last 10, the stadium has been his office.

This past Sunday, he was sitting at home when he saw the breaking news on his television. Coach Paterno had died. Not much later, while he was out picking up lunch for his family, the phone rang. It was his boss. They needed him to go in and do what he'd done hundreds of times: Turn the lights on, Bob. Not just the bowl lights that shine on the field. All of them. A game-day set up.

"He wanted the whole stadium lit up," he said. "I said it was a great honor."

Read the rest of Wright Thompson's story here.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- They spoke at Joe Paterno's memorial Thursday the way that his teams played and represented Penn State for the last 46 seasons: simply, with little flash and great focus.

They emphasized academics every bit as much as football. They played fierce defense, as his teams always did, defending Paterno's reputation in the wake of the child abuse scandal that caused the university to fire him in November. They remembered Paterno as a teacher more than a coach, a philanthropist with straightforward values, and a man who prized the competitive instinct.

And at the close of the ceremony at the Bryce Jordan Center, right across the parking lot from Beaver Stadium, Jay Paterno, his son and former assistant coach, spoke for nearly half an hour with an emphasis on Paterno as a husband, father and grandfather.

The heavens provided a typical late-season Saturday of weather for the memorial: rain, leaden skies, temperatures in the mid-30s, pretty much a copy of Oct. 29, the day of Paterno's last game as a head coach.

For Ivan Maisel's full column, click here.

A packed house at the Bryce Jordan Center will honor Penn State coach Joe Paterno with a memorial service on Thursday. Thousands attended a public viewing of Paterno in the past two days, and people lined the streets of State College for his funeral procession on Wednesday.

After the tributes end, the school faces a tricky question: how best to recognize Paterno's contributions to the school and football program in a more permanent way.

There's a movement afoot to rename all or part of Beaver Stadium in Paterno's honor. Several online petitions have been formed to do just that, such as this one and this one and this one. One of those petitions has already gathered more than 25,000 signatures.

A school spokesman told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that university leaders are aware of the movement to rename the stadium.

"There are a lot of suggestions being made, and that's understandable considering the impact Joe Paterno's had on the school and the community," spokesman Bill Mahon said. "The board will be looking at those and discussing ideas of their own in the coming months."

Mahon added that no immediate action would be taken but said of the trustees, "they're listening."

Of course, Penn State leaders have to weigh the immeasurable impact Paterno had on the football program and the school against his role in the Jerry Sandusky scandal. After all, the board of trustees fired Paterno in November because it felt he didn't do enough after learning of child sex abuse allegations of Sandusky in 2002. Honoring Paterno right now might be viewed as insensitive by many, and who knows if more damaging information on this case may come to light?

The Nittany Lions' stadium is named after James A. Beaver, a Civil War hero and former Pennsylvania governor who also served as Penn State president. His father-in-law helped found the school. One of his descendants told the Harrisburg Patriot-News that he fully supports the idea of naming the field after Paterno.

Calling it Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium would be a way to honor both men, but it's also clumsy. It reminds me of the movement in college basketball to rename courts after legendary coaches. That's a nice gesture, but when is the last time you heard someone say, "Let's go see Duke play at Coach K Court at Cameron Indoor Stadium?" No one is going to use the entire Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium title when referring to the home of the Nittany Lions.

As with many things concerning Paterno, there's a strong parallel here with Alabama legend Bear Bryant. The Tide's stadium was named after former Alabama governor George H. Denny when it opened in 1929. But it was renamed Bryant-Denny Stadium in 1975. Paterno-Beaver or Beaver-Paterno doesn't have quite the same ring to it, but it's an idea that would properly recognize both men. Or go all out and rename the entire stadium after Paterno; Beaver's name is already on several campus landmarks and a prominent street in State College.

Something along these lines will eventually come to pass. But the Penn State leaders would be wise to let emotions cool before making any such changes.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The university that fired Joe Paterno over the phone in November after 62 seasons of coaching has had to turn around and recast him as an icon upon his death in January. If there is a historical parallel for a relationship this awkward, it escapes me.

The Harrisburg Patriot-News reported Tuesday that the Paterno family had discouraged the Penn State board of trustees as a group -- but not as individuals -- from attending the memorial Thursday at the Bryce Jordan Center. When Gov. Tom Corbett, an ex-officio member of the board, took that to mean he should not attend, the family issued a statement specifically inviting Corbett.

The outpouring of emotion in the Penn State community since Paterno died Sunday morning has been a source of comfort to his family. Jay Paterno, the son who coached with his dad for the last 17 years, greeted mourners who came to the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center for the viewing of Paterno's casket Tuesday.

The outpouring of emotion in the letters section of the local newspapers since Sunday has been almost universal anger directed at the university and the board of trustees for their treatment of Paterno.

Grief takes many forms. The warmth that has enveloped the Paterno family and the anger that has been directed at Old Main, the building that houses the Penn State administration, may be coming from the same place.

For Ivan Maisel's full column, click here.

To hear Maisel and Beano Cook discuss the life and legacy of Joe Paterno on the ESPNU College Football podcast, click here.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The line of Joe Paterno's former players and managers stretched around the sidewalk on two sides of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center. Inside, on the stage of the Worship Hall, the body of the former Penn State coach lay in a closed wooden casket, a few dozen white roses splayed across the top.

"There were 17 years of guys I coached," Jay Paterno, an assistant on his dad's Nittany Lion staff, said Tuesday afternoon. "Four years of guys I went to school with. Ten years of guys I watched play."

"And then," his brother Scott chimed in, "there were guys we heard stories about."

Read more from Ivan Maisel.

In honor of Joe Paterno, I'm taking a look today at the top five teams of the Paterno era at Penn State. Narrowing the list down is no easy task.

Paterno's Nittany Lions won two national championships. They could have and should have had more, recording five undefeated seasons and 23 Top 10 finishes in his 46 years as head coach.

Here are my picks for Paterno's top five teams of all time:

1982

11-1, national champions

Paterno's first national championship team lost to Alabama in midseason but reeled off seven straight victories to end the year, capped by a 27-23 win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. The team had four All-Americans, highlighted by tailback Curt Warner. Quarterback Todd Blackledge won the Davey O'Brien Award. These Lions beat teams ranked No. 2 (Nebraska), No. 5 (Pitt) and No. 1 (Georgia).

1986

12-0, National champions

Paterno's second and last national championship team didn't play quite as tough a schedule as the 1982 team, though it did beat No. 2 Alabama and pull off the upset of then-No. 1 Miami 14-10 in the Fiesta Bowl. Not wildly talented on offense, the '86 Lions rode a dominating defense that allowed only 11 points per game.

1994

12-0, Big Ten and Rose Bowl champions

Paterno's best year in the Big Ten should have earned him a shot at the national title, but voters went with Nebraska instead. The best offense in school history was led by Kerry Collins, Ki-Jana Carter and Bobby Engram and averaged 48 points per game. Penn State had five first-team All-Americans in 1994. The Nittany Lions beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

1969

12-0, Orange Bowl champions

Another team that deserved a chance to play for the national title, this one notched Paterno's second straight undefeated season and finished No. 2 in the polls. The team had future Hall of Famers on the roster with Jack Ham, Lydell Mitchell, Franco Harris and Mike Reid. The best regular-season wins came over No. 20 Kansas State and No. 17 West Virginia before a 10-3 victory against No. 6 Missouri in the Orange Bowl.

1978

11-1, No. 4 final ranking


This Penn State team earned the school's first No. 1 ranking, a title it would hold going into the Sugar Bowl against No. 2 Alabama. The Crimson Tide made a famous goal line stand near the end of the game to beat the Nittany Lions 14-7. This team had five All-American selections, led by Matt Millen. I picked this team over the undefeated teams of 1969 and 1973 because it played a harder schedule than those. The '78 Nittany Lions convincingly beat No. 6 Ohio State on the road and No. 5 Maryland at home.

Now it's your turn to vote in our poll for which Paterno team was the best of all time. And if you want to make a case for a team that wasn't included in my Top 5, feel free to do so in the comments section.

It's chat time again, as I'll be discussing all things Big Ten football today at noon ET.

We're a week away from national signing day and about six weeks away from the start of spring football. We're also following an emotional week in State College as Penn State says goodbye to Joe Paterno.

Got questions and comments? Share them with me at noon. See you there.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- They came from across the country and across the decades. They were white-haired and dreadlocked, stiff-kneed linemen from years ago and hard-bodied starters from last fall, pushing strollers and using canes. Joe Paterno’s football family came to a private viewing of the late former Penn State coach’s casket at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on campus Tuesday morning.

“These guys in suits and ties, that’s the identity that Joe started with his teams,” said John Heinze of Boiling Springs, Pa., a manager from 1954-56. “Looking good, lot of class, discipline. These guys with each other are like family. These are so many of the little things that he used to preach, that he demanded, what you see now. You see a lot of young and not-so-young guys who are close, who look good. It’s kind of moving.”

A few feet in line behind Heinze stood DeOn'tae Pannell, a senior guard on the 2011 Nittany Lions. He described the men around him as “the tip of the iceberg of how many lives Joe has touched.” Former players, Pannell said, “would tell us how much of an impact he had on them when they were playing, after they were playing. They kept up a relationship with Joe after they left. He was really an important part of a lot of people’s lives.”

Christian Marrone was one of those players in the mid-1990s. When multiple knee operations could not heal his injured left knee, Paterno called him into his office.

“Joe sat me down,” Marrone said. “And said, ‘You’re done. I don’t want you to play anymore. I want you to have a quality of life. I want you to focus on school now. Not that you weren’t before. I want you to go to law school.'

“When I got hurt, I kind of lost my purpose. I could have gone to school anywhere and done well. I came here to play football. I wanted to be a part of this. He refused to let me do anything but be a part of the team. He made me a part of the staff. I attended coaching meetings. Whether I liked it or not, that’s the way it was going to be.

"His sayings: ‘Do the little things right. Don’t cut corners.’ Every time I wanted to not read, not brief a case, I would always think of him,” Marrone said. “When I was thinking about law school, I didn’t do it right away, he got all over me.”

Marrone went to Temple University Law School at night. He earned a master’s in government administration by going to Penn on Saturdays. Marrone eventually went to work for former Secretary of Defense Williams Gates in the George W. Bush Administration. He was one of four who remained with Gates in the Obama Administration. Last fall, after Gates’ resignation, Marrone went to work for 3M in Washington.

“One of the things Secretary Gates said to me before I left,” Marrone said, “he grabbed me and said, ‘You know, I’ve seen you and your work ethic. It just reinforces all the great things I’ve heard about Joe Paterno. What a wonderful program.’ That kind of encapsulates not just my story. That’s everybody’s story.”

At the public memorial service Thursday at Bryce Jordan Arena, one player from each of five decades in which Paterno coached at Penn State will speak. John Cappelletti, the 1973 Heisman Trophy winner, will represent the 1970s. Seattle Seahawk running back Michael Robinson, the quarterback of Paterno’s Big Ten champion in 2005, is flying from the Pro Bowl in Honolulu to speak.

Marrone, who barely got to wear a uniform, will represent the 1990s.

"Outside the Lines" has the latest reaction to Joe Paterno's death from State College, Pa., along with Tom Rinaldi's interview with Jay Paterno.

Sportswriter Joe Posnanski moved to State College last year to write a book on Joe Paterno. He had no idea what kind of story he was getting himself into.

Posnanski interviewed Paterno and the Penn State coach's family members several times in the past month and writes for SportsIllustrated.com that Paterno showed no bitterness in his final days.

In the moments after Joe Paterno died, it became common for people to write and say that he died of a broken heart. He did not. Joe Paterno died of lung cancer and the complications it caused. He did not die a bitter or broken man.

While Posnanski writes that Paterno did not like the way he was fired by the school's board of trustees or the way he'd been portrayed in the Jerry Sandusky scandal, he did not spend much time complaining about it.

"In every life," he told me, "there have to be some shadows. Look at me. My life has been filled with sunshine. A beautiful and caring wife. Five healthy children. I got to do what I loved. How many people are that lucky?"

"... I made a lot of mistakes in my life," he said. "But I thought people could see that I tried my best to do the right things. I tried to do the right thing with Sandusky, too."

Paterno's children echoed the sentiment that Paterno was not overcome by sadness in his final days.

"My father did not have a broken heart," his daughter Mary Kay says. "His heart was too strong. It couldn't be broken."

Posnanski's book figures to be a very interesting read.

Jay Paterno talks to Tom Rinaldi about his father and the support his family has received.

George Smith reports from Penn State with the schedule of services to honor Joe Paterno.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Jay Paterno, then the Penn State quarterbacks coach, worked for Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign before the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania in 2008. Paterno helped organize a campus rally and introduced Obama to a big crowd on the sloping lawn in front of Old Main, the university administration building. Obama lost the primary to Sen. Hilary Clinton but won Centre County.

Nearly a year ago, on Feb. 2, 2011, President Obama came to Penn State and met Jay’s parents, Nittany Lion head coach Joe Paterno and his wife Sue.

On Monday, the day after Joe Paterno succumbed to cancer, President Obama called Jay and Sue Paterno to offer his condolences.

“Jay, I wanted to call,” Obama said, according to notes that Jay took. “Both Michelle and I wanted to offer our condolences to you and your family.

“Mrs. Paterno, your husband was beloved by so many and he will be missed.

“You both worked so hard to build a great institution.

“I was honored to have a chance to spend some time with him last year.”

The White House characterized the call as follows:

“Earlier today, President Obama spoke with the late Joe Paterno’s wife, Sue, and son, Jay, to offer his condolences for their family’s loss. During their conversation, the President recalled fond memories of when he first met Coach Paterno and said that he and Michelle would keep the Paterno family in their prayers during this difficult time.”

In an election year, it’s tempting to view everything through a political lens. But before you try to figure out whether the White House decided that Paterno is still a beloved figure in Pennsylvania, it’s a safer bet that Obama has a relationship with the family and reached out to friends in mourning.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- When the body of Joe Paterno lies for public viewing Tuesday and Wednesday at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State campus, one current and one former player will be there during every minute of the 14 hours to serve as honorary guards.

Quarterback Matt McGloin drew a 45-minute-shift beginning at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

"I thought playing under him would be enough to be a lifetime memory," McGloin said Monday. "Now, to be there at his funeral and to be standing outside along with a former letterman is truly an honor I'll never forget. It's definitely going to be an emotional night."

In the 12 weeks since Penn State fired Paterno, his players have unbuttoned their thoughts. McGloin understands why the board of trustees fired Paterno in his 46th season as head coach. But he said neither he nor many of his teammates liked it.

"What happened with Jerry Sandusky, the way I see it, they had to have somebody take the fall for it," McGloin said. "It's got to be the head coach in that situation. But ... I think it was wrong to do it the way they did it, sending over a piece of paper and have him call a number, having him get fired, not bringing him in, sitting him down and giving him the reasons why he was let go, I think was, unfair for a man who has given more than one-half his life to a university and given millions of dollars and has made State College, Pa., such a special place.

"To do that in that way was wrong," McGloin said. "... I think it was unforgivable to most people. A lot of players feel that way."

The period since McGloin started at quarterback for Paterno's 409th and final victory has been tumultuous for the redshirt junior from Scranton, Pa., as well. He suffered a concussion in a fight in December with teammate Curtis Drake that rendered McGloin unable to play in the TicketCity Bowl on Jan. 2. After that, he contracted a sinus infection. Between the two -- "the sickest I've ever been" -- the 6-foot-1 McGloin lost 17 pounds. He said he hasn't weighed 193 pounds since he arrived on campus in August 2008.

There's one other thing about McGloin that looks different -- he has a beard, a neatly trimmed red one. That breaks one of Paterno's cardinal rules, which may explain why nearly every player in the locker room has one now, too.

Because they can.

"Guys are just excited that they don't have to be clean-cut, clean-shaved every day, so they're just letting things go," McGloin said. "Coach Paterno's rule was make sure you have a nice shave, hair not too long. Obviously I respect that and I liked that when I first got here. But ... college kids tend to let themselves go."

No word yet on whether new head coach Bill O'Brien has a rule regarding facial hair.