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CHICAGO - Nearing the end of a long day, the room at the Hyatt Regency Hotel snaps to attention when the bantam-weight octogenarian struts toward the podium. He ascends the steps a bit carefully, steadying himself on the rail, and those milling in the ballroom at the Big Ten Conference football media day scramble for a seat.
It's time to pay attention. It's time to focus on a living legend.
Joe Paterno has entered the room.
He is dressed in a coat, tie and thick eyeglasses, and as football icons go, the 81-year-old Paterno looks too small to have even been a one-time water boy.
But as everyone is quickly reminded, there is still fire and feistiness in the man who has been coaching at Penn State for nearly 60 years, the last 42 of them as head coach.
For 20 years, people have been asking him when he might retire, and for 20 years Paterno has in one way or another admitted he just doesn't know.
It's an answer that has satisfied few, and on Thursday, the hunt was on for new answers.
It doesn't take long for the inevitable question to arrive, although this year the questioner thought to say it in a different context.
``Coach, do you ever feel people are trying to force you out when you still have a lot to contribute?''
Paterno sighs, then briefly tries to give an answer.
``I haven't thought of it that way,'' Paterno begins. ``I get tired answering the same old question. When will I retire? I don't know. I can only say that so many times.
``I'd like to retire when I don't feel I can contribute to Penn State. I'm very obligated. I've been there 58 years. I want to get out when it's appropriate.''
Paterno inherited the job when Rip Engle retired and he said he'd like to pattern his exit after his one-time mentor.
``He left a lot of meat on the bones,'' Paterno said, meaning that Engle departed when the talent level was high. ``I inherited a very good football team. I hope I can do the same thing.
``I get tired of answering that question. I'm having a lot of fun. I don't want to get out of it but I don't want to get so stupid that I go so far that I can't leave it the way I'd like to leave it.''
I can accept that answer. Paterno still enjoys his job. He doesn't want to run the program into the ground. After a tough stretch from 2000 to 2004, when Penn State had a record of 26-33, Paterno's last three teams have finished 11-1, 9-4 and 9-4. So the program is hardly going to waste.
He figures to have a good team this season and he is respected as one of the great teachers, role models and advocates for college athletics in the game.
``An iconic winner, an iconic sportsman and an iconic educator,'' Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany called him Thursday.
But while I can accept the way Paterno loosely defines his retirement plans, others cannot. And so the inevitable follow-up question came:
``Can you see a scenario by which you might retire after this season?''
Everyone in the room knows this question will push Paterno's button, so everyone inches closer to hear his answer.
``I don't know,'' he said, his voice rising. ``I don't know. I don't know. Do you want me to spell it? I D-O-N-T know. I don't know. How many times can I say it?
``I'm having fun. I am enjoying it. That's the way it's going to go.
``We could lose 10 games by 15 points, and I may say we're that close, just one play away. You don't want to put those types of parameters on it, not in the business we're in.
``I'll know if I don't feel I am doing a good job. I'll know.''
And so for now, that's it. Joe Paterno will retire as Penn State's head football coach when he knows it's time. And right now, it's not time.
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, who praised Paterno's contribution to college football, said he wouldn't try to force the issue of retirement.
``If I were a betting man,'' Tressel said, ``I'd say he will be there in 2009.''
Mark Tupper can be reached at mtupper@herald-review.com or 421-7983.
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