In a statement issued yesterday to the Associated Press, Spanier said, "I wish to reiterate my continuing support for coach Paterno," whom he described as "the most admired and accomplished football coach in America."

Two paragraphs later, Spanier added a caveat to all that gushing praise.

"Coach Paterno has not sought, nor has the university offered, a new contract for coach Paterno after his current contract concludes at the end of the 2008 season. We are in agreement that a contract [extension] would have little practicality given coach Paterno's seniority. None of us see that as necessary. Our preference is to continue to review the status of the program on an annual basis, and we will next do so at the conclusion of the 2008 season."

For those who have been following the JoePa cha-cha over the past several seasons, Spanier's statement is open to all manner of interpretation. But there is a growing school of thought that, at 81 and coming off a year in which a number of Nittany Lions were involved in embarrassing off-the-field incidents, college football's second-winningest coach no longer has the juice to fully dictate all aspects of the program or even the time and manner in which he steps away from a job he has held since 1966, and 1950 if you include his first season in State College as an assistant to Rip Engle.

Paterno, whose 372 career victories are just one behind the 373 posted by Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, has long been thought to wield such clout that it superseded even that of his school's president and athletic director.

Such apparently was the case toward the end of the 2004 season, a year in which Penn State lost its first six Big Ten Conference games and finished 4-7 overall. Twice, a four-man contingent - including Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley; Paterno declined to identify the other two people - met with JoePa for the apparent purpose of nudging him toward retirement.

"The direction they wanted to take was, 'Maybe it's time to go, Joe. You ought to think about getting out of it,' " Paterno said in December 2005, as he prepared the 10-1 and third-ranked Lions for an Orange Bowl matchup with Florida State.

"I had no intention to discuss that with them because I felt I would know when to get out of it. I said, 'Relax, get off my backside.' "

That 11-1 season, capped by a triple-overtime thriller over Bowden's Seminoles, gained Paterno numerous coach of the year honors and reaffirmed his status as one of his profession's genuine icons. But back-to-back 9-4 seasons, which would be cheered at many other colleges, have resulted in a bit of luster rubbing off of the Paterno legend and, along with it, a possible loosening of his iron grip on the program. There is a spreading feeling that Penn State has dropped behind not only perennial Big Ten powerhouses Ohio State and Michigan, but also Wisconsin and an emerging Illinois.

Penn State's past two recruiting classes have not included high-impact playmakers on offense, and the skeptics again are wondering aloud if the game finally has passed the grand old man by.

What's more, Paterno's stubborn refusal to even consider a possible succession plan has left Penn State often to speculation that he intends to hang on for as long as he can. Last year, two universities - Florida State and Purdue - announced the names of assistant coaches who would step up to the top spot at the appropriate time. Jimbo Fisher will succeed Bowden one of these seasons, and Danny Hope takes over for retiring Purdue coach Joe Tiller in 2009.

The lack of a succession plan, which Paterno has opposed, possibly has harmed recruiting and raised questions for which there are no immediate answers. America's top quarterback prospect, Terrelle Pryor of Jeannette High in western Pennsylvania, announced he had chosen Ohio State over Penn State in part because there was no assurance a Lions coach he admired, longtime defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, was next in line behind Paterno.

"With regard to succession planning, I want to assure everyone that the three of us are very mindful of the importance of a smooth transition and we are very confident that will occur when we reach that point," Spanier said in the e-mail. "We acknowledge and respect that other institutions have recently announced different succession plans, but we feel that each university must evaluate its own approach . . .

"We will be prepared when the time comes, and of course we will identify someone who would continue Penn State's values and traditions, pursuing success in a way that makes us all proud while extending the great reputation we enjoy nationally. We will be prepared when the time comes."

If Penn State chooses to remain in-house whenever Paterno steps down, or is elbowed aside, the most likely candidate to replace him is the loyal Bradley, a former Penn State player who has been on Paterno's staff since 1979. That Bradley has not been designated as such, by Paterno or by Spanier or Curley, opens the door to speculation that the school could go outside to bring in a big-name coach such as Rutgers' Greg Schiano, a former Paterno assistant whose interest in returning to Penn State is something of an open secret.

For Paterno to survive beyond 2008, it could well be that he needs to pull another 12-1 rabbit out of his hat, take the Lions to a BCS bowl and scrub away the taint of the recent arrests and suspensions of some of his players. *