JOE PATERNO'S name is off the Big Ten's football championship trophy.
League commissioner Jim Delany said yesterday that it is "inappropriate" to keep the name of the former Penn State coach on the trophy that will be awarded Dec. 3 after the first Big Ten title game.
Penn State fired Paterno, its longtime coach, last week and investigations are under way into allegations of child sex-abuse involving Jerry Sandusky, former defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions.
The trophy had been named the Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy. Amos Alonzo Stagg won 319 games in 57 years, most at the University of Chicago. Paterno's 409 wins are the most by a major college coach.
The trophy now will be called the Stagg Championship Trophy.
Interestingly, Penn State could be competing for the trophy. If the Nittany Lions (8-2, 5-1 Big Ten) win their remaining two games (at Ohio State and at Wisconsin), they will be in the title game at Indianapolis. Michigan State (8-2, 5-1) would be the Nits' opponent if the Spartans win their two remaining games.
Robert Stagg, of Grand Rapids, Mich., a great grandson of Amos Alonzo Stagg, said last week his family was honored to have the Stagg name on the trophy regardless of what happened with Paterno's name.
In a related matter, executive director Bill Hancock said a replacement will be announced in the next few weeks for Graham Spanier as BCS presidential oversight committee chairman. Spanier was fired as Penn State's president last week.
