JoePa Stands Behind Bowden’s Wins

Florida State may have to retroactively forfeit up to 14 wins as the NCAA investigates an academic cheating scandal. While the school has admitted that some of their students cheated and are accepting some of the NCAA sanctions, head coach Bobby Bowden has said that the school will appeal any punishments that will strip victories.

Joe Paterno, Image: Newscom

This might not matter much to Joe Paterno of Penn State, but he and Bowden are in a dead heat for number of victories among major college coaches. Paterno currently has 383 wins, while Bowden has 382. He’d only have 368 is the wins are stripped, putting him so far behind Paterno that catching up would be unlikely.

Paterno, however, hopes that Bowden’s number stands.

“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,” Paterno said. “I just hope people don’t distort what a great coach Bobby Bowden has been, which he has been.”

Last year, Paterno coached a number of games from the box, but he said that he’ll be back on the sidelines for 2009. He had hip replacement surgery just four months ago, but was at Spring Practice without so much as a cane.