STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Tanned and rested after his beloved beach vacation, Joe Paterno was ready to go. Season No. 41 as Penn State head coach awaited.

“I feel great and I feel that I am going to coach as long as I feel good about myself and still be excited about my work,” Paterno said at Big Ten media day in Chicago earlier this month.

It seems that Paterno’s familiar rolled-up khakis and smoky, thick-rimmed glasses won’t be disappearing from the sidelines any time soon, especially after last year’s football resurgence — an 11-1 record and Coach of the Year honors for Paterno.

High times in Happy Valley, though a question still looms.

Who’s next after JoePa?

“Whenever the time comes, we’ll cross that bridge at that time,” athletic director Tim Curley said.

Curley says there is no succession plan in place. Paterno is under contract for another two seasons.

He’ll be 82 on Dec. 21, 2008.

Forget shuffleboard and early bird dinners. Paterno is so healthy that a doctor told him during a checkup this summer that he could coach another 10 years.

“He loves it. It’s his passion,” said Jerry Sandusky, one of the many assistants who Paterno has outlasted. Sandusky retired after the 1999 season after 30 years on the staff. “He loves the thrill of the competition, and challenge of a new group.”

Yet the topic of how much longer invariably comes up around Paterno — in passing, among fans; from reporters; and on the recruiting trail.

“I tell a kid that we are recruiting I hope to be around at least three, four, five years, and that’s what I plan to do,” Paterno said.

He also tells a prospect to look at the big picture.

“Look around at the other guys here, at what Penn State stands for, look around at those guys, because that’s what Penn State is all about,” Paterno said. “And I hope when I get out of it, one of the guys on the staff will get the job.”

Just like when he succeeded Rip Engle in 1966 after 16 years as an assistant.

School officials, hard-core alumni and people close to the football program hesitate about even suggesting potential successors. But there appears to be underlying sentiment, at least, to find someone accustomed to the “Penn State way” when the time comes.

If that’s the case, there are no shortage of familiar faces. Paterno’s staff is littered with longtime lieutenants, some of whom have hung around for decades.

The name most often mentioned on the rumor mill as the heir apparent is defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, an assistant for 28 years. His vocal, animated sideline style on game day has become almost as much of a Beaver Stadium mainstay as Paterno pacing the sidelines in his blue Penn State jacket.

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Bradley orchestrated last year’s stellar unit that helped Penn State win the Big Ten title and the Orange Bowl.

“You can’t stop what people talk about. I just do my job and what I’m supposed to,” he said. “I like working here and I’m proud to be here.”

Also on staff is Paterno’s son, Jay, a relative newcomer with 12 years on board, six as quarterbacks coach. JayPa also helps coordinate the passing game. He bears the magical last name but has been a target of criticism from restless fans during the lean years that preceded the rebirth of ’06.

Among Nittany Nation outsiders, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who has been rumored to be a candidate to move up to the NFL, is a Pennsylvania native who grew up a Penn State fan. The Post-Gazette of Pittsburgh reported in a column two years ago that then-Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby said he thought Penn State might be the only college job that could lure Ferentz from the Hawkeyes.

But wooing Ferentz for any job could be expensive: His contract was restructured a couple months ago and it nearly doubled his annual salary to $2.84 million. His contract expires after 2012.