It came as no surprise last week when Penn State football coach Joe Paterno stuck up for his old friend down in Tallahassee.
Paterno, who has 383 victories, is in a race with Florida State's Bobby Bowden, who trails by one win, for the NCAA Division I's all-time winningest coach title. Unfortunately for the man in second place, an academic scandal is likely going to cost Bowden 14 victories and probably end his chances at finishing No. 1.
Despite being in a race, JoePa acted like the gentleman he's always been when asked about Bowden's scandal.
"Bobby is a good guy and has been a great coach," Paterno said. "Nobody wants to win by default or anything like that. I don't think that should have anything to do with Bobby's record. I don't think Bobby had much to do with what happened so I'm not paying any attention ... I just hope people don't distort what a great coach Bobby's been, and he has been."
It's obvious the gracious Nittany Lions coach wasn't going cheer about possibly widening his lead, but I'm not sure JoePa is completely right here.
Bowden did do something wrong. While the NCAA said it found no wrongdoing by anyone on the coaching staff, it's still Bowden's program.
Former coach and current ESPN analyst Lou Holtz left several teams on probation, including South Carolina, when he stepped down. From what I know about the transgressions at South Carolina, Holtz didn't have acting knowledge of what was going on.
It makes me wonder, however, which is worse, knowing about the cheating and letting it go on and possibly being involved yourself, or not knowing every detail of your program?
Sure, the latter is quite difficult to do, but it's still the responsibility of the head coach.
Florida State has appealed the NCAA's decision to vacate the 14 wins during 2006 and 2007 from the record books, but it's hard to say that the punishment doesn't fit the crime.
What went on at the university was bad -- really bad.
This was nothing like the "free shoes incident" or the Dillard's shopping spree.
Students were flat-out cheating, having tutors and instructors take tests for them and running amok academically.
The NCAA has decided to teach FSU and the rest of the nation a lesson by cutting scholarships and costing several sports in the athletic program wins and championships that came because of ineligible players.
I do agree with Paterno that Bowden is a great guy and a great coach. It's a shame he's paying the price statistically -- although quite a few of his past victories are also questionable -- but rules are rules.
While it would be great to see these two legends battle down the final stretch of their careers for college football's highest coaching mark, I hope the NCAA sticks to its guns and doesn't accept an appeal.
Cheaters never prosper. And neither do the ones overseeing them.
(Contact Brad Senkiw of the Anderson Independent-Mail in Anderson, S.C., at bsenkiw(at)independentmail.com.)
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