The Lions' Pride

no...jay had no say in the gameplan, much to his dismay. But lyon, I'm sure you are aware of some of their "discussions" in the meeting room :)

The worst thing Joe has ever done is bring Jay on the staff. It has caused a lot of issues. Before Jay was there, the assistant coaches would get in arguments and disagree about things, but it was behind closed doors and they might fight, but they all respected each other. That quickly changed when Jay was put on the staff. The dynamic changed. Joe has never been especially close to his staff, he kept it professional, but everyone knew Joe was the boss. Joe would listen, most of the time, but he really did not play favorite. That all changed when Jay arrived. Joe listened to Jay. A lot of the other coaches thought Jay would slack off and Joe did not care. If anything, they saw Jay's power and influence increase with every year and that is when it started to get bad within the coaches offices. There are coaches on the current staff that do not like each other, worse yet, they do not really respect each other. I think the players pick it up.

I really think bringing on Jay to the staff has been the biggest mistake Joe has made at Penn State. He compounded that mistake by putting Jay in a position of power. Jay should have stayed away from Penn State and earned his stripes at other programs. If Joe and Jay insisted on having him on staff, he should have stayed as the tight end coach and let Jay do the alumni and fund raising appearances.

it was 2003 and Jay absolutely called some plays. An old roller hockey buddy of mine, Chris Korman, was covering the team for the collegian at the time and wrote this:

"During the most tumultuous year in the Penn State football program's storied history, the man who everyone assumes will eventually be handed the reigns has been quite noticeably silent.
The biggest noise from Ganter this season was something only those on the sideline could have heard. Sports Illustrated reported that Ganter threw his headset to the ground and yelled "That's a [expletive] play!" after Michael Robinson, a right-handed quarterback, rolled left on a fourth-and-three play late in the still-winnable Minnesota game and ended up throwing the ball away.
The play was apparently called by Jay Paterno. Ganter's reaction was far from the most extreme. Many Penn State fans said, "That was a [expletive] [expletive] call."
So Ganter simmers. The look you see in Ganter's eye on TV is in too many Penn State eyes this year.
It is defeat.
It is resignation
Maybe that's what we're to read from all this silence. Maybe Fran Ganter understands what is going on here. Maybe he has realized that Paterno simply can not and will not leave football. Maybe Ganter knows he will get older and older while a program he has given over 30 years of his life to deteriorates for everyone to see.
Even after those 30 years, Ganter isn't calling his own plays.
Where are you, Fran Ganter?
Or maybe the question is this: Are you better off somewhere other than here, Fran Ganter?"

You sure it was Jay's call? Fran got p*ssed maybe at Joe and might that be why Fran left after that season? Anyway, do you have a link to the SI article? I'd like to read it. I do remember the bruhaha after the fact. I just can't remember who was the recipient of Fran's ire that day.

Looking at the stats for 2003, MROB played in all 11 games and had 62 pass completions. So kudos FJP! +1

Chris wrote that it was "apparently called by Jay Paterno" in the published article. Knowing Chris, he wouldn't have published that on a guess.....

I don't have a link to the espn article. might not exist anymore. If anyone finds it though, I'd be curious to read it.

I should add the rest of the story... Jay had actually been calling the passing plays since about 2000 and there was a reading eagle article that said that point blank when Ganter stepped down. Ganter later sang Jay's praises at the PC and I have no idea how he kept a straight face. The ESPN cameras clearly caught him during the Minny game, without a doubt. that's why it was over the news. My guess is that Joe set him up with a cushy and well compensated position that allowed him to stay at PSU. I highly doubt that position exists if Ganter goes on the record talking about the true Jay paterno.

edit: found the reading eagle article amazingly.... I hope this link works:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=20040219&id=GxgyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=S6IFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1436,1024303

Watched the Big 10 Icons show the other night on Joe and in it Jay takes credit for calling a play during the 324 game to pass the Bear. Jay said that nothing was working on offense and Ganter "asked him" to suggest a play, of course you know what Jay said next. He called the option that Mills ran for a TD! There is no way that Ganter would ask Jay for a cup of water if dying of thirst so I find Ganter offering Jay a play call in a crucial game a real doozie of a story. I can't prove it but I don't believe Jay was calling any plays in 2001 and know Fran would not have consulted Jay on play calling due to his level of respect for Jay.

The Jay promo that has gained steam this summer and fall is a sight to behold. Anything positive seems to credit in some manner back to Jay, Joe credits Jay. His ego grows like bamboo in the monsoon. Someday there will be a large explosion when another Asst. or someone close to the program goes postal on Jay. That is why, with no proof, there are a segment of fans who have no trouble believing something happened between a player and Jay last Saturday during the game. It is a sad indictment of the state of the program concerning Jay and his relationship with the team and staff. Respect is earned not commanded, taken or drummed up due to position and privilege.

FG, here's another article confirming that Jay was calling the passing plays in his first year at QB coach in 2000.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_50_224/ai_68273715/

funny that he got that power in 2000 and the following 5 years were the worst in PSU football history with the lone relative bright spot being 2002 which was dominated by a hiesman level, 2000 yard RUSHER....

Anyone who tells you Jay is liked and/or respected by the the other staff members or even former staff members is clueless. Period. End of story.

Wish we still had some coaches with guts that would just jump across the table and grab Jay and put the fear of God into him.

Oh Al Golden where have you gone?

By intervene, I meant stop another coach from going after Jay.

Only reason everyone on staff has not used Jay as a pinada' is out of their loyalty to Joe, period.