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Jerry Kellar
Wednesday, February 09, 2000 Page: 1B
Perhaps the greatest misconception about Penn State football is that the
team’s coordinators, supervisors or whatever Joe Paterno wants to call them
these days are actually allowed to do their jobs without the boss constantly
sticking in his two cents.
Frankly, nothing could be further from the truth.
And Paterno isn’t about to apologize for that. Nor should he.
The man has more than earned the right to do whatever he sees fit with his
football program.
So when the coach says “I’m going to have a hand in everything,” like he
did during Monday’s press conference to announce coaching staff changes, he
means everything.
But, then, what else is new at Penn State?
That in mind, I always find it comical when Nittany Lions fans blame Fran
Ganter for anything and everything that goes wrong with the team’s offense.
Ganter, who was promoted to assistant head coach Monday, will still be in
charge of the offense.
He’ll just be lucky if he gets to call half the plays.
You see, Paterno has this annoying way of taking over on game day. Watch
him long enough and you’ll see him wander over to where Ganter is situated on
the sidelines, inform him that he’d like to “take it for a while,” then ask
for the coveted headset.
The headset, in case you didn’t know, is the keys to the offense.
And, after 29 years with the program, Ganter has come to accept that Joseph
Vincent Paterno needs to be in the driver’s seat.
As such, the man who turned down the head coaching job at Michigan State
out of loyalty to his alma mater understands what’s in store for him this
season and in seasons to come at Happy Valley.
“I don’t think,” Ganter says without pause, “much will change on
offense.”
As is his custom, Ganter was upbeat about his new role with the team, even
if, deep down, he knew things weren’t about to change in the least.
“He has some really good ideas,” he says of Paterno, who has signed on
for five more years and hopes to stay even longer. “It looked like he spent a
lot of time preparing for this. It sounds exciting.”
After the great collapse of 1999, Lion fans can only hold their collective
breath and hope.
Asked if all the shakeup in personnel responsibilities was Paterno’s way of
easing into retirement, Ganter laughed.
“Not one bit,” he said. “It’s been like that since the day I started
working here. He comes in here with piles of notes. He looks at tape at home.
It’s amazing.
“I coach football and I recruit. He (Paterno) coaches football, he
recruits, he raises money. I am totally amazed at how he keeps this up.”
For this, Paterno’s answer is simple – and revealing.
“I don’t know what else I’d do,” he said. “I love coaching.”
Really, who can argue with that?
Kellar can be reached at 829-7243 or jkellar@leader.net