To sophomore wide receiver Devon Smith, naming Penn State’s football stadium after his head coach seems like an easy decision.

“He’s a legend,” Smith said. “Why not?”

The Penn State football team currently plays in a stadium named after a Pennsylvania governor in the 1800s — not after head coach Joe Paterno, who helped establish a national football powerhouse in central Pennsylvania.

Heck, many people believe the university could be named after him, let alone the football stadium.

Paterno, in his 45th year as head coach, and his 61st year as a coach in Happy Valley, is the all-time winningest coach in the history of Division I football with 397 victories.

But the stadium where Paterno’s team competes on Saturday’s is named after James A. Beaver, the former president of the university’s board of trustees and former governor at the turn of the century.

His contribution to the area, however, came just years after football became a collegiate sport. Beaver is credited with being a great university leader, which is why the football cathedral bares his name, according to the school’s athletic website.

There’s no way the second biggest college football stadium in the country (by crowd capacity) should be named after Beaver. Penn State certainly went out of its way to honor Beaver, also naming one of the most prominent downtown streets and a popular residence hall after him.

Honoring our most historical campus figures is absolutely important, but Paterno ranks right up there with Beaver.

Sophomore cornerback Derrick Thomas, who has been at Penn State for only one full season, even understands Paterno’s historical imprint.

“He’s the winningest coach in college football,” Thomas said after last Saturday’s 24-0 victory over Kent State. “JoePa Stadium doesn’t sound too bad. I think the fans and definitely the players would love that.”

If Beaver was still alive, it’d be hard to imagine him opposing the re-naming of the stadium after Paterno. He couldn’t help but to be thrilled for the contributions the football coach has given back to the school.

Paterno and his wife, Susan, helped raise $13.5 million in donations for a new library, which now bares the name “Paterno” in their honor.

At a time when some of college football’s best coaches are being accused of recruiting scandals and corruption, with two prestigous programs, the University of Florida and the University of Michigan enduring strong violations and fines — it is hard to imagine any college football coach ever having as much academic influence as Paterno has had at Penn State.

Paterno is known for running a clean program, too. Florida State’s Bobby Bowden had to vacate 14 wins as a result of a recruiting violation.

There’s an argument to be made that Paterno wouldn’t want to be honored with the naming of the football stadium because his contribution to this university is so wide-ranging.

Nittany Lion quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno, son of the legendary coach, said he wouldn’t oppose it, but the decision was not up to his family.

“If somebody wants to do that, that’s up to somebody else,” the quarterbacks coach said. “If it happens, it’s great. If it doesn’t happen, you can’t be too worried about it.”

It wouldn’t be the first time a school decided to honor a coach, either.

Alabama’s Bryant-Denney Stadium is named after Paul “Bear” Bryant, one of the most legendary coaches in college football.

In 2005, Kansas State offered retiring head coach Bill Snyder the opportunity to have the football stadium named after him. Snyder had brought the Wildcats back to relevance in his 16 seasons.

When asked about it, Snyder wanted the stadium to be named after “the people he cared about the most.” The Wildcats now play in Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

The five most prominent college basketball programs — Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA — all play in arenas named after their most well-known coaches.

Legendary Bruins coach John Wooden, who won 10 national championships in a 12-year span, is the namesake of UCLA’s Paulie Pavilion floor. The floor was named after him in 2002, eight years before he passed away in June.

The floor at Oklahoma State’s Gallagher-Iba Arena was named after Eddie Sutton in a 2005 ceremony for leading the Cowboys to the NCAA Tournament 14 out of 16 years, after they had only been once in the previous 25 years.

“He was very proud of the fact that his alma mater named the court after him, especially since his mentor’s name is on the actual facility,” Oklahoma State Associate Athletic Director Kevin Klintworth said. “We had a big ceremony following a game and had his entire family here for it.”

Paterno is now one of the most recognizable coaches in sports for his resurrection of the football program.

Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, who has been alongside Paterno for 32 years, has had a great seat to watch Paterno’s accomplishments. Although he said he couldn’t speculate about what his boss would want, he supported the idea.

“[Paterno Stadium] would sound a whole lot better than Beaver Stadium, wouldn’t it?” Bradley said.