Paterno wants freshmen to be ineligible to play

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - One legend wants to turn back the clock and make freshmen ineligible again. The other wants to make time move forward by allowing text messaging between coaches and recruits.

Longtime Penn State coach football coach Joe Paterno, whose 401 career victories are the most in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and Duke basketball coach Mike Kryzyewski, whose 900 career wins are three shy of the NCAA Division I record, were the headliners on the ESPN program: Difference Makers: Life Lessons with Paterno & Kryzyewski, Monday afternoon during the taping at Penn State's Eisenhower Auditorium.

Monday marked the first time the coaching legends spent time together. But you wouldn't know it by their constant interaction.

Paterno sat on stage between host Rece Davis and Kryzyewski. During every commercial break, the two-time national champion looked to his left at Kryzyewski. The two chatted and joked until the next segment started.

Paterno even kept poking fun at the basketball coach with four national championships, 11 Final Four appearances and 27 NCAA tournament berths during their hour together on stage.

In one segment, Kryzyewski revealed that he told his three daughters "to find someone who's good looking and you can trust" in a mate.

Paterno later responded: "I wonder what his wife's father told her."

But in true JoePa fashion, the 84-year-old also made fun of himself.

During a question-and-answer piece, a female audience member asked Paterno what it was like to be one of Penn State's biggest icons.

"As far as being an icon, tell me what is an icon," he said. "If you mean someone good looking, handsome, I like it."

In addition to laughing at Paterno's jokes, the invitation-only crowd of about 1,000 listened to the coaches explore topics such as teaching, family, leadership and excellence. They even touched on NCAA guidelines in regards to practice, rule violations and the number of scholarships.

Paterno would like the see the NCAA increase the number FBS scholarships from 85 to 90. He also wants to freshmen to go back to being ineligible for varsity. Both coaches want more practice time among other things.

"The NCAA needs to modernize," Kryzyewski said in reference to the NCAA's ban on coaches' text messaging high school prospects as a means of recruitment. "We need to revamp the system to keep up with the culture. We have an electronic community. We need to modernize to get up to the culture."

Paterno said he needs a clearer interpretation of the rules. "I broke a rule the other day," he said. "I have an indoor [practice facility] and the kids were working out."

While walking past the facility, Paterno noticed the players and stopped momentarily to watch. He later told his coaches what he saw.

"I said, 'The kid was looking good,' " Paterno said. "They said, 'You know you broke a rule.' "

In reality, Paterno and Kryzyewski have two of the cleanest programs in college athletics.

"I try to keep an honest program not because I'm a do-gooder," Paterno said. "It is because I'm selfish. I don't want somebody to come here because some guy is going to buy them a meal."

The program airs June 30 for an hour on ESPN at 8 p.m., with the final half-hour segment on ESPNU at 9.