Penn State's Joe Paterno, USC's Pete Carroll share a zest for the game

Says Carroll: "The thing that gets me is, how does he do it? How has he had the energy to last all those years? How does he keep getting after it?"

Says Paterno: "Hey, that kid runs around pretty good himself."

--

There is a difference in size. Carroll, a former college safety, is bigger and sturdier than you might expect. Paterno is much smaller, two giant eyes atop two giant cuffs.

There is a difference in voices. Carroll practically oozes beach speak -- everything is "cool." Paterno sounds like one of those old men sitting on a Brooklyn stoop complaining about the Yankees.

There is a difference in nicknames. Carroll doesn't have one. Paterno has one of the coolest ever.

He is JoePa. Carroll would be, er, Petco?

There is, most obviously, a difference in resumes. Paterno has coached 35 more college seasons, winning 296 more college games.

Yet both men have won two national championships, both men have run teams that have dominated eras, both men have turned down chances to go to the NFL.

If anybody could eventually become the next Paterno, it would be . . .

"No, no way, not me," Carroll says. "Never. I once couldn't imagine being in one place more than five years. For me to do it the way I do it, I have to be physical, get out there with the guys, and that gets tougher with time."

Carroll said bothering him more would be the losses, noting that, in a strange way, Paterno's 126 defeats are almost more impressive than his record 383 wins.

"Losing any game wears you down, and to be able to mentally survive losses for all those years, even one or two losses a year, that's amazing," Carroll said. "I don't know if I could eventually deal with the losing."

Paterno chuckles.

"State College is relaxed, it's a little easier to deal with everything there," he says. "Here in Los Angeles? Harder for Pete. Tough, tough town."

--

This week, Carroll and Paterno were talking about the chances of JoePa -- who is battling constant pain from recent hip replacement surgery -- coaching from the sideline.

The conversation reportedly went like this:

Paterno: "I think I'm probably going to go upstairs, but if you would agree not to throw the ball more than 15, 19 times . . . we can get that game over in less than three hours, I might be on the sidelines."

Carroll: "If I see you on the sidelines, we're going to throw 50 times."