Veteran staff allows Paterno to rest easy

Penn State is 10-0 and the head coach has been in the press box the last four weeks.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Joe Paterno has coached the last four games from the press box because of a sore hip and right leg.

No. 3 Penn State hasn’t missed a beat, thanks in large part to a veteran staff of assistant coaches.

The Spread HD offense is scoring more than 42 points a game, more than enough cushion for the typically staunch defense. Paterno’s assistants, who together have more than 200 years of coaching experience, have helped keep the team hungry, focused and in the hunt for JoePa’s third career national title.

“You know, they know me. They can probably predict if they brought up something exactly how I was going to respond,” Paterno said. “We’ve been around together so long.”

Paterno took over as head coach in 1966 after serving as an assistant to Rip Engle. JoePa’s 43 seasons at the helm at Penn State are an NCAA record.

Dick Anderson, who coaches interior offensive linemen, has spent 31 seasons under Paterno. Tom Bradley has coached at Penn State for 30 seasons, the last nine as defensive coordinator. Defensive line coach Larry Johnson has been there for 13.

Offensive coordinator Galen Hall only joined Paterno in 2004, though he has 31 years of collegiate coaching experience total, including a head coaching stint at Florida in the 1980s.

A 1963 Penn State graduate, Hall started at quarterback for the Nittany Lions and was recruited by Paterno in high school. Jay Paterno, a 14-year veteran of the staff, was a backup QB at Penn State.

The staff was the target of some angry fans when Penn State was losing earlier this decade.

Lately, everything’s been rosy, and JoePa these days rarely lets a session with reporters go by without praising his assistants.

“One thing about Joe, when things are going well, he spreads the credit around,” Jay Paterno said. “When things are bad, he’s shouldering the blame.”

The players, led by a savvy group of seniors, have been buying into the coaches’ focus on small details. The coaches appear to be making all the right decisions.

Jay Paterno has done a good job preparing first-year starting quarterback Daryll Clark and keeping backup Pat Devlin ready when needed. Against Ohio State, Devlin came on for Clark and calmly led the Nittany Lions to the game-winning touchdown drive against Ohio State two weeks ago.