Pressure on Paterno builds as losses continue to mount

The losing has affected his confident, he's admitted.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- The coaching legacy and goodwill that Joe Paterno proudly built for five decades at Penn State are slowly unraveling with each humbling loss.
The days of scanning the schedule for gimme victories are over -- just ask Purdue and Northwestern, which this season got their first wins in Happy Valley.
Paterno hardly needs his thick, smoky glasses to see he's losing more than games: Thousands of seats at Beaver Stadium have been empty at recent home games, and Paterno is no longer impervious to the criticisms routinely reserved for coaches with lesser pedigrees or without reputations as community patricians.
The message is clear -- and getting louder -- from the grumbling dissenters: Joe must go.
The situation has become sensitive. A Pittsburgh radio station admitted Thursday to starting a rumor that Paterno had retired, yet Penn State still issued an official response.
"Statements made on a Pittsburgh radio station earlier today regarding the future of Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno are unfounded and untrue," the statement said.
Fans won't sway him
Paterno, whose 341-116-3 record puts him second in career victories in Division I-A behind only Florida State's Bobby Bowden, is listening. Just don't expect him to decide his future based on the whims of fickle fans.
"If you think that I am going to back out of it because I am intimidated, you are wrong. If you think I am going to stay when I think I am not doing a good job, you're wrong," he said. "Those things have to develop, they have to evolve. Right now, I think we can get this thing done and do a good job."
The numbers give little reason for hope.
The Nittany Lions (2-7, 0-6) are the only Big Ten team without a conference victory entering Saturday's game at Indiana. They have lost six consecutive games, including a school-record tying three straight at home.
Penn State has four losing seasons in the last five years and the senior class will leave having played in only one bowl game. When asked about his future, the 77-year-old Paterno often turns cantankerous, using his 55 years on the staff as a sense of entitlement to dismiss his critics.
Expects to be back
His determination, his unyielding belief and his four-year contract that will keep him on the school's payroll past his 80th birthday give little reason to expect anyone but the coach affectionately known as JoePa will be on the sideline next year.
"I am looking to get this program back to where it belongs and if I can't get it done in a certain amount of time, I have to sit back and say, 'Hey, turn it over to some other guy and can I help?' That is the way it will be," he said.
And that time is?
"I haven't got the slightest idea," he said. "I don't see any reason to say, 'I'm going to get out of here this year, next year or what year.' I don't mean that to be cocky, stubborn or anything like that. I am just trying to do what is right."
What to do with the fading legend seems to be tearing at the conscience of the Penn State community. Has Paterno, who's donated millions to the school in addition to his football success, earned the right to decide his own fate? Or should university officials give him a nudge out the door?
"I think he'll never step down," said former Penn State defensive end Michael Haynes, now with the Chicago Bears. "Right now we're having some issues, but it's still all fixable."
Paterno said he receives support from fans and former players who call and write him letters.
And so far, he's has shown he can still recruit: His latest class was rated among the nation's top 20 by most analysts.
Still, the losing has affected his confidence.
"Yeah, I get shaky once in a while," Paterno said. "I would be less than honest if I told you I didn't. That doesn't mean that I lose faith."