Not many people have been happy with Jay Paterno and Anthony Lubrano, two prominent figures at Penn State.
Former Penn State legend LaVar Arrington shared his thoughts on Paterno and Lubrano, stating that he wishes they would never come back to the Penn State community.
Obviously, the Paterno name is a polarizing one in State College, as some love the family while others are unhappy with how things unfolded about a decade ago.
I’m not here to get into any of that, but it was interesting to hear the remarks Arrington made, especially since many have suggested they’re true.
“I just wish Jay Paterno and (trustee Anthony) Lubrano could go somewhere and never come back to the Penn State community. To think you’d be okay shorting the stock of our credibility, the stability and prestige your dad helped build, that you’d be part of why things are falling apart…it’s crazy,” he said, per Nittany Sports Now.
In response, it doesn’t sound like Paterno was too happy with Arrington’s comments.
In fact, he said multiple times that they aren’t true, even going as far as to say he didn’t call Pat Kraft once during the coaching cycle to give insight on who he believed should be hired.
“It’s absolutely not true,” Paterno said. “Ask Pat Kraft. I never called him once during this whole process. So I did not get involved. I did not want to get involved, because as it would happen, it was going to be tough.”
“I did probably two of three dozen interviews during this period to talk about the book, and every time somebody asked me ‘what do you think’ I said ‘look, I’m not getting into it. The athletic director has to handle this,’” he said. “I had people come up to me privately. My barber even asked ‘who do you want?’ And I said ‘I’m not answering that question. When we get a coach, we’ll get a coach.’ And that’s how I was throughout this whole process. So any implication to the contrary is absolutely just not true.”
It’s interesting to hear this type of conversation come out.
I’m not saying one side is right or wrong, but Arrington clearly carries weight within the program.
Maybe we’ll find out more eventually, but it was certainly notable to hear all of this.