Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Associated Press
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Joe Paterno said Thursday that he will be in the press box at Beaver Stadium to watch his team's regular-season finale against Michigan State this weekend.
The injured Penn State coach made the announcement on the "Nittany Lion Hotline" call-in radio show broadcast from State College.
"I'm feeling much better. I got out to practice the last three days," Paterno told host Steve Jones. "I'm going to take a while before I am able to get up on this bad leg but I feel good, I really do."
Paterno broke a shinbone and injured two knee ligaments Nov. 4 after a sideline collision with two players at Wisconsin. When he missed last Saturday's game against Temple, it was only his second absence in 41 years as head coach.
Paterno did not specifically say he would be coaching Saturday against the Spartans, but Penn State spokesman Jeff Nelson said Thursday night he expects that will be the case.
"I would anticipate that he plans on doing some coaching while he is there," Nelson said. "We're just very happy that coach Paterno continues to improve with each day and his leg is improving each day and he's starting his rehab."
Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley and offensive coordinator Galen Hall have been substituting for Paterno, 79, since his leg surgery nearly two weeks ago.
Paterno's only other absence came in 1977 after his son David was involved in an accident.
A Penn State win Saturday would likely lock up a berth in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 1.
"I'm really excited, looking forward to it," Paterno told Jones via telephone from his house in State College. "I'll be there, I'll up in the press box watching. I haven't been up there since the first 16 years I've coached."
