[NU Sports] FORTY DAYS OF FOOTBALL: Day Nine ... Nine ... Nine ... Nine ... Nine ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

A little NUMB humor for everyone there as we draw closer to the close of the first of four countdowns to mark the days off until Big Ten Kickoff 2010! As always, discuss, comment and suggest away!

FORTY DAYS OF FOOTBALL
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> DAYS 1-10: The top coaches of the decade

10) Glen Mason, Minnesota
09) Bret Bielema, Wisconsin
08) Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
07) Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin
06) Randy Walker, Northwestern
05) Lloyd Carr, Michigan
04) Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
03) Joe Tiller, Purdue

> DAYS 11-20: The top games of the decade
> DAYS 21-30: The top players of the decade
> DAYS 31-40: The top teams of the decade

TOP COACHES
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2) Joe Paterno, Penn State

(77-46 overall, 45-35 in league games, 2 Big Ten titles)

Everybody loves a good comeback story, but there haven't been many quite like the turnaround the 83-year-old Joe Paterno pulled off during the last decade of Big Ten football.

JoePa is obviously the greatest coach in the sport’s history and has won multiple national championships, not including the half dozen or so he could have had if the polls had been a bit kinder. But the change from the first half of the 2000s to the second half may have been his greatest work on the sidelines in Happy Valley.

At the start of the decade, the majority of college football experts and even a growing group of PSU fans told Paterno that it was time to retire – the game had simply passed him by. He had only made one Rose Bowl in PSU's first seven years of Big Ten play (they were supposed to dominate the league when they were added as a member), and the 1997 and 1999 years in particular were painful as high expectations and No. 2 rankings came crashing down with home losses in November. Even worse, there were some uncharacteristic off-field issues in the program. The first half of the decade saw only one year with more than 5 wins or a winning league mark and most coaches would have been run out of town if they were not a legend who practically built the school’s stadium from the ground up.

But then came the 2005 season. After hitting rock bottom with a 9th place finish and 4-7 record in 2004, the Lions and Paterno roared back with an 11-1 dream season whose only blemish was a controversial last-second loss in Ann Arbor. And as fast as Lloyd Carr's JoePa-kryptonite left the league, Penn State had replaced Michigan in the Big Ten's "Big Two" by the end of the decade.

JoePa proved he could adapt to the times with 51 wins, two league titles and a rejuvenation of the program among the nation's elite. Four bowl wins (something JoePa always excels in with a 10-3 mark in the Big Ten era), three top 10 poll finishes and a renewed tradition in Beaver Stadium have proven that even after five decades in the coaching business, JoePa’s got a lot left. At the start of the decade, no one gave him a chance of catching Bobby Bowden for most wins - now ole' Bobby's plum retired and JoePa keeps going strong.

Coming Wednesday: No. 1 ... was there ever any doubt?

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
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