Former Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Mike Reid played for JoePa from 1966-1969. After compiling 97 tackles in 1969, Reid won the Outland Trophy, given to the nation's most outstanding interior lineman. A member of the National Football Foundation's college football Hall of Fame, Reid is now a Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter.
1) What were your first impressions of Joe Paterno? How was the man who recruited you different from the image/idea you previously had of him?
"For me, he has never differed from my initial impression of him. You have to understand that when I was in high school and initially being courted by Penn State, Rip Engle was still the coach, but Joe was still slightly in the background. When you got to Penn State, you certainly got the feeling that Joe was kind of running the deal. This is very often the case; Rip was up there in years and Joe was a young guy with Rip clearly towards the end of his wonderful career as a coach there. You have to understand too -- what was I, 18 or 19, and what the does a kid that age pay attention to in those days. Certainly, you got the impression he was a big presence. He was a noisy presence in more than just volume. For such a little, skinny guy, he had a huge presence to him. There was no getting around that. My sophomore year was his first year as head coach. You can't know about someone's character and integrity, you may not be able to ever know about those things. Those things you sort of hazard an opinion by watching or observing someone's behavior over a long period of time. Clearly, the thing that was very obvious about Joe was he was on fire to do this thing. He was very, very passionate about it."
2) What is your favorite JoePa story?
"The image that is most impressed upon my mind was one of Joe very recently. It was one I saw on TV in an interview when the boy was paralyzed and saw the way it affected him. Joe wears his passion on his sleeve, but not necessarily his heart. He is not a particularly sentimental guy, but I think he was certainly revealed in that incident. I love the guys like that who understand that the game is merely a small part in the fabric of the culture. Those are the guys I admire. That ridiculous notion of football being a speeded up version of society is sheer idiocy and never has any truth to it. The idea of football building character -- I don't think Joe has ever believed for a second football has built character in anybody. It's like a pressurized situation, and simply reveals it. Joe always said it was important for his players to have a full college experience -- one dimension of it being football. I think when that boy was seriously injured, he had no compunction about revealing where the importance of that was in the scheme of things. I was impressed with that."
3) What separates Paterno from other football coaches?
"I think the same thing that separates anyone who achieves wonderful things - and that is a vision. The great people have a vision of things and are able to work relentlessly until that vision is realized. I mean literally, very calmly at center of the soul, simply saying I will not stop until this is realized. I wouldn't think his vision is necessarily an undefeated season every year so much as it is a vision of this is the way I believe this program should work for these young men, for me and in conjunction with this university. This is what I think is what I think is the correct way to do this and this has to be adhered to. I'm sure the athlete in 1967, '68 or '69 was an easier handful than the athlete in 2001. Football is not a democracy. It can never be a democracy. When it is a democracy you end up 5-5.
This is a pyramid of power, the directive, the energy, the ideas. What the hell does a 19 year old kid have? When I hear these Penn State kids being interviewed after last year, shooting their young mouths off about the system needing to be changed, you know what I say: exquisite bullshit. This is still a very simple basic game. If anything needs to be changed, they need to upgrade the recruiting. You either have the kids to throw it, run it and catch it or you don't. The beauty of life, one of the magnificent gifts as one ages, is that you begin to have a wider view of life and a richer experience of all things. It causes you to experience many other things. That's very dangerous territory for a coach to be in."
4) Critique his style -- coaching and fashion. What wardrobe advice would you give your former coach?
I will not critique his coaching style. That's beyond critique. I would know more believe that I could critique Joe's coaching style than I would believe he could critique my song writing. As far as critiquing his fashion sense, it's hard to critique something that doesn't exist. He has none.
5) What impact has Paterno had on your life?
"He has impacted it in the sense of encountering what you believe to be a really great person. I haven't really encountered that many in my life. I'm assuming these things are true from decade to decade in the years that he has coached. One of the things that's very tough, very lacking - I worry about my son - every generation needs an example of someone who is willing to do the right thing, to make good, tough, correct decisions. A guy like Joe has set out to do it the right way and not only did it the right way, but was successful in doing that. And that is pretty rare air that guy is breathing. Whether or not, encountering someone like that causes you to be better or improve our capacity to work hard, I don't know. I had a great pro coach too, the legendary Paul Brown. These are rich characters. They have this incredible energy. It's fun to be around them even when it's not very much fun. How great people effect you may be beyond me to say. Other than I know my life has been better because I experienced and worked with Joe Paterno. I think Joe is an extraordinary guy and I'm lucky to have known him and had him as a coach."
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