The retirement rumors buzzing around Penn State football coach Joe Paterno are funny. At least he says so.

After an 0-4 start, still waiting for the win that would tie him with Bear Bryant's all-time win record, Paterno continues to say that he is more than fit to coach. The only way he would consider retiring now, he said, is if his players don't think he is holding up to his end of the bargain.

And that is a joke in itself.

"These past few weeks he's actually gotten into three-point stances," cornerback Bryan Scott said. "He actually ran up to the quarterback and tried to make the tackle."

Paterno has not only been more hands-on in practice during this trying time, but he is still involved with team drills. Recently, he pushed linebacker Shamar Finney out of the way and took his position for a play.

He also tried to do a dive drill with the offensive line, but Gus Felder joked that the old man didn't want anything to do with them.

The biggest problem the Nittany Lions have to worry about with their 74-year-old coach is his insurgence into assistant coach's drills and constantly sticking in his two cents. Paterno said he loves to get down in the trenches with the players and getting them ready to play each Saturday.

After all these years of coaching at Penn State, Paterno still loves the teaching that being a coach brings to the practice field.

"The thing I have always enjoyed about coaching was really just getting in there with the kids and pushing them and shoving them," the coach said. "I have always enjoyed that."

And Paterno continues to enjoy it. Even though people continue to harp about his old age, his team's record and the lack of talent this Penn State team has showed on the field, Paterno brushes all that and more aside.

The coach said his biggest concern is getting his players better for the next seven games, starting with Northwestern on Saturday. Paterno said he blames himself for any problems surrounding the team.

He isn't ducking away, blaming his coaches or his players.

Paterno has given credit to his talented players and superb coaching staffs during the times the Lions have been successful. Now, the coach who is synonymous with Penn State football is taking all the criticism.

"The only pressure I have on me that is different is that I have a bunch of kids we recruited who came here with high expectations," Paterno said. "Now I feel bad that I, maybe, haven't done enough for them to make sure that their expectations have been met."

Finney has seen first-hand Paterno's involvement in practice and said he has taken a much more hands-on approach. With Paterno's vast knowledge of college football, Finney is pleased his coach has taken more to the practice field and is working with the players to get better each day.

Paterno is still doing the same things he has been doing since the first day he stepped onto the Penn State practice field a half-century ago. And Paterno will continue to do it until he feels his time is up.

"You don't coach for as long as he has and not understand how to get the team back and ready to go," Finney said. "He's the right man to do that."