Well boo-fcuking-hoo! I've got to disagree with Joe Paterno on this one. You strip those numbers away, period. If it's such a horrible thing Fla State did to deserve to forfeit the games, then the coach pays as well. Both of these old farts should have been gone from their jobs five years ago anyway.
A cheating scandal that could cost Florida State coach Bobby Bowden as many as 14 victories could also drop him well behind Joe Paterno in career wins as they enter the 2009 season.
Paterno stands atop the all-time list among FBS coaches with 383 victories. Bowden sits one behind at 382.
Yet the Penn State coach maintains the penalty would be unjust.
"The NCAA is going to do what it's going to do, but I would hope they would not take away 10 or 12 wins away from him," Paterno told the Reading Eagle of Pennsylvania. "I don't think that's fair. He coached the team he had; they played against people, and they won. They ought to be wins for them."
Florida State is appealing the NCAA's decision to strip Bowden of wins as part of its punishment for academic fraud that involved a total of 61 athletes, who allegedly cheated on an online music course exam.
The NCAA placed Florida State on four years' probation, cut 19 athletic scholarships and ordered the school to vacate victories by 10 teams whose student-athletes were involved.
Paterno stands atop the all-time list among FBS coaches with 383 victories. Bowden sits one behind at 382.
Yet the Penn State coach maintains the penalty would be unjust.
"The NCAA is going to do what it's going to do, but I would hope they would not take away 10 or 12 wins away from him," Paterno told the Reading Eagle of Pennsylvania. "I don't think that's fair. He coached the team he had; they played against people, and they won. They ought to be wins for them."
Florida State is appealing the NCAA's decision to strip Bowden of wins as part of its punishment for academic fraud that involved a total of 61 athletes, who allegedly cheated on an online music course exam.
The NCAA placed Florida State on four years' probation, cut 19 athletic scholarships and ordered the school to vacate victories by 10 teams whose student-athletes were involved.