First Losing Season Has Pushed Joe Paterno to a Renewed Focus

When Penn State beat Virginia by 28 points in its season opener last year, Nittany Lions Coach Joe Paterno tried to console Cavaliers Coach George Welsh with some rare honesty: “Hey, I’ve got a pretty good group of people.”

What followed was Penn State’s first losing season in 50 years. The whys for that 5-6 embarrassment included losing some of those pretty good people to injuries and Paterno thinking he could build teams and libraries at the same time.

“I hurt my staff last year,” he admitted Tuesday.

Paterno has been a major factor the last couple of years in Penn State’s raising about $300 million for non-athletic purposes, his own special interests being libraries and minority scholarships.

“Too many times I left (football) meetings with some things up in the air,” he said. “I just did not get down to detail. And what happened, I think, is what usually happens -- you put just enough in to be a problem.

“You stick your two cents in there, but you don’t follow up. Or follow through. And you get people uneasy, confused. (Offensive coordinator) Fran Ganter had the toughest job in the country last year, because I was not that much (help).

“I think that (inattention) probably filtered down to the football team. ... I deserved the kind of season we had.”

Among other changes this season, Paterno has tried to will 10 years off his life.

“I told my wife (Sue) I’m not 62, I’m 52,” he said. “I can’t do what I want to do if I’m 62. I can only do what I want if I’m 52. If I could make some things happen (in his mid-60s) that I did (in his late 50s), I’d be happy.”

Penn State won the national championship in 1982 and 1986. At 62-going-on-52, Paterno dearly wants to follow last season’s problems with another surge toward No. 1.

For Virginia this week, Paterno has regained the services of the quarterback who played so well during that 42-14 victory last year and the tailback who was supposed to be running through the National Football League by now.

Tom Bill completed 15 of 22 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns in his debut as Penn State’s regular quarterback. Two games later, during a 21-16 loss here to Rutgers, he suffered a dislocated kneecap and missed the rest of the season. Previous injuries to other quarterbacks forced Paterno to use freshman Tony Sacca, who learned enough from adversity to challenge Bill for the job this season.

Paterno in prior years has preferred to choose a starter and go with him as long as possible. Against the Cavaliers, the coach said, Sacca also will play.

“Tony’s not as far along on some of the cute stuff,” Paterno said, “some things we do on the line of scrimmage.”

Keenest anticipation for the offense is the return of tailback Blair Thomas, about whom Paterno has said: “We have not had a player in my 40 years on campus who works any harder, practices any harder, is more committed, more loyal and better liked.”

Thomas, by the end of the 1987 regular season, had run for 1,414 yards and gained another 358 catching passes and returning kicks. Preparing for the Florida Citrus Bowl against Clemson in early December, he suffered a knee injury that required reconstructive surgery.

His run for the Heisman Trophy delayed a year, Thomas four days before the opener is sound enough -- and his backups skilled enough -- so that last season’s leading rusher, Gary Brown, has been moved to defense.

“The first day back (for fall practice),” Thomas said, “I started running and cutting and I knew I was back (in top form). Right then and there. The second scrimmage, I got a hit on the knee, got it twisted in a strange way, and bounced right back up.”

During the final all-out scrimmage, nine days ago, Thomas lost to a foot injury the large fellow slated to escort him through Virginia and other defenses, fullback Sam Gash. Moving up will be an even larger blocker-runner, 6-foot-5, 238-pound sophomore John Gerak.

This has not caused Thomas to lower personal and team goals.

“I want to have a better year than two years ago (which would put him in contention to pass Curt Warner and become State’s all-time career rusher),” he said. “You don’t ever stand still. You either get better or don’t do as well.”

Thomas was here when Penn State went 23-1 during a stretch that began with the start of the 1985 regular season and ended with a victory over Miami in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl for the national championship. The only loss was the 1986 Orange Bowl battle to Oklahoma for the national title. The Lions were 6-5 in 1984.

“This pre-season has been different from the one last year,” Thomas said. “Last year, the two-a-day practices each lasted an hour and a half, maybe an hour and 45 minutes. This year, they’ve been 2 1/2 hours.”

That’s why one of Paterno’s concerns is fatigue. Perhaps he’s pushed too hard too soon.

“I’m hoping after (Tuesday) they’ll start to feel good about themselves,” he said. “I hope they’ll start enjoying the game. Up to now, it’s been work, work, work. ... This is a stoic team that works extremely hard, a very committed football team right now.”

Added offensive tackle Tim Freeman: “What I see is a lot of people ready to hit somebody.”