Spanier expects Paterno to continue coaching, talks about hiring process

By Adam Smeltz

UNIVERSITY PARK -- Penn State President Graham Spanier is "quite certain" that Joe Paterno will continue to coach the Nittany Lions football team again in the 2008 season, Spanier told university trustees this morning.

What happens beyond 2008 hasn't been determined, said Spanier, who confirmed that Paterno, 81, has about a year remaining on his current contract at Penn State. Paterno has been head football coach since 1966.

"We have not had an opportunity yet to have discussions about what will happen going forward," Spanier said.

He made the comments in response to a general inquiry from trustee Edward Hintz. The trustees are holding a regular bimonthly meeting today at the Nittany Lion Inn.

Spanier also discussed -- briefly -- the process that the university will use to hire a successor to Paterno. He said the process will be "really no different from how it would work for any other hiring decisions at the university."

Under typical Penn State practice, he said, a hiring decision for an available position is made by an immediate supervisor and involves "the concurrence or involvement (of someone) one level up from that decision."

In the case of the head football-coaching job, the hiring decision would be made by the athletic director -- Tim Curley -- with involvement from the university president, Spanier said.

"It goes without saying that we are mindful of the fact that there is a tremendous level of interest in that particular decision -- more than the hiring of the typical assistant professor," Spanier said with a smile, generating chuckles in the board room.

Adam Smeltz can be reached at 231-4631.