At 73, Paterno chasing record with kid''s spirit

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. In the late ''80s, some important Republicans in Pennsylvania approached one of the party''s most prominent members to see if he had any interest in making a run for governor.

Governor Paterno. Has a nice ring to it.

"I''m sure Joe would have been very good at it," said Tom Osborne, another college coaching legend who''s campaigning for a Senate seat in Nebraska. "He relates well to people, he has a good sense of humor, he''s intelligent and he has good values."

Joe Paterno''s pals say say the Bush backer thought about it long and hard before deciding to take a pass. It was tempting, and he was flattered, but it wasn''t for him.

"It''s a lot easier to beat Boston College and Iowa than it is the Democrats," college football know-it-all Beano Cook kidded.

Aside from the winter of 1972, when the New England Patriots tried to pry him away from Penn State, that might be as close as State College, Pa., has come to losing the guy everyone in town knows as Joe Pa. He''s been true blue to Penn State for 50 years, 34 of those as the head coach the second-longest run at one place in the history of the sport.

And it''s far from over.

As Paterno prepares to make more college football history he''s seven wins away from Bear Bryant''s all-time Division I record he doesn''t look like he''s ready to put away those famous black shoes anytime soon.

Before every game, he still sprints out of the tunnel ahead of all his All-Americans. He still goes for a long, brisk walk every morning with his wife, Sue. And for a good time, he still likes to kick back and read the classics.

In Latin.

He might be 73 years old, but he sure doesn''t act like it.

"Years ago, I said to my wife when I hit 60, ''You know, I''m not 60. I''m 50.'' And I looked in the mirror, looked at my great body and said, ''You know, honey, I''m only 50 years old,'' " Paterno joked during a PBS special called Ageless Heroes. "Somebody made a mistake when they put 1926. It was really 1936."

What other explanation can there be for Paterno''s decision in January to sign on for five more years at Penn State?

He''ll be 78 at the end of the contract. And probably looking for another extension.

"If he feels healthy in five years, he''s liable to go another five years," said former Penn State radio voice George Paterno, who wrote a book about his big brother. "You know, I''ve been reading some great quotes here lately from Walter Matthau. They once asked him when he was going to retire, and he said, ''What''s the word mean? What am I going to retire to? I''m doing what I like.''

"That''s basically the same thing with Joe. He''s a bit of a workaholic, and I don''t know what he''d do. He doesn''t fish. He doesn''t play golf. He doesn''t have a boat. He likes what he''s doing. He''s in excellent health, and I think he likes the visibility. He likes the platform to espouse his philosophical views and all that kind of stuff.

"I''d say the only thing that would get him out is if things started to go bad."

Which for Paterno would be 7-4.

How many years does the old man have left in him? Your guess is as good as his.

"You''d have to ask God that," said Ron Bracken, sports editor of State College''s Centre Daily Times. "It''s just a question of how long he''ll stay healthy."

No comment

Joe Paterno could not be reached for this story.

Might have been the timing (he likes to spend part of June and July on the Jersey shore). Might have been the topic (if there''s one thing Paterno can''t stand talking about, it''s his legacy).

Let the Lee Corsos and Beano Cooks carry on about his 317-83-3 record, his two national titles, his four Coach of the Year awards, his 1986 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year honor, his 25 first-round draft picks, his record 30 bowl appearances and his record 20 bowl victories.

You''ll never hear Paterno bragging about being the only coach in college football history to win the Rose, Sugar, Cotton and Orange bowls, or being the all-time Division I-A leader in wins at one school, or going undefeated seven times in the regular season, or ...

"He''s won more than any Italian since Julius Caesar," Cook said.

All that''s left is Bryant''s record, which he can see clearly, even through those dark-colored glasses.

Paterno hasn''t addressed the topic publicly yet, but he''ll get plenty of questions about the Bear and the record in the coming weeks.

It will be awful. Just awful.

"He doesn''t want the focus on himself," said Penn State athletic director Tim Curley, who played for and coached under Paterno. "As long as I''ve been with him, that''s the way it''s been, and I don''t think you''re going to change it."

The local paper already is making plans for a special commemorative section, just as it did two years ago when Paterno became the third Division I-A member of college football''s 300-win club.

You know how hard it is to fill a 20-page Paterno tab with no Paterno quotes?

"He won''t want to talk about it. He won''t want to elaborate," Bracken said. "I''m sure it''s a major part of his thinking, but he won''t admit to it and he won''t publicly discuss it. He''ll try to downplay it, just as he did with the 300-win thing."

And just as was the case with that magical milestone, those closest to him say Paterno wants to catch the Bear in a big way. You''d never get him to admit it, but his brother swears it''s true.

"I do think it''s a goal of his," his brother said. "With all due respect to Bear Bryant, I think he would like to get it, prove a point.

"When he got 300 victories, everybody said he didn''t care. He cared."

And it showed in the moments after Penn State''s 48-3 spanking of Bowling Green on Sept. 12, 1998. Paterno, who''d told Curley he didn''t want any elaborate ceremonies and spent the week downplaying the achievement, couldn''t contain his emotions during a postgame tribute.

As he addressed the sellout Beaver Stadium crowd from the field, tears rolled down his cheeks.

"He kind of broke down a little bit," star defensive end Justin Kurpeikis said. "I guess he started thinking back to all the good things that had happened to him in that stadium."

With his players huddled around him, Paterno told the crowd: "I really can''t tell you how welled up I am with memories. After 48 years at Penn State, I salute all the efforts of every team I''ve been a part of, and that includes all you fans and all you alumni. I love every one of you. After all, we are ..."

"PENN STATE," the crowd roared.

And on that note, Paterno made his way back to the locker room, got up in front of his team, called for quiet and immediately started going over preparations for Pitt.

"And that was that," fullback Mike Cerimele said. "The day passed, and nothing else was said. It was over."

Lights, camera ...

The big day could come Oct. 7, when Penn State visits Minnesota for a Week 7 Big Ten battle. It could come the weekend after that, when Illinois drops by. Or it could come one on of the following four Saturdays, when the Nittany Lions have Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Michigan State.

There''s even a chance it may not come until 2001, albeit a slim one. Penn State will play 12 games this fall, starting with the Kickoff Classic against Southern Cal.

Then there''s the annual bowl trip.

"I don''t think there''s any question he''ll get seven wins," Ohio State coach John Cooper said.

It''s just not the absolute, guaranteed, mark-it-down lock that it''s been in recent years. All-Americans LaVar Arrington and Courtney Brown have moved on to the NFL. Quarterback Rashard Casey''s status is iffy after an offseason scuffle with an off-duty police officer. And the conference never has been better.

In its college football preview, The Sporting News picked the Nittany Lions to finish seventh in the Big Ten one spot behind Illinois.

"Is that the same one that picked Arizona to win it all last year?" Cooper wondered.

Whenever or wherever the record comes, ABC hopes to have cameras there to show it to the whole country. Even if it''s Indiana or Iowa on the other side of the field, the network knows it won''t have to worry about ratings for this one.

"It''s such a momentous occasion because it''s Joe Paterno as opposed to Mr. X, Y or Z," said Bob Goodrich, ABC''s coordinating producer for college football. "It''s also momentous in that it''s not the kind of thing that''s likely to be broken for a while, whereas the Ricky Williams record, as great as that was, one year later it''s broken by Ron Dayne. And who knows? Another two or three years, it could be broken again."

Goodrich plans to make a big to-do out of No. 324. He''d like to have an unmanned camera in the Nittany Lions locker room (good luck), plus reels of favorite Paterno stories from all the Penn State greats, from Harris to Ham.

Another story worth telling is the Bryant-Paterno one. When Paterno was trying to build Penn State into a national power in the 1970s, no one was better to him than the old Alabama coach, who personally talked Sugar Bowl officials into inviting the Nittany Lions to New Orleans on New Year''s Eve 1975. Paterno almost made Bryant regret his kind act, the seventh-ranked Nittany Lions giving gave the third-ranked Tide all it could handle before falling 13-6.

But when Paterno was going for his first national championship four years later in the same Superdome, no one was tougher on him than Bryant, whose Tide upset the top-ranked Nittany Lions 14-7 in a college football classic. To this day, folks in Tuscaloosa still like to talk about that fourth-quarter goal line stand, when Alabama stuffed Penn State on third and one, then fourth and six inches, both inside the Tide 1.

"I remember that game as much as any I''ve ever played in or coached in," Paterno said.

Even after that bitter loss, Bryant remained one of Paterno''s favorites, a guy he used to call on often for advice. Knowing how important that was to him in his younger days, Paterno has tried to be a similar influence on some of college football''s up-and-comers through the years.

"As a young coach, I''d ask him questions about discipline or what we should do here or how would you handle motivation for this big game?" Texas coach Mack Brown said. "He has never hesitated to spend hours on the phone with me, trying to help me do a better job.

"The more I''ve gotten to know him, the more I appreciate him."

The test of time

Paterno (317 wins) and Florida State''s Bobby Bowden (304) are the only active members of college football''s 300 club.

The 200 club isn''t any bigger, with just BYU''s LaVell Edwards (251) and South Carolina''s Lou Holtz (216) currently coaching.

If the 70-year-old Bowden doesn''t pass Paterno, chances are no one''s going to in our lifetime.

"I don''t know how you would ever top that," Colorado coach Gary Barnett said. "The game''s changed so much. The atmosphere''s changed so much. I don''t know how you''d create a dynasty that would produce a coach that could put up with all the pressures that are out there now."

The days of coaches lasting 34 years in the business like only Paterno, Hayden Fry and nine others have are dwindling.

Too much money involved now. Too much media. Too little loyalty.

"It''s a little harder than it was when Joe started or when I started because of expectations," said Osborne, who gave Nebraska 25 good years before calling it quits. "Every misstep a player makes in your program now is a national story. It''s a lot more demanding than it was 20 years ago."

What''s even more rare is a coach staying at the same school for a long time, like Paterno has. It''s rare for any era. Even the great Bryant bounced around, moving from Maryland to Kentucky to Texas A&M before finally settling in at Alabama.

The only guy to put in more time at one place than Paterno is Amos Alonzo Stagg, who coached 41 years at Chicago.

"Guys who jump all over the place deprive themselves of having an impact on their institution," Paterno once said. "One thing I''m proud of is that. I think I''ve made a mark here."

BEAR HUNTING

Joe Paterno needs seven wins to pass Bear Bryant as the all-time winningest Division I-A coach. Among active coaches, only Florida State''s Bobby Bowden is within 50 wins of the Penn State legend:

WINNINGEST COACHES OF ALL-TIME

Wins, Name, Last school, Years

323, Bear Bryant, Alabama, 38

319, Pop Warner, Temple, 44

317, Joe Paterno, Penn State, 34

304, Bobby Bowden, Florida State, 34

255, Tom Osborne, Nebraska, 25

251, LaVell Edwards, BYU, 28

238, Woody Hayes, Ohio State, 33

234, Bo Schembechler, Michigan, 27

232, Hayden Fry, Iowa, 37

216, Lou Holtz, South Carolina, 28