Paterno won't coast into retirement

Sporting News, The, June 3, 2002 by Tom Dienhart

Joe Paterno has fallen. The nation is waiting to see whether he'll get up.

Paterno has stood tall--very tall--for most of his 36 years as head coach of Penn State. There are the national championships in 1982 and '86, the five undefeated seasons and the 327 career victories, not to mention the piles of money he has given to the university's library system.

But you didn't need to be wearing glasses as thick as Paterno's to see the ugliness of the last two seasons. Penn State went 5-7 in 2000 and 5-6 last year, the first time the school had consecutive non-winning seasons since 1965 (Rip Engle's last season) and 1966 (Paterno's first). The last time the Nittany Lions had successive losing seasons was 1931-32. That's why Paterno finds himself staring smack dab at a season on the brink. It's enough to cause Joe Fan to wonder whether the game has passed by JoePa.

"They're entitled to say what they want," says Paterno, who turns 76 in December. "I don't pay any attention to that. That may sound flippant, but I really don't pay any attention to that. People are gonna think what they want to think."

Here's a thought for Joe Fan: Paterno will rise again this fall. Don't expect a Big Ten rifle. Road games at Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin will prevent that. But seven or eight wins will be enough to buff up his legend. Matlock re-runs can wait.

"If I feel as well as I do now, I'm gonna keep coaching. I'm enjoying it," Paterno says. "It's a little tougher job than maybe it was 20 years ago because of the environment that's out there now--the exposure and the attention. The expanded media and television have made it more difficult to keep people focused. I'd like to say (I'll coach) maybe five more years, three years. It could be 10 more years. I really don't know."

Here's one thing we do know: Few respond better to a crisis than Paterno. Some feel the lack of a strong voice on his staff to counter his has been a problem over the years. True or not, it seems a crisis must occur before Paterno takes action. But at least he eventually takes action.

There have been two landmark occasions when Paterno has implemented a change that made a big impact on Penn State football.

In 1966, when Paterno was wearing slacks and a white shirt with his hair combed back, he was coming off a 5-5 debut season. And he had concerns about his job. With that, Paterno revised his defense, and the Nittany Lions responded with an 8-2-1 record, the first of 21 consecutive winning seasons.

In 1993, when Paterno was wearing slacks and a white shirt with his hair combed back, he was coming off a 7-5 season. Paterno didn't have concerns about his job, but he did solicit the seniors-to-be for advice. He heard there was a lack of communication. So Paterno kick-started dialogue by having breakfast with his troops. The Nittany Lions went 10-2 in 1993 and followed that with a 12-0 mark and Big Ten championship.

Crisis has struck again in the form of the successive losing seasons. Paterno is still wearing slacks and a white shirt with his hair combed back. And, as he did in 1966 and 1993, he has a plan of action. Paterno began crafting the change last year, when he incorporated elements of the spread formation into an offense that often had the pizzazz of his wardrobe.

The offensive tweaking was a smart move, given the talents of quarterback Zack Mills. In fact, Paterno seems to be breaking from the mold of what had become the typical Penn State quarterback: a big, slow pocket passer. Once Mills and his nifty feet took over last year for an ineffective Matt Senneca, the Nittany Lions rallied from an 0-4 start and won five of their last seven games.

The changes won't stop there. The tailback-by-committee approach has ended. Larry Johnson is the man. Period. He should have been last year. Johnson is the school's first home run threat in the backfield since Ki-Jana Carter. Also, look for Paterno to use Scan McHugh in an H-back role. Paterno typically is reserved with his compliments, but he was uncharacteristically boastful this spring of McHugh. Add in receivers Bryant Johnson and Tony Johnson, and Mills will have no shortage of skill talent to work with.

Now Paterno must show an ability to change on the fly. A prime example of his inflexibility was evident during last year's season-ending loss at Virginia. The Cavaliers responded to the Nittany Lions' tweaked offense by rushing three defenders and dropping eight. Penn State's response? Keep passing. Mills finished 12-of-28 for 136 yards with four interceptions, and the Nittany Lions finished with a losing record.

Paterno also must develop a better offensive line. Penn State hasn't had a dominant front since 1995. Paterno made a smart move a few years ago when he switched assistant Dick Anderson from coaching quarterbacks back to working with linemen. Still, better talent must be harvested.

This is the area that has been hurt the most by Paterno's willingness to take early commitments, which set a nationwide trend a few years ago. Unlike skill position talent, the ability of linemen isn't as apparent early in their high school careers.