Posted by Chip Patterson

Of all the coaches in the ACC, few were impacted by the career of Joe Paterno quite like Miami head coach Al Golden. Golden suited up at tight end for Penn State for three seasons (1989-1991), serving as team captain his senior year.

While often connected with the Penn State head coaching job throughout the season, Golden has made his home in Miami while maintaining a public respect of Paterno and his alma mater. On Monday morning Golden took to Twitter to offer words in response to Joe Paterno's passing.

@GoldenAl: Walter Payton once said, "Always remember that every opportunity you have to meet someone is an opportunity to leave a piece of yourself."

@GoldenAl: Joe Paterno not only fulfilled a promise he made to his father by making an impact, he left an indelible piece of himself with everyone he touched.

@GoldenAl: The values Coach Paterno instilled in each of us fortunate enough to play for or work alongside him will never be diminished.

@GoldenAl: They are manifested in our leadership, character, class and dedication to improving the lives of others in the classroom, workforce, and community.

@GoldenAl: They are distinctly evident in the way we raise our children and the types of husbands and fathers we have grown to be.

@GoldenAl: I am forever grateful for the impact that Joseph Vincent Paterno has made on my life and I am not ashamed to say to Coach and his family…

@GoldenAl: that the way of your former players will carry your legacy forward is by humbly improving the lives of those we touch every day. #ThankUJoe!

Golden senior season with the Nittany Lions was one of the most successful in the last two decades of Joe Paterno's career. Penn State finished the season with an 11-2 record, Fiesta Bowl win, and No. 3 ranking in the final AP poll. Only Paterno's undefeated 1994 campaign resulted in a better national finish for Penn State after Golden's graduation.


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Posted by Chip Patterson

In 62 years at Penn State, former head coach Joe Paterno impacted the lives of players, coaches, and fans all over the college football world. The recent decline in Paterno's health and death on Sunday have led to responses from many of the current and former head coaches around the ACC.

Joe Paterno became the winningest coach in FBS history this season with 409 career victories, and on Sunday afternoon Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer, the winningest active coach, offered a statement on the coach's legacy.

“We have lost someone with great and special talents," Beamer said in an official release. "He had great and special talent as far as being a leader, which is very obvious by his winning record. And, he had a great and special talent in how he treated people. In my experience with him, he was always charming, gracious and thoughtful. I think he was a great fighter, and I know he fought this illness to the very end. College football will miss Joe Paterno.”

Former Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden, a longtime colleague and frequent opponent of Paterno, was coaching in the Battle of Florida high school all-star game on Saturday in Miami. Upon hearing the news that Paterno's health had worsened, Bowden offered some insight on his 40+ year relationship with the former Penn State head coach.

"I've known Joe forever," Bowden told The Miami Herald. "I've known him personally since 1966. The first time I met him was 1962. We've always been very close. We're close to the same age. He's just one of the best coaches ever. I felt like he would go down as probably the best ever, but after this little thing it kind of tainted it. But I'm sorry it happened. I hate it happened. I hate to see something happen to Joe."

Bowden echoed the sentiments of several others, acknowledging the difficult circumstances surrounding Paterno's tenure but choosing to remember him for other reasons during this difficult time.

"Just remember the good things. I don't remember the bad things. He didn't have many bad things. I would only remember the good things. He and I spent a lot of time together. We played him 10 times at West Virginia and played him twice when I was at Florida State in bowls. I never beat him in Pennsylvania. He had too many good players."

Paterno had an 62-18-2 record against the current ACC teams during his tenure as Penn State's head coach. He was 1-3-1 in bowl games against ACC opponents, including a 17-17 tie with Florida State in the 1967 Gator Bowl. Find his records against current ACC schools below.

Maryland: 23-1-1
Boston College: 16-4
NC State: 12-2
Miami: 7-5
Virginia: 2-2
Georgia Tech: 1-1
Wake Forest: 1-0
Florida State: 0-2-1
Clemson: 0-1
Duke: N/A
North Carolina: N/A
Virginia Tech: N/A


For more reaction from State College, follow CBSSports.com's Penn State RapidReports.

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Posted by Chip Patterson

Joe Paterno has begun to tell his side of the story. Sally Jenkins, of The Washington Post, did an exclusive interview with Paterno - his first official comments regarding the fallout at Penn State since his firing on Nov. 9. The story will be published in Sunday's edition of the paper, and was made available online on Saturday.

In the story Paterno gives his account of the events surrounding the alleged rape of a young boy by Jerry Sandusky in the Penn State facilities in 2002. The details of what Mike McQueary told the Penn State head coach, and the steps that were or weren't taken by Penn State officials.

From the piece in Sunday's Washington Post:

Paterno contends that ignorance was the context with which he heard McQueary’s disturbing story in 2002. McQueary, sitting at Paterno’s kitchen table, told him that he had been at the football building late the evening before when he heard noises coming from the shower. “He was very upset and I said why, and he was very reluctant to get into it,” Paterno said. “He told me what he saw, and I said, what? He said it, well, looked like inappropriate, or fondling, I’m not quite sure exactly how he put it. I said you did what you had to do. It’s my job now to figure out what we want to do. So I sat around. It was a Saturday. Waited till Sunday because I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing. And then I called my superiors and I said, ‘Hey, we got a problem, I think. Would you guys look into it?’ Cause I didn’t know, you know. We never had, until that point, 58 years I think, I had never had to deal with something like that. And I didn’t feel adequate.”

At that point, Paterno set up a meeting for McQueary and Curley, the athletic director, and Schultz, who oversaw university police. McQueary has testified that he gave both men a far more graphic description of what he witnessed, which he believed to be Sandusky sodomizing a boy of about 10, who had his hands against the shower wall. At the preliminary hearing for Curley and Schultz on Dec. 16, McQueary said he had been reluctant to go into similar “great detail about sexual acts” with Paterno, out of respect for the coach, who was 78 at the time.

Schultz and Curley have maintained that McQueary failed to impart the seriousness of what he saw to them as well. They never told police about the allegation, instead informing Sandusky he could no longer bring children to university facilities. Prosecutors say Sandusky continued to abuse boys for six more years.

Paterno has said, “In hindsight, I wish I had done more.”

Most of the story lines up with Paterno's grand jury testimony, but there was some interesting insight into Jerry Sandusky's exit. Paterno explains in the interview that he was growing frustrated with Sandusky's involvement with Second Mile, the charity he used to help identify potential victims.

“He came to see me and we talked a little about his career,” Paterno said in the story. “I said, you know, Jerry, you want to be head coach, you can’t do as much as you’re doing with the other operation. I said this job takes so much detail, and for you to think you can go off and get involved in fundraising and a lot of things like that. . . . I said you can’t do both, that’s basically what I told him.”

The interview with Sally Jenkins was conducted on Jan. 12-13, you can read the full story here.

Follow Jim Rodenbush's Nittany Lions RapidReports for more on developments from State College, Pa.

Keep up with the latest college football news from around the country. From the regular season all the way through the bowl games, CBSSports.com has you covered with this daily newsletter. View a preview. Like us? Tell our Facebook page.