UPDATE: Penn State's board of trustees fired head coach Joe Paterno later that evening on 11/9/2011.
Penn State's head coach Joe Paterno will retire at the end of this season as the head football coach with the most Division I wins. While there is no way that I can look at Penn State under Paterno's entire career, let's take a look since 2008.
In 2008 the Penn State Nittany Lions went 11-2 and finished as the #5 most productive team in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. Penn State's offense was #13 in terms of production and their defense was #5 in terms of production. Penn State played against a strength of schedule equal to 63.92, which is slightly easier than an average schedule.
The following 2009 season saw an equally impressive performance with the Nittany Lions finishing 11-2. In terms of production, they were the #6 most productive team in the NCAA FBS. On offense they ranked #20 overall and on defense they ranked #8. Their strength of schedule was a 68.15 for the season.
Last season Penn State faltered finishing 7-6 (including an Outback Bowl loss to Florida - as predicted by the model). Under the production model PSU's final overall ranking was #69, with the 65th best offense and 58th best defense and a strength of schedule equal to 52.15.
This 2011 season the Nittany Lions are 8-1 (only loss to Alabama). As of last weekend, Penn State ranks #40 in the nation overall, with the 4th best defense in the football bowl subdivision, but with the 87th ranked offense and a strength of schedule equal to 60.6, which is almost exactly average in FBS.
Skip Sauer's perpective on the impact a head coach has on a university.