CAMP HILL, Pa. — Joe Paterno couldn't wait to get back to the beach.

Since his last trip in July 2005, the 79-year-old Paterno had fended off whispers that he was too old-school to coach today's athletes; led the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten title and an Orange Bowl win; and fetched one of the nation's top recruiting classes.

But telling naysayers "I told you so?" "That's not my style," Paterno said before a recent fundraiser in suburban Harrisburg.

Instead, Paterno dived right back into work after the Orange Bowl in January, firming up commitments from top recruits for the fall and starting to work on next year's class. He often meets with coaches two or three times a week in non-recruiting months. And then there are the fundraising dinners and school events that dot his calendar.

"It's been a long year for me," Paterno said before another fundraiser in suburban Philadelphia. "I've got one more of these, then I'm looking forward to going down to the shore and walk on the beach."

"Once I get there, I'll be fine."

Paterno is about to start his 41st season as Penn State's coach, and he shows little signs of slowing down.

His spring and summer schedule includes trips around the country in which he'll wine and dine with die-hard or well-heeled Penn State fans. At Valley Forge, fathers and sons showed up with miniature helmets or glossy magazine covers that they hoped Paterno would autograph.

He says he enjoys the interactions. His aides say that while this offseason isn't any extra busier than other years, Paterno is a little more involved in fundraising.

Paterno, though, has delegated more responsibilities to his assistants and may not be as intensely involved as in previous years.

He could delegate a little more to his assistants, but "I don't want to step back too far because then they when I look around, they won't let me in," he joked as he lounged on a hotel couch and took sips from a drink. "So every once in a while, I'll stick my two cents in and yell at some of the coaches something terrible because I don't know what's going on."

But planning for the 2006 season has begun in earnest.

It's never too early to start scouting opponents, which Paterno does from the comfort of his modest State College home. Players have already been given computer discs with information to study up for the first game, against Akron on Sept. 2.

And Paterno is quick to point out Penn State's early season schedule, which includes visits to national title contenders Notre Dame and Ohio State.

"Every season, you hopefully want to go in with some sense of urgency. Last year, obviously, we were hanging in there," Paterno said.

He often said after the down 2004 campaign that his team was several broken plays or bad calls away from having a winning squad, and how he asked for patience from school administrators.

"It's not a question of 'I told you so,"' Paterno said. "They gave me a chance to keep my coaches and I appreciate that. It's not a finger pointing thing. I just think they had enough confidence that they understood where I was coming from. I kept telling people that we weren't that far off a few years ago."