On the eve of a game that will decide if his Nittany Lions spend New Year’s Day at the Rose Bowl, Joe Paterno says he’ll be back again next year:
With rumors of his retirement swirling about campus and throughout the country for days, Penn State head coach Joe Paterno told a pep rally at Rec Hall Friday night that he will return in 2009 “and run out of that tunnel next year.”
The crowd of approximately 6,500 Penn State fans, some wearing “Joe Can’t Go” t-shirts, roared its approval. The players for the No. 8 Nittany Lions (10-1), who can win at least a share of the Big Ten Conference championship and a Rose Bowl bid by defeating No. 15 Michigan State (9-2) on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, joined in the celebration as well.
Paterno, 81, stood and spoke for 15 minutes without the cane he has used since injuring his right hip earlier this season. He has acknowledged recently that he needs hip replacement surgery and will undergo it soon, perhaps as early as next week.
Paterno said at his weekly news conference Tuesday that “I expect to be back on the field” next season. However, Nittany Lion fans around the country have continued to speculate that Paterno would announce after the game Saturday that he would retire. One rumor said Paterno would make the announcement at a dinner Saturday night that many of his former players would attend.
Stay tuned, I guess.
