Penn State coach Joe Paterno laughs during
a news conference before the Blue and White
spring college football scrimmage at Penn State
in April. After offseason hip surgery, JoePa is
feeling great. By Carolyn Kaster, AP
By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — College football can rest easy. At 82, after a season of great physical pain, just when it appeared time had caught up with him, Penn State coach Joe Paterno has seemingly turned back the clock once again.
"I feel great," he told a small group of reporters before speaking at an alumni event billed as an "Evening with Joe," Thursday night at The Plaza, the swank hotel just off Central Park which is almost as big a city landmark as the coach himself.
Before he had hip replacement surgery Nov. 23, Paterno said even getting out of bed was difficult. Since Paterno doesn't like to take medicine, there was little relief. He said he could barely spend more than an hour or two in the office.
"Last year all I did was supervise. I was more of an observer," Paterno said of his 11-2 team that lost to Southern California in the Rose Bowl. "I have a heck of a staff. Those two years I didn't do much. Last year we had a pretty good football team, and I didn't do much."
This spring, instead of riding around in a golf cart at practice, he was on the field, walking and well, much more. "I can grab the kids and say you can't do it that way, and I can look them in the eye and that's part of the fun of the game to be able to have an impact on the pace of the practice the timing of it, the enthusiasm and all those kinds of things were the things that I missed, so I enjoyed the spring. ... This year has been a fun year for me."
Paterno spent 40 minutes discussing a variety of topics from, once dating Joe Torre's older sister, now a nun, ("a little chubby, but cute," was the scouting report) to the bright young coaches in the game ("the kid at Florida, the kid at Northwestern, the kid at TCU.").
•Paterno on recently being fined by the Rose Bowl for failing to give ABC a pregame interview and refusing to open his locker room to reporters after the game.
"I'm really annoyed with the Rose Bowl," Paterno said. He said because he was "hobbling along trying to get in the press box," he didn't want to do a TV interview or put his assistant coaches on the spot to fill in for him. As for the post-game locker room: "I have never had an open locker room. … If you let the men in you have to let the women in, I don't want a whole bunch of women walking around in my locker room. The players take showers, are horsing around. … It's our game. It's not your (the news media's) game. I don't mean that in an adversary way, it's our football team. When we lose, we want to cry a little bit or maybe there's some guy in the corner, griping he didn't get the ball and all of sudden someone sticks a microphone in your face."
•A question noting that the last Northeast team to win a national championship was Penn State in 1986 led Paterno to the topic of adding a 12th team, one in the northeast, to the Big Ten: "I tried to tell some of the Big Ten people, let's get another team from the east, Syracuse, Rutgers or Pitt." He then added possibly even Boston College.
The Big Ten's reaction, he said: "It's a conference that's dominated by a couple of people. I start talking and they're polite but they snicker."
•Paterno also defending Florida State coach Bobby Bowden in the face of NCAA penalties that could cause him to forfeit 14 victories for using ineligible players. The 79-year-old Bowden has 382 victories to 383 for Paterno, major college's winningest coach.
"My feeling is Bobby coached the team he had and won, ok? He oughta get credit for wins. I think that's ridiculous to take x number of games from him," Paterno said. "Bobby is a good guy and a great coach and to have to put up with that nonsense really bothers me."
Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
April 30, 2009
USA: At the age of 82, Joe Paterno is turning back the clock
.
WASHINGTON DC / USA Today / Sports / College Football / April 30, 2009
Penn State coach Joe Paterno laughs during
a news conference before the Blue and White
spring college football scrimmage at Penn State
in April. After offseason hip surgery, JoePa is
feeling great. By Carolyn Kaster, AP
By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — College football can rest easy. At 82, after a season of great physical pain, just when it appeared time had caught up with him, Penn State coach Joe Paterno has seemingly turned back the clock once again.
"I feel great," he told a small group of reporters before speaking at an alumni event billed as an "Evening with Joe," Thursday night at The Plaza, the swank hotel just off Central Park which is almost as big a city landmark as the coach himself.
Before he had hip replacement surgery Nov. 23, Paterno said even getting out of bed was difficult. Since Paterno doesn't like to take medicine, there was little relief. He said he could barely spend more than an hour or two in the office.
"Last year all I did was supervise. I was more of an observer," Paterno said of his 11-2 team that lost to Southern California in the Rose Bowl. "I have a heck of a staff. Those two years I didn't do much. Last year we had a pretty good football team, and I didn't do much."
This spring, instead of riding around in a golf cart at practice, he was on the field, walking and well, much more. "I can grab the kids and say you can't do it that way, and I can look them in the eye and that's part of the fun of the game to be able to have an impact on the pace of the practice the timing of it, the enthusiasm and all those kinds of things were the things that I missed, so I enjoyed the spring. ... This year has been a fun year for me."
Paterno spent 40 minutes discussing a variety of topics from, once dating Joe Torre's older sister, now a nun, ("a little chubby, but cute," was the scouting report) to the bright young coaches in the game ("the kid at Florida, the kid at Northwestern, the kid at TCU.").
•Paterno on recently being fined by the Rose Bowl for failing to give ABC a pregame interview and refusing to open his locker room to reporters after the game.
"I'm really annoyed with the Rose Bowl," Paterno said. He said because he was "hobbling along trying to get in the press box," he didn't want to do a TV interview or put his assistant coaches on the spot to fill in for him. As for the post-game locker room: "I have never had an open locker room. … If you let the men in you have to let the women in, I don't want a whole bunch of women walking around in my locker room. The players take showers, are horsing around. … It's our game. It's not your (the news media's) game. I don't mean that in an adversary way, it's our football team. When we lose, we want to cry a little bit or maybe there's some guy in the corner, griping he didn't get the ball and all of sudden someone sticks a microphone in your face."
•A question noting that the last Northeast team to win a national championship was Penn State in 1986 led Paterno to the topic of adding a 12th team, one in the northeast, to the Big Ten: "I tried to tell some of the Big Ten people, let's get another team from the east, Syracuse, Rutgers or Pitt." He then added possibly even Boston College.
The Big Ten's reaction, he said: "It's a conference that's dominated by a couple of people. I start talking and they're polite but they snicker."
•Paterno also defending Florida State coach Bobby Bowden in the face of NCAA penalties that could cause him to forfeit 14 victories for using ineligible players. The 79-year-old Bowden has 382 victories to 383 for Paterno, major college's winningest coach.
"My feeling is Bobby coached the team he had and won, ok? He oughta get credit for wins. I think that's ridiculous to take x number of games from him," Paterno said. "Bobby is a good guy and a great coach and to have to put up with that nonsense really bothers me."
Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Penn State coach Joe Paterno laughs during
a news conference before the Blue and White
spring college football scrimmage at Penn State
in April. After offseason hip surgery, JoePa is
feeling great. By Carolyn Kaster, AP
By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — College football can rest easy. At 82, after a season of great physical pain, just when it appeared time had caught up with him, Penn State coach Joe Paterno has seemingly turned back the clock once again.
"I feel great," he told a small group of reporters before speaking at an alumni event billed as an "Evening with Joe," Thursday night at The Plaza, the swank hotel just off Central Park which is almost as big a city landmark as the coach himself.
Before he had hip replacement surgery Nov. 23, Paterno said even getting out of bed was difficult. Since Paterno doesn't like to take medicine, there was little relief. He said he could barely spend more than an hour or two in the office.
"Last year all I did was supervise. I was more of an observer," Paterno said of his 11-2 team that lost to Southern California in the Rose Bowl. "I have a heck of a staff. Those two years I didn't do much. Last year we had a pretty good football team, and I didn't do much."
This spring, instead of riding around in a golf cart at practice, he was on the field, walking and well, much more. "I can grab the kids and say you can't do it that way, and I can look them in the eye and that's part of the fun of the game to be able to have an impact on the pace of the practice the timing of it, the enthusiasm and all those kinds of things were the things that I missed, so I enjoyed the spring. ... This year has been a fun year for me."
Paterno spent 40 minutes discussing a variety of topics from, once dating Joe Torre's older sister, now a nun, ("a little chubby, but cute," was the scouting report) to the bright young coaches in the game ("the kid at Florida, the kid at Northwestern, the kid at TCU.").
•Paterno on recently being fined by the Rose Bowl for failing to give ABC a pregame interview and refusing to open his locker room to reporters after the game.
"I'm really annoyed with the Rose Bowl," Paterno said. He said because he was "hobbling along trying to get in the press box," he didn't want to do a TV interview or put his assistant coaches on the spot to fill in for him. As for the post-game locker room: "I have never had an open locker room. … If you let the men in you have to let the women in, I don't want a whole bunch of women walking around in my locker room. The players take showers, are horsing around. … It's our game. It's not your (the news media's) game. I don't mean that in an adversary way, it's our football team. When we lose, we want to cry a little bit or maybe there's some guy in the corner, griping he didn't get the ball and all of sudden someone sticks a microphone in your face."
•A question noting that the last Northeast team to win a national championship was Penn State in 1986 led Paterno to the topic of adding a 12th team, one in the northeast, to the Big Ten: "I tried to tell some of the Big Ten people, let's get another team from the east, Syracuse, Rutgers or Pitt." He then added possibly even Boston College.
The Big Ten's reaction, he said: "It's a conference that's dominated by a couple of people. I start talking and they're polite but they snicker."
•Paterno also defending Florida State coach Bobby Bowden in the face of NCAA penalties that could cause him to forfeit 14 victories for using ineligible players. The 79-year-old Bowden has 382 victories to 383 for Paterno, major college's winningest coach.
"My feeling is Bobby coached the team he had and won, ok? He oughta get credit for wins. I think that's ridiculous to take x number of games from him," Paterno said. "Bobby is a good guy and a great coach and to have to put up with that nonsense really bothers me."
Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
