Coach, player selected as finalists for awards

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno has been selected a finalist for the George Munger Award for College Coach of the Year and Nittany Lion linebacker Paul Posluszny has been named a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, given to the Outstanding Defensive Player of the Year.

The Bednarik Award winner will be announced Thursday, December 8, during the Home Depot College Football Awards Show on ESPN (7:00 p.m.). The winner of the Munger Award will be announced in December. The formal presentation of the awards, along with the winner of the Maxwell Award, will be made at the Maxwell Football Club's Annual Awards Dinner, to be held March 3 at Harrah's in Atlantic City, N.J.

In his 40th year as head coach, Paterno has led the Lions to a 10-1 record and the Big Ten Championship. The Lions earned the Big Ten's automatic berth into the BCS.

Posluszny has had a sensational junior campaign and is a finalist for the Bednarik, Butkus and Rotary Lombardi Awards. He has 11.0 tackles for loss, three sacks and two pass break-ups. An Academic All-America candidate with a 3.67 GPA in finance, Posluszny is profiled in the Nov. 28 issue of Sports Illustrated. He and Paterno are on the cover of the magazine.