ABOUT JAY PATERNO
Jay Paterno currently heads Blue Line 409 LLC which runs ventures in business, television, radio, public speaking and consults on philanthropy, social media and public relations/ marketing. The LLC also coordinates Jay’s television, writing and publishing and partnered with Duquesne Brewing to create Duquesne Lager’s Paterno Legacy Series.
Since 2020 he has consulted in college sports and notably was one of the nation's first consultants in the new area of Name, Image and Likeness for college student-athletes. In 2022 he co-founded Penn State's NIL Collective "Success With Honor" to coordinate NIL efforts for all of Penn State's 31 sports teams.
In 2021 he co-created, co-wrote and starred in Nittany Game Week, a weekly syndicated TV show reaching the homes of over 20 million people in eight states. In 2022 he was the Executive Producer of "THON: 50 Years For The Kids" which reached over 11% of the homes in America and rated #1 in its primetime slot in both Philadelphia and New York City. From 2015 through 2020 he researched, wrote and appeared in “The Film Room” on "The Blue White Tailgate Show." In the Fall of 2022, he created "Pigskin Stew Radio" a weekly college football radio show airing on Pittsburgh's ESPN Radio.
Paterno is the best-selling author of Paterno Legacy; Enduring Lessons from the Life and Death of My Father. He followed that up with the 2020 novel "Hot Seat: A Year Inside College Football's Pressure Cooker." He writes a bi-weekly column for StateCollege.com and is a contributor for TheFulcrum.us a site dedicated to bridging the political divide in the United States. Jay has also written pieces for USA Today, The Arab News, The New Orleans Times-Picayune, The NCAA News, The Penn Stater, The Centre Daily Times, The Daily Collegian and was a rare Yankee contributor to Porter Briggs: The Voice of The South. His columns have been cited by Sports Illustrated, ESPN and ESPN.com and even translated for The Epoch Times—the world’s largest Chinese-Language Newspaper.
In January of 2012 his closing speech at the Memorial Service for Joe Paterno was recognized by American Rhetoric as one of the most important American speeches of the 21st Century.
Paterno has lectured at university classes in Psychology, Labor and Industrial Relations as well as in Penn State’s College of Communications, Internationally-known Smeal College of Business, the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz College of Business, Bucknell University, The University of Southern California, Georgia State and the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He has also made speeches on leadership, team building and crisis management for groups from private industry to charities to government.
In media, Jay Paterno has been visible and accessible for years. He has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN, CNN and on national and local talk radio shows in every one of the top 75 media markets in the country. In 2011 he was named to The Sports Illustrated Twitter 100 recognizing the best Sports Tweeters in the world—one of only two coaches in all of sports to make the list.
Jay spent 22 seasons coaching, including 17 years on the Penn State staff. In March of 2011 he was named the Big 10’s Best Quarterbacks Coach while in 2008 he was recognized among the year’s best Offensive Coordinators. Penn State’s 2008 Spread HD Offense ranked in the Top 10 in Big 10 history in yards, points and scoring average.
Jay coached two-time first team All-Big Ten quarterbacks including Big Ten MVPs Daryll Clark (2009) and Michael Robinson (2005) who was a Heisman Trophy Finalist and was named Sports Illustrated On Campus Magazine’s National Player of the Year. Robinson became a Pro Bowl player and Super Bowl Champion. Paterno also coached Zack Mills, who owned or shared 18 school passing records and Matt McGloin who started with the Oakland Raiders.
In his nine seasons as Penn State Recruiting Coordinator Penn State ranked in the National Top 20 eight times, including 5 Top 10 Finishes and 2 National #1 rankings. From 1995-99, Paterno coached the tight ends and helped develop All-Big Ten tight end Tony Stewart (nine NFL seasons) and John Gilmore (ten NFL seasons).
He was a graduate assistant coach at The University of Virginia before becoming wide receivers and tight ends coach at the University of Connecticut where he coached two All-Conference players. In 1994 Paterno was the quarterbacks coach at James Madison where he coached Mike Cawley an Indianapolis Colts pick and the sixth quarterback taken in the NFL draft.
In 2017 he was was elected to Penn State's Board of Trustees receiving the highest number of votes among all candidates and was selected by 77% of all voters.
Paterno serves on the Board of The Mount Nittany Conservancy and has served on the Board of The National MS Society’s Central Pennsylvania Chapter and chaired a fund-raising campaign for The Centre County Youth Services Bureau. In 2008 and 2012 he worked on Barrack Obama’s Presidential campaign as a surrogate speaker. In the fall of 2010 he gave an opening speech for Vice-President Joe Biden and in 2011 he attended the White House Community Leaders Forum.
Jay is the son of Sue and Joe Paterno. He and his wife Kelley have five children and reside in State College, Pennsylvania.
