The first shock came from Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez in early August. After 16 years commanding the Badger football team, Alvarez would be done after 2005.

Done with coaching. Done with the lure of football Saturdays in Madison. Done, so suddenly.

Then, in mid-November, 66-year-old Kansas State head coach Bill Synder stepped down from coaching, saying his tremendous commitment to football created a huge dent in his family life. A dent that he will spend the rest of his life trying to repair.

"I've not been the kind of father that I should have been, and the kind of husband," Snyder said at the time.

Snyder is married, has five children and eight grandchildren.

"I am sorry to see Bill get out of coaching," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "He did a magnificent job at Kansas State."

Wednesday, at a press conference previewing the Nittany Lions against the Seminoles, Paterno was asked a question he doesn't hear too often, a question that begs for interpretation: "Why aren't you acting your age?"

It was not asked in a malicious manner, nor was it asked to suggest that he should walk away from coaching. If this season has any merit, it'd be hard to argue he should.

But by the time the Lions make the trip to Miami in late December, Paterno will be 79. He will have head coached in his 40th season at Penn State. Some wonder how much he has left, how much more can he endure.

When Alvarez first made his announcement to relinquish his coaching duties, Paterno said he planned to sit down with him after the season just to gauge the thinking behind the decision.

Perhaps it makes Paterno ponder somewhat. Alvarez, a man he once considered recruiting out of Pittsburgh, gets out of the game before him. And Synder, a man more than 10 years his junior, couldn't balance family life with career.

Is Paterno just that good? Is he the exception to the cycle? Has he just been lucky?

"It depends on the relationship that the mom and dad have as it relates not only to the family, but to the job," Paterno said. "You do that day by day. There is no formula. Every day is a little different challenge, and you never know what the challenge is going to be when you wake up in the morning, except, 'What are our problems today?'

"Sue has carried the ball in our family, and I am there when she needs me. For me to tell you that I could have done it with somebody else, I have been married for 43 years to the same woman."

No doubt coaching at this level is a contract and, in Paterno's case, a lifetime commitment. Paterno leaves State College more than most people realize because of recruiting and award dinners and other speaking engagements.

Paterno and Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden are comparable in many categories. You can add their names to the list of seniors on the retirement watchlist.

Generally they share the same sentiments on having a certain type of spouse who is capable of holding down the fort in the absence of men in high regard.

"Both of us and our wives have been able to keep the job in its place and yet have enough time to let our kids know that we love them and we are there to help them," Paterno said.

Bowden, though, unlike Paterno, is pleasantly surprised that he's been able to last this long. There was a time when he figured he'd be gone long before now.

"It is amazing because when I was younger and coaching I always figured by 60, I'll be out of it," Bowden said. "Then you get to 65 and then 70 and you're still in it. Up to this point, I have no desire to retire or quit."

The desire is essentially the most important part of that quote. The desire to work with young people, and, after all these years, still having the desire to win.

"I hope I never get to the point where I am not excited about a football game," Paterno said.

"If I get to that point, then I will get out of it."