At 79, Paterno Remains the Constant
After 11-1 Season, Penn State Is Back Among Elite
Things are looking good for Joe Paterno, who is entering his 41st season as the Nittany Lions' head coach.
(By Carolyn Kaster -- Associated Press)
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Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Joe Paterno leans back after sipping his second cup of coffee and easily shares his thoughts on everything from Tolstoy to the T-formation.
On the fragility of life: "I do a lot of walking, and every once in a while, I step on an ant. And I say to myself, 'You know, we ain't nothing but ants.' "
On the proliferation of online recruiting Web sites: "I don't have a computer. I don't fool around with Web sites. And I don't get into this, what do you call it, text messages?"
On CBS news anchor Katie Couric: "Katie who?"
These days, it seems Paterno has all the right answers.
Penn State ended a lean streak in Happy Valley by storming to an 11-1 record last year, a season in which the 79-year-old Paterno wiped out talk of the game having passed him by.
He returns for his 41st year as Penn State's head coach with high hopes and no hint of a retirement plan. While much of last year's senior-dominated Orange Bowl championship team is gone, the Nittany Lions return star linebacker Paul Posluszny and mammoth tackle Levi Brown.
If the young defense matures and quarterback Anthony Morelli can step in for the explosive Michael Robinson, the Joe Paterno Redemption Tour could roll on for another year.
"I'm very confident in our chances this year," said Brown, a 6-foot-5, 328-pound senior. "We might be young and inexperienced in a couple of places, but I think those guys are ready to take on the challenge. They're all hungry because everybody's saying the inexperience is going to cause problems. So they have something to prove."
Nobody has more to prove than Morelli, a junior who steps in after Robinson racked up 3,156 total offensive yards while giving the Nittany Lions a Vince Young-like look on offense.
A highly touted recruit out of high school, Morelli becomes the starting quarterback after throwing for just 155 yards on 13-for-20 passing in limited action last season.
"He's better than that," Paterno said of Morelli's numbers.
