Report: Info given on Paterno successor

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., July 2 (UPI) -- Penn State football recruits are being given details about the successor of long-time Nittany Lion Coach Joe Paterno, a player said.

The Altoona (Pa.) Mirror report said that players recruited this year are being assured that when Paterno retires, his replacement will come from the current coaching staff rather than an outside hire.

"Mr. Paterno told me himself that his replacement is already within the staff, so he'll just bring one new guy in and bump everybody up in the ranks," linebacker Mike Yancich from Washington, Pa., told the newspaper.

"They tell the recruits that the next coach will come from within and the program won't change while they're there," said recruiting reporter Cory James of Fightonstate.com.

Paterno, 81, enters his 43rd season at the helm of Penn State football when the 2008 season opens Aug. 30 against Coastal Carolina.

His 372 victories rank him second all-time, one short to Florida State's Bobby Bowden.