I could be imagining things. It is certainly a possibility that, as I approach the ripe old age of 28, my brain has begun to make things happen that actually did not in order to suit my fancy.
However, I will instead choose to stay positive and stick to my conviction that Joe Paterno, at some point during the 2006 or 2007 season, when asked for the squintillionth time about how much longer he intended to coach and whether he was ready to hang it up, finally gave a specific answer.
Joe had traditionally, like clockwork, answered those two questions with "not just yet" and "three more years." Everyone accepted that to be the case after the sixth or seventh three-year period passed and nothing really changed.
Then, during the moment I mentioned, Joe said that he wasn't entirely sure about exactly when he wanted to hang it up, but he did know one thing for sure: when he finally made the decision to call it a career and let another coach follow in his massive footsteps, he wanted to make sure that coach was in the best possible environment to succeed - especially given how wrong the 2003 and 2004 seasons had gone.
Perfectly understandable. The team had a sudden swoon, and Joe wanted to make sure he had reestablished the team where it was before he moved along. There was also the same feeling that every other coach and superstar player has - of wanting to go out on top, on a high note - but Joe doesn't talk about that.
Given that mindset for Joe, I think this is the perfect time for the man known colloquially as JoePa to call it a good life after this season. I would of course be foolish not to elaborate:
Pros
- This is shaping up to be a good year for the Nittany Lions. They're already 7-0 and ranked No. 3 in the country after pummeling a Wisconsin team that was supposed to be their first real challenge. Their remainig schedule features teams they will be heavily favored against (Iowa, Indiana, and Michigan) and those they will be at least slight favorites against (Ohio State and Michigan State). Ohio State is the only team on their schedule that is better than the seven they've beaten thusfar, so if they continue to play at their current level, there's no reason they shouldn't win the conference and at least head to the Rose Bowl, if not a BCS bowl.
- The team is deep with talent. Between Darryl Clark, Pat Devlin, Evan Royster, Stephfon Green and Andrew Quarless on offense, and Aaron Maybin, Sean Astorino, Ollie Ogbu and Knowledge Timmons on defense, this team has more than enough talent to weather the first couple seasons of transition into a new coach and/or staff.
- Paterno spends less time than ever actually coaching. Galen Hall coaches the offense, Tom Bradley coaches the defense, and Joe chimes in when he catches a weakness to exploit or sees a player do something dumb. He's even occasionally coaching from up in the press box now that his age has started to take its toll on his legs (a process that was only accelerated by the injuries against Wisconsin last season and again in practice this season).
- The Big Ten is a bit down, and the Lions can thank Terrelle Pryor. The traditional powers are slipping. Michigan is enduring a complete systemic overhaul under Rodriguez, one made longer when he didn't land Pryor as a recruit, and Ohio State is completely reworking its offense around him, so it will develop gradually along with him. Illinois still has no defense and Wisconsin has no offense, factors that are unlikely to change very suddenly.
- The offense is already shifting. The team still goes deep to Deion Butler or relies on Derrick Williams' speed, but for the most part they offense has shifted away from the wide reciever trio that had defined the offense and into the hands of the players who will be back next year (Clark, Royster).
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