Joe Paterno was once asked what was the key ingredient to winning championships...his answer:“I think the expectancy. I think the key ingredient to me, in a championship team, is to plan for it. I think there are a lot of people who want to be national champs. Some of them don’t have the slightest idea what it’s going to take in any area. I think you’ve got to literally plan to be champs. You start out understanding there are going to be different things that are going to come up during your season. There’s going to be a time when you have a bad day. You’re going to kick the ball around, and yet you’ve got to have the poise and the confidence and the
expectations that you’re going to overcome that. You are going to lose a player to injury, short term or long term. There’s going to be a time when you’re going to have to make a drive in the last quarter. In my sports, you’re going to have to win a couple of games with specialty teams. You’ve got to plan for it. And the kids have got to have that kind of expectation...I think you’ve to plan or talk about it all the time. I think the individuals involved in it have to think about it all the time.”
