SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Penn State's Joe Paterno will experience a golden moment tonight in the shadow of the golden dome. The 81-year-old coach officially will be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, just a short distance from Notre Dame's campus.

What remains to be seen is whether Paterno will deliver the same kind of quick-witted, impassioned speech that earned him a standing ovation during the black-tie induction dinner seven months ago at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.

He is second in Division I history with 372 wins, one behind Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. A five-time national coach of the year, Paterno originally was selected for induction in 2006 and was set to join Bowden. His enshrinement was delayed a year after his leg was broken in a sideline collision late in that season.

Paterno has been employed at Penn State since 1950 and succeeded Hall of Famer Rip Engle as coach in 1966. He coached his 500th game with the Nittany Lions in late December, a 24-17 victory against Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.

"I'm a Hall of Famer not because I'm better than anyone else," Paterno said in December. "I'm a Hall of Famer because I'm lucky."

Fellow enshrinee Doug Flutie, the 1984 Heisman winner from Boston College, played against Paterno and Penn State four times during his record-setting college career from 1981-84. He passed for 1,420 yards against the Lions, including 520 in a 52-17 shellacking by Penn State in 1982. Flutie, now a studio analyst for ABC/ESPN, said it's remarkable that Paterno has been a member of Penn State's coaching staff for 58 years, including the past 42 as head coach.

"I can't imagine it happening [again]," Flutie said. "I know how hard that job is. I know the hours involved in coaching. I played 21 years [of professional football] and I didn't want to go into coaching because of it.

"And to do it as long as he has and still have that competitiveness, that fire and that drive, that's very impressive. The job is so demanding, so hard, if you get in 20 years, that's phenomenal."

Thousands of college football fans from around the country are expected to attend this weekend's annual enshrinement festival, sponsored by the National Football Foundation.

Paterno, one of four coaches and 16 players who will be enshrined in the ceremony at the Palais Royale Ballroom, will arrive in town today. His contract expires at the end of the 2008 season, at which point his future with the program will be re-evaluated. Penn State, which opens practice Aug. 4, has won 31 of its past 40 games under Paterno, tied for the eighth-best mark in the country during that span.