NEW YORK — Joe Paterno felt like he was in charge again this spring.
With his surgically replaced hip, Penn State’s 82-year-old coach was back on the field coaching his team the way he likes. He’s more mobile, more energetic and more patient these days, free of the pain that had dogged him for two years.
The Nittany Lions are truly his team again.
“I coached this spring. That may be the kiss of death,” Paterno kidded with reporters Thursday. “Last year all I did was supervise. I was really more of an observer.
“Now I can grab the kid and say, ‘You can’t do it that way.”’
Paterno spent almost all of last season coaching from the press box during games and using a golf cart to get around practice because of an aching hip that had been bothering him for two years.
The Nittany Lions went 11-2 last season, winning the Big Ten and contending for a national title. They lost to Southern California in the Rose Bowl.
Paterno said the pain in his hip had been so bad he could barely get out of bed in the morning. He credited his assistants for keeping Penn State on top.
“I have a great staff. Those two years I didn’t do much. We had a pretty good football team last year, and I didn’t do much,” he said.
He said the pain not only kept him away from his team on the fields, it affected how he dealt with his players away from it.
“I’m a little more patient. I have more kids come in and talk to me about some things,” he said.
In November, he had hip replacement surgery and the pain went away. As he prepares for his 43rd season as the Nittany Lions head coach, Paterno is feeling great.
Paterno was in New York for a fundraiser and spoke with a small group of reporters at a Manhattan hotel about a wide range of topics.
He touched on his famous distaste for the Bowl Championship Series, and his desire for a playoff. He said the Big Ten should add a 12th team and play a championship game, and that it hurts the league’s chances to win a national title by ending its season earlier than the other major conferences.
He said he thought the NCAA was being unfair to Florida State coach Bobby Bowden when it ruled Florida State would have to vacate victories as part of punishment for an academic cheating scandal.
Paterno is the winningest coach in major college football history with 383 victories. Bowden is second with 382 and would have virtually no chance to pass Paterno if he had to give back as many as 14 wins.
“Bobby coached the team he had and he won,” Paterno said. “He ought to get credit for the wins. That’s ridiculous.”
While the discussion and the questions drifted around, the 40-minute interview session started and finished with Paterno talking about his health.
This offseason has been a quieter one as far as Paterno- and Penn State-related news goes. The Nittany Lions were dealing with several off-the-field issues last year at this time because of players getting into trouble with the law. Plus, Paterno went into last season without a contract for 2009, which fueled speculation about retirement.
Now he’s got a three-year deal in place and not once did the topic of retirement come up during the interview.
“This year’s been a fun year for me,” he said.
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