Penn State is honoring the late Joe Paterno inside Beaver Stadium.
The university will be adding a new football exhibit on Sept. 3, deemed the Paterno Family Football Experience Room.
The exhibit marks Penn State’s most notable remembrance of the coach, who was fired during the 2011 season.
Paterno became head coach for the Nittany Lions in 1966 after arriving to the university in 1950. He was the nation’s longest-tenured coach until his firing by the Board of Trustees when it was found top university officials buried child sex abuse allegations against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.
Paterno died on Jan. 22, 2012 at the age of 85 and six months later, the university removed his statue that stood outside Beaver Stadium.
Ever since, Penn State has been wishy washy on how to recognize their former coach.
In 2024, a former trustee brought up the idea to name the field at Beaver Stadium after Paterno, but then withdrew it. The following year, the university sold the naming rights to Pennsylvania-based company, West Shore Home.
Former Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin went on to claim that the school was “trying to erase” the memory of the coach.
The new exhibit will recreate Paterno’s “original office desk and work space” he worked at along with other “personal artifacts.”
It will also feature a timeline of Paterno’s six decades with the football program, including John Cappelletti’s Heisman Trophy win in 1973.
“Penn State’s Football’s history belongs to generations of student-athletes, coaches, staff and supporters who helped build this program,” Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft said in a statement. “This room gives us an opportunity to preserve that history, present it thoughtfully and create an experience that connects the proud tradition of Penn State Football with its future.”
Paterno won 409 games in nearly 46 years as head coach. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007.
The exhibit opens at 10 a.m. on Thursday until closure at 8 p.m.
The Nittany Lions host Marshall for the season opener on Saturday.
