republican presidential front-runner donald trump draw guffaw derision social media ask campaign rally pittsburgh joe paterno legendary penn state university football coach die four years ago go school state know lot pennsylvania great trump say joe paterno gon na bring back whole deal term `` joe paterno `` quickly become top trend topic twitter many ask trump know paterno dead video clip post youtube paterno one revere college athletic coach unite state fire pennsylvania state university 2011 child sexual abuse scandal involve assistant coach jerry sandusky paterno die jan. 21 2012. sandusky late convict child sex abuse charge trump spokeswoman hope hicks say candidate refer statue paterno remove campus 2012. quinnipiac university survey 2015 show many pennsylvanians want return campus penn state spokesman ben man say thursday university comment candidates campaign speeches social media users mock trump seemingly imply would bring paterno back life `` someone tell trump joe paterno dead also conspire serial child rapist `` tweet kept_simple kept_simple buzzfeed political editor katherine miller katherinemiller tweet `` trump obviously mean go bring back paterno statue subsequently paterno back beyond sorcery `` twitter users account geo-tagged university home town state college mix reactions `` bring paterno back realdonaldtrump odd expectations abilities responsibilities president `` tweet holly swanson statecollegemom reaction negative `` trump say 'll bring paterno statue back 'll win pa landslide `` kalooz kalzony53 trump weigh fallout sandusky scandal july 2012 national collegiate athletic association levy sanction penn state football program say tweet program suspend trump 's 'paterno comment spark jeer social media