As media attention lessens, Bradley talks more football

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The scene near the entrance of Beaver Stadium's media room on Tuesday was a far cry from the way it looked the week before, when Joe Paterno was still the head coach of the Penn State football team.

Last week on Tuesday, before the cancellation of the news conference just minutes before it was set to begin, hundreds of reporters, photographers and cameramen lined the sidewalk on Curtin Road waiting to get into the stadium.

On Tuesday, there was no line. Reporters were free to walk right in and claim seats. And though there remained a considerable national media presence that helped fill the room, the media contingent was much smaller than the week before.

Customarily, Paterno would arrive early for his 12:30 p.m. weekly press conferences. But the first edition of Tom Bradley's weekly news conferences began when the interim head coach entered the room just a minute or two before the conference was set to begin.

Bradley, known by many as "Scrap," confidently fielded questions for a little less than a half hour. For the most part, he had a serious look on his face, cracking a smile on only a few occasions. A member of the staff of 33 years, he did not seem nervous as he sat in front of a now sponsorless Penn State athletics backdrop.

Bradley's longer answers came on questions related to the team and Saturday's game at Ohio State. The coach emphasized he is trying to make sure the players are all in the loop and on the same page with everything going on with the team.

"The mood of the players is very upbeat. They've been great," Bradley said. "The players have been great at practice. They've been great with what they did. They've been great with the way they handled themselves throughout this whole thing. I couldn't ask for anything more from a group of young men.

"I told them on Saturday before the game I was awful proud of the way they handled themselves. I was proud to be their coach. And I was proud of everything they did. They fought hard on Saturday. But I let them know there's no moral victories. I let them know the way they kept fighting is the way we're going to keep doing it."