Talks of a contract extension for Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno have been suspended.

That's a good thing.

Instead, Paterno and the university should take the time to determine when his last year as Nittany Lions coach will be and who will succeed him.

If Penn State is to continue being a consistent Top 25 college football program, such planning is a necessity.

The Nittany Lions are losing ground in the recruiting game, and having an 81-year-old coach with an uncertain future and unknown successor has to be a major reason why.

When Butler's Tyrell Sales was being recruited by Penn State, he was told Paterno would be the team's coach throughout his time there, if not beyond.

Sales will be a senior outside linebacker next year and Paterno, true to his word, will be entering the final year of his current contract this fall.

My hat is off to the legendary coach.

Last year marked his 42nd year as Penn State's head coach, breaking Amos Alonzo Stagg's record for most years as head coach at one major college.

Paterno is 372-125-3 in his coaching career, including a stellar 23-10-1 mark in bowl games. He's coached 74 first team all-Americans and sent numerous players to the NFL or, more importantly and more often, to productive lives outside of football.

He is as classy an individual as anyone else in the sports world.

But it's time.

This season should be his last.

Penn State needed a bowl victory last year to finish No. 25 in the final APpoll. Its program has slipped well behind Ohio State and Michigan in terms of consistent quality on the field and other Big Ten football programs, such as Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois, are in the passing lane.

Pitt, despite three straight years of missing the bowl season, beat Penn State badly in the battle for Western Pennsylvania football talent this offseason.

The Panthers signed 11 players from this region to Penn State's two.

Three of the top players from New Jersey — a state Penn State once owned in terms of recruiting — are headed to the University of Michigan.

The emergence of Rutgers as a bowl contender is taking some recruits away from the Nittany Lions as well.

Then, of course, there's Jeannette quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who Penn State couldn't land despite urging from his father.

Rivals.com, which uses an extensive system to rate recruiting classes, ranked Penn State's 2008 recruiting class 43rd in the country. By comparison, Pitt was ranked 28th, West Virginia 42nd and Notre Dame second.

Big Ten schools with higher-ranked recruiting classes are Ohio State (fourth), Michigan (10th), Minnesota (17th), Illinois (23rd) and Wisconsin (41st).

Paterno has enjoyed a legendary run at Penn State.

But the time has come for Penn State to be run by somebody else.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle.