ALTOONA, Pa. -- Michael Mauti is widely considered one of the greatest leaders in Penn State football history, having served as a major voice of the football team during and after the horrendous Jerry Sandusky scandal and fallout of NCAA sanctions.
Conversely ...
Somehow, Jay Paterno finds himself in a leadership position at the university, despite really never having accomplished much of anything himself aside from having a famous last name. Joe Paterno's son loves Penn State so much that he sued the school for more than $1,000,000, yet his last name has landed him on the school's Board of Trustees.
Let's just say that Mauti doesn't have any love lost for Jay Paterno. The former football player made that perfectly clear once again Saturday with some blistering tweets aimed at the Nittany Lions' former offensive coordinator.
Paterno tweeted the following with regards to NIL and basketball, in the aftermath of Micah Shrewsberry leaving for Notre Dame:
Fact: Dedicated #PennState fans/community & @success_w_honor met every basketball NIL request. The latest increase exceeded in just 2 days. That’s how #PennStateAlumni responded. Those spreading any counter-narrative only hurt the program’s coaching search & future. #WeAre
— Jay Paterno (@JayPaterno) March 25, 2023
That did not sit well with Mauti, who is part of the Lions Legacy Club NIL collective.
Mauti sent a series of tweets that blasted Paterno, staring with this one:
Fact #1: The response from dedicated alumni is the result of you and your cronies’ definition of ‘meeting every basketball’s NIL request.’ How can continue to spit this garbage? You continue to undermine the progress and efforts being made to genuinely align and unify PSU
— Michael Mauti (@Michael_Mauti) March 25, 2023
The "spit this garbage" line stands out, but really the most important part of what Mauti wrote was the last sentence above: "You continue to undermine the progress and efforts being made to genuinely align and unify PSU."
That's quite an accusation of a sitting Board of Trustees member. Then again, Jay Paterno has been viewed by many in recent years of having an agenda that is NOT beneficial to the Penn State football program and of moving on to unify everyone years after the scandal.
Most famously, Jay Paterno voted against a $48 million upgrade to the football facilities a few years ago, something Mauti reminded him of in this tweet:
Fact #2: You voted against football on BoT, please remind why are you even in this conversation? We need alignment, not rhetoric about “counter-narratives”. Go to capital hill with that slander, let those who intend on actually unifying psu community advance so we can thrive!
— Michael Mauti (@Michael_Mauti) March 25, 2023
Mauti also posted this aimed at Jay:
@PennStateAlums and @GoPSUsports community deserve the best. We need all hands on deck, not a few guys brokering behind closed doors using words without deeds. Your input on this matter is toxic and your relevancy has expired in this era of collegiate athletics.
— Michael Mauti (@Michael_Mauti) March 25, 2023
WOW!
Calling a BoT member's input "toxic" and saying his "relevancy has expired in this era of college athletics" is basically Mauti shooting a nuclear missile at Jay Paterno.
Maybe none of this should be a surprise, since Mauti has ripped Jay before.
”That dude was an example of everything a coach should not be," Mauti said in a college football book by writer John U. Bacon.
GIGER'S TAKE
We're years removed from the scandal, but every time a story like this pops up, it serves as a reminder that some people still have not been able to move on from personal agendas that came about because of what happened.
In that regard, while Penn State has done a good job in many ways of trying to move on from all the terrible things that happened, in some ways, it will be impossible to completely do so as long as hard feelings still exist between some of the key parties.
The fact that Jay Paterno holds the leadership position he does and yet is viewed by many as someone who does not want to see the football program reach its full potential is a GIGANTIC problem.
What is Jay's true agenda? Only he knows that for sure. But from this view, it's been clear for a long time that his No. 1 priority always has been and always will be clearing his father's name and keeping himself in some position of power, as opposed to doing what's best for the university and the football program.