Penn State Football: Only 1 Reason Joe Paterno's Lost His Touch

We get it. Joe Paterno is no longer the head coach he once was. Sure, he still runs the program and is the one responsible for a good number of in-game decisions and operations off the field, but it is fair to say he has lost his touch at times.

The reason is simple. Paterno has grown older, and it seems he has grown a bit of a soft side in his old age.

Paterno continues to draw out the quarterback indecision for another week because he has admitted he does not want to be unfair to Rob Bolden or Matt McGloin. From a humanity point of view, that is a very decent thing to do. But Paterno is not hired to be a good humanitarian, although he does an excellent job of that. He is hired primarily to be a football coach, which means making decisions for the best of his team. Right now, he seems afraid of hurting one player's feelings by making a tough decision.

Imagine if the Joe Paterno from the 1970's walked into practice this week as Penn State is preparing for Indiana after four weeks of regular season play and saw what was going on today. What would he say?

True, Paterno has a long history of quarterback battles and indecision, but if a younger Paterno played four games and was preparing for conference play, wouldn't he be willing to bite the bullet and decide on one player?

Paterno, just a few years ago, had a quarterback that drove fans up a wall in Anthony Morelli. Morelli was highly recruited but never met those lofty expectations. Rather than give Daryll Clark a chance to lead the offense, Paterno stood by Morelli and said nothing but positive things about him in his press conferences. Why? Certainly not because Morelli did Paterno any favors. If anything, Paterno may have been reluctant to criticize a prized recruit that failed to develop under the coaching of his son, Jay.

This again is an example of Paterno's soft side taking over as he ages. He is afraid to criticize his players and hurt their feelings, and he can't bring himself to criticize any player being coached by his family.

If the tone of this commentary is coming off strong, you are probably in the camp that feels Paterno can do no wrong and everything he does should be accepted without question. The truth is, for the longest time I tended to feel that way about a number of issues, but the events over the past year relating to the single most important position on the field has caused me to rethink my stance on Paterno.

He is a legend, an icon. But that does not mean he is doing the program the most amount of good he can.

I value Paterno's charity and his devotion to the university and community. I place tremendous value on his ability to manage a program that has avoided NCAA trouble for so long. I respect Paterno like few others in college football and the rest of the sporting world.

Despite my high regard for Paterno, I feel I can be fair and say that his aged personality has caused some problems that other coaches may not be faced with. And that, Penn State fans, is the only reason that has caused Paterno to lose his touch.

It's not because he doesn't know what is going on in college football. He was at the forefront of conference realignment long before this season, stating that moving east was key. The ACC grabbed the schools Paterno wanted to see in the Big Ten.

It's not because he doesn't recruit as much, although it is a fair gripe. Paterno has continued to adapt in the game, using Skype to communicate with recruits, and those who do come have nothing but glowing remarks about him. So do their families.

Paterno is just older, a little bit wiser but also a little bit more compassionate for others. It's not totally a bad thing, but football coaches need to make tough decisions. Right now, Paterno is not making those calls.

Kevin McGuire is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or via official interview materials from Penn State University. 

McGuire is the national college football writer for Examiner.com. Follow his college football discussion on Google+ and Twitter. Become a fan of him on Facebook.