In Time, Paterno Has Slowed Down . . . but His Football Teams Haven’t

Joe Paterno says he is slowing down.

In the past, the Penn State coach was intimately involved in every aspect of the football program. Now he delegates much of his responsibility to his assistant coaches.

“When I was 45, I had a lot of energy,” said Paterno, who turns 60 on Dec. 21. “I had the film projector on at six in the morning and I didn’t mind working until midnight. I coached all the offenses, called all the plays, coached the defenses. It was fun for me. It may not have been much fun for the assistant coaches. But you can only do that for so long until it begins to wear on you.

“And the game is so much more complicated now. I was literally forced to turn much of the responsibility over to my assistants. I wish I would have done it sooner.”

The change certainly has not affected the play of the No. 2 Nittany Lions, who meet No. 1 Miami in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2 for the national championship.

Penn State (11-0) enjoyed its sixth undefeated regular season under Paterno. He has a career record of 198-44-2 ties, tied for ninth among Division I-A coaching winners. Sports Illustrated this week named Paterno its Sportsman of the Year, only the second time a coach has won the honor.

The Nittany Lions are 11-5-1 in bowl appearances under Paterno and the Fiesta Bowl marks the third time in the last five years Penn State has played for the national championship. In last season’s title game, Penn State lost to Oklahoma, 25-10, in the Orange Bowl.

Paterno contends it has been during the years of great success that he began to relax his approach.

“No way,” said Philadelphia Eagles receiver Kenny Jackson, who played on Penn State’s 1982 national championship team. “He was on one side of the field one minute and on the other side the next.

“One thing about him is, the reason he is a good coach is that he can coach everything. He knows what plays are going on, what’s happening on special teams and at practices. He was involved. So it’s not like he was just involved in the offense. He goes over the offense. And he goes over the defense. And he screams from one minute to the next.”

The screaming has not disappeared. But Paterno says his new approach has allowed him to further enjoy his job.

“The more responsibility I’ve given to the staff, the less details I am involved in, the more time I have to horse around with the squad,” he said.

“I’m glad I decided to do some of the things I did with the staff. It makes coaching more fun for me. I think I’m a little bit looser and, as a result, the kids probably enjoy being around me a little more than they did. I don’t know if they enjoy being around me at all but maybe they don’t ‘disenjoy’ me as much.”

That appears to be the case for some upperclassmen.

“He’s a little more laid back and more relaxed with the players,” defensive back Duffy Cobbs said. “When I first came here, he seemed a little more aloof from the players. But now he seems to be a little closer to us.”

Added quarterback John Shaffer: “As a freshman, I guess the old saying is, ‘When you’re 17 you couldn’t understand how much your dad didn’t know about anything, and when you’re 21 you couldn’t understand how much he learned in the last four years.’

“And I think as a freshman coming in, you were wide-eyed and bushy-tailed and didn’t realize what was going on. As a senior, you realize a lot of things he tried to push on you and a lot of the things he tried to push on the practice field, like putting pressure on the quarterback, that later on down the road, you realize why he was doing that.

“He’s a great man. He’s a great football coach. I think there are few football coaches around in the profession today who put as much emphasis on a football player, and the academic, student side of him, and tries to create an entire person.”

Receiver Gregg Garrity, a teammate of Jackson’s at Penn State and with the Eagles, says Paterno’s methods were of great value.

“At the time, I didn’t know a player that liked to play for him,” he said. “Once you get out and see how the real world is, you realize maybe this guy was doing us a favor. What to expect in the real world is what he taught us in the four years up there.”

Paterno says that approach will not change.

“I hope they get a feeling they’ve been able to accomplish some things with their education, not necessarily whether they’re preparing themselves for their vocation or making a lot of money,” he said. “But they know who they are, have had a chance to explore a lot of things, had a chance to meet different people, share different ideas, establish intellectual curiosity, enjoy learning, enjoy the thrill of finding out new things and testing their minds. Those kinds of things . . . are what I hope they will carry out of here.”