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Sunday, March 02, 2003

By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Penn State Coach Joe Paterno reiterated for the umpteenth time that he would like to see the Nittany Lions resume their series with intrastate rival Pitt. This time, he had a solution.

"I'd like to see Pitt or Syracuse in the Big Ten," Paterno said late Friday night after speaking at the Nike Coach of the Year Clinic at the Radisson Green Tree.

"Pitt or Syracuse would be a really good addition for us, as far as Penn State's concerned," he said. "You would have Syracuse or Pitt, Penn State, Ohio State and three others in one division. You'd play everybody in your division and two teams out of the other division."

Big Ten Conference officials announced last summer that they would like to add a 12th team and split into two divisions. Officials at Notre Dame, a logical choice, have said they are not interested.

Steve Pederson, Pitt's athletic director before leaving for Nebraska in December, said last fall that the Panthers are happy in the Big East Conference and that there had been nothing more than speculation about a move to the Big Ten.

"Everybody wanted Notre Dame," Paterno said. "I said fine. A lot of them play Notre Dame. But the minute Notre Dame turned us down, my feeling was, let's get Syracuse or Pitt.

"They're top football institutions. You'd get the Pittsburgh television market or New York television. It would be great for us, and I think it would be good for the Big Ten. Then we could play Pitt."

Pitt and Penn State have met 96 times, but not since a 12-0 Panthers win in 2000 in Three Rivers Stadium. No future games are scheduled.