I’m listening to a book about the Penn State scandal, and it raised an interesting what-if: in 1978 (I think,) Patriots owner Billy Sullivan offered Joe Paterno the head coaching job, basically offering him the keys to the kingdom - he would have been general manager and received part ownership.
Paterno was thiiiiiiiiiis close to taking the job but stayed at Penn State (the Pats we’re offering a ton more money and, y’know, part ownership.)
What if he had taken the Patriots’ job?
Sullivan must have tried to offer him the job a second time (Joe came close to taking the NE job around 1972-73). That would make sense, though. Someone interviewed Joe on TV about ten years ago, and he said that he almost gave up coaching after the 1978 season because he was so disappointed after the Sugar Bowl loss. He felt that there was no way they should have lost with Bruce Clark, Matt Millen, etc...
If he goes to NE instead of Ehrhardt, and takes Sandusky with him, you would have had a child rapist (Sandusky) joining the Pats and a person who helps the Pats cheat today (Ernie Adams) leaving. Adams started working for his local team (he is from Massachusetts) out of college as a scout after memorizing their playbook in a week or so. Ray Perkins, a Patriot assistant, was so impressed with Adams that he took him to New York in 1979 (when Ray got the HC job). Adams decided to bring a friend with him to New York to join the staff. His name: Bill Belichick.
Back to Sandusky: He could have left PSU in 1977. He was close to getting the Toledo HC job, but they gave it to Chuck Stobart.