A New Era of College Athletics: The Lasting Effect of Joe Paterno’s Legacy on Penn State’s Approach to Name, Image and Likeness

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Thalman, Cailey
Area of Honors:
Journalism
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
John R Affleck, Thesis Supervisor
John R Affleck, Thesis Honors Advisor
Steve Kraycik, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
NIL
Penn State Athletics
College Athletics
Revenue Sharing
Collectives
Joe Paterno
Abstract:
Name, image and likeness (NIL) is changing the landscape of college athletics. That’s a fact. Athletes began legally earning money from their NIL in 2021, and the industry has completely changed since then. Following that ruling, revenue sharing became legal in 2025, allowing athletes to receive up to 22% of the average revenue amongst all Power Four schools directly from their athletic departments: this amounts to over $20 million. Penn State has struggled to get the community behind NIL due to its history as a program that’s built on unity, sameness, tradition, and simplicity. The Penn State program has always had one heartbeat. That all started with the ideals of successful former Penn State head football coach, Joe Paterno. How has the cult-like Joe Paterno following influenced the expansion of NIL at Penn State? It starts with attitude. It took a long time for the athletic department to influence shifts in the fanbase’s opinions of NIL because they’ve been so loyal to Paterno’s methods as a head coach. The reality is that times are changing and it’s extremely difficult to win in this era without an organized and competitive NIL infrastructure. Through conversations with Leon Duncan, LaVar Arrington, and Rich Stankewicz, I evaluated how the way Paterno ran his football program has influenced Penn State’s current approach to NIL, initially causing the athletic department to fall behind.