Penn State gives Paterno, 81, three-year extension
Associated Press
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State coach Joe Paterno has a new three-year contract extension to go along with his new hip.
The Hall of Famer and winningest coach in major college football history has agreed to a new deal with the university, the athletic department said yesterday in a statement.
The agreement will provide "for the opportunity of Coach Joe Paterno leading the football program through the 2011 season," the statement said. JoePa turns 82 on Sunday.
Terms of the extension were not announced.
"It was also agreed that the parties might re-evaluate their circumstances and alter the arrangement by either shortening or extending its length as necessary," the statement said.
The agreement ends months of speculation about Paterno's future since his current deal had expired following this season, his 43rd at the university.
Contract questions still dogged both sides until Nov. 22, when Paterno said after the Big Ten title-clinching win over Michigan that he wasn't worried about getting an extension done before the No. 6 Nittany Lions play No. 5 Southern California in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.
"If we can work out something that they are comfortable with and I'm comfortable with before the bowl, fine," Paterno said. "I just get tired of recruits asking me, 'How long are you going to be there?' But most of them are fine."
