Paterno turns 80, showing no plans to retire as Penn State football coach
STATE COLLEGE — Shane Conlan remembers asking Joe Paterno nearly two decades ago the question that everyone still wants to know the answer to.
How much longer will you be coaching?
"Oh, a few more years," Conlan, a Penn State linebacking great, said recently in recalling Paterno's reply. "Then when I was in the NFL, I said, 'How long are you going to keep going?' He said, 'Ah, a few more years.' That was 10 years ago."
Paterno turns 80 on Thursday, but the answer is still the same. Even a broken left leg hasn't changed his tune.
"I had planned before I got injured to coach at least a couple more years," Paterno said earlier this month. "I don't think the injury has set me back that far. It remains to be seen, but right now I am planning on doing exactly what I had planned to do before I got injured."
Milestone birthday aside, 2006 has already been a memorable year for Paterno.
The Nittany Lions won the Orange Bowl in January to cap a memorable 2005 season in which the school won the Big Ten and finished No. 3 in the polls.
The 2006 season marked Paterno's 41st campaign leading Penn State, tying the record for most seasons coaching one school set by Amos Alonzo Stagg at the University of Chicago between 1892 and 1932.
Then on Nov. 4, Paterno got walloped in a sideline collision with two players at Wisconsin. He fractured his shinbone, tore two knee ligaments in his left leg and had surgery the next day.
The injury forced Paterno to watch Penn State's 47-0 rout of Temple on Nov. 11 from home — the first JoePa-less game for Penn State since 1977, when Paterno skipped a game after his son David was involved in an accident. The head coach returned to Beaver Stadium to catch the victory over Michigan State in the regular-season finale, taking in the game from the press box.
The Paterno family isn't planning any big celebrations this week, though they had a small get-together after Thanksgiving to mark the occasion. JoePa likes to keep his birthday low-key, son and quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said Wednesday night.
Joining his players on the sideline at the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1 against No. 17 Tennessee might be Paterno's biggest birthday wish right now.
Paterno has said he intends to lead the Lions from the field, though team doctor Wayne Sebastianelli has the final word.
"Coach Paterno, it seems like he's 40 years old," safety Anthony Scirrotto said. "The guy has a fire inside of him that keeps burning, and I don't think it's going out any time soon."
Sebastianelli has said that Paterno has progressed well since the surgery and should be able to walk under his own power again in a month or so. Paterno has been watching practice from a golf cart, and recently began walking on his own with the help of a walker.
"He picked it up and started holding it above his head when he walked," Jay Paterno said.
