Paterno not optimistic about PSU-Pitt revival

He said that the economic realities of a 12-game season hurt the chances.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Joe Paterno doesn’t sound very optimistic about the prospects of the Pitt-Penn State football series reconvening any time soon.

Speaking Tuesday before a Penn State alumni event, Paterno said the economic realities in an era of 12-game football seasons hurt the chances of the in-state rivals playing again.

“We’re not sure exactly how many games we can play out of the Big Ten,” Paterno said. “Financially, we have to have seven home games. If Pitt would say tomorrow, ‘We’ll go twice up to your place if you come once down here ...’ The last time we came to Pitt, they charged more money for our game than any other game.”

Penn State and Pitt have played 96 times with Penn State holding a 50-42-4 edge in the series that was an annual meeting until 1992 — about the time Pitt joined the Big East and Penn State the Big Ten.

The two schools met from 1997-2000, but have not since and have no plans to.

Reiterates conference

During a 30-minute session with the Pittsburgh media, Paterno reiterated his efforts to get Pitt and other eastern independents to form an all-sports conference in the 1980s.

Paterno said the Big East — then a fledgling basketball league — tried to get Penn State to join.

“I told them the future of the East was an all-sports conference,” Paterno said.

With Penn State locked into nonconference games with Notre Dame, Alabama, Syracuse and Virginia in coming years — and Pitt set on only playing in State College on an every-other-year basis — one of college football’s oldest rivalries appears dead.

“I personally would like to have a home-and-home series with Pitt,” Paterno said. “But I don’t think it’s realistic right now.”

Paterno also talked about upcoming discipline for six players allegedly involved in an off-campus altercation and his future with the team.

Ruling on players soon

The university’s judicial affairs office is expected to rule soon about the players — including starters Anthony Scirrotto and Justin King — linked to the April 1 altercation. Criminal charges against four of the players were dropped at a hearing last month, but Scirrotto and Chris Baker face trial on charges including burglary, criminal trespass, simple assault and harassment.

“I hope [judicial affairs] comes out with [their discipline] as soon as they feel comfortable,” Paterno said. “They’ll come out with it when they feel they’ve made a fair decision, and I think they will.”

Paterno told the media he doesn’t “have the slightest idea when my contract ends,” joking with Penn State athletic director Tim Curley when the subject was broached by a reporter.

He also claimed he didn’t know what his salary was. The university is facing a lawsuit brought by a Harrisburg newspaper arguing that his salary should be public record because Penn State receives state funding.

“Honest to God,” he said. “I never had an agent, I never negotiated a contract.”