Paterno has been head coach at one school for 45 years. Meyer is completing his sixth year at Florida -- his third head coaching position in a decade.
Paterno said he plans on returning to Penn State next season -- and joked that he was chewing out someone for being late to a meeting when reports circulated he recently was in the hospital.
Meyer has been to the hospital for health worries in the past and says he won't coach -- anywhere -- in 2011.
Instead, he's thinking about taking a position with ESPN after the two schools meet in Saturday's Outback Bowl.
"I think so," said Meyer, when asked Tuesday if ESPN is in his future. "I took my family up to New York City, that's where they wanted to go. We went and had three of the greatest days we've ever had together and (ESPN) called up and said, 'Why don't you drive up for the day?' So I brought my son (Nate) and he loved it.
"What I found out . . . what a place, what great people. I have no idea, I'm not concerned about that until after (the Outback Bowl). But I'll have to do something, and if Coach Paterno doesn't hire me, I'm going to have to (find something else)."
Meyer had joked earlier, "I've put in my application for graduate assistant at Penn State."
"This has been fairly well thought out," Meyer said of his decision to step down, catching the school by surprise in early December. "When we started this whole run -- I have a great family, as close as you can imagine, and at one point in a five-year period we lived in four different states bouncing kids in and out of school. Not by choice, but just kind of with that in mind, we're going to go as hard as we can and then at some point pull away.
"They've sacrificed for us, now we're going to sacrifice for those kids. It's kind of humbling to be able to do that. Not many people have that opportunity (to) step away and then give back to the people who have given so much to us. The people are those three kids and they deserve to have their dad go watch some games and be around. Last December (when he quit then came back the next day) was kind of, that was a frontal blow that said let's evaluate this whole thing here for a minute and we did. I was planning on coming back. I was excited about it, then one morning I woke up, and (after) careful prayer and discussion, and just made the decision."
Paterno hates to see Meyer leave coaching but did note with a smirk: "I've got an apartment I could rent you in Brooklyn," because his family likes New York so well.
Paterno called the Ohio State-Michigan game one year for ABC and that was enough for him.
"I must have gotten 58 calls, guys said, 'I didn't know you were from Brooklyn,' " he said.
While Meyer could have been gathering material for a a comedy routine for his probable new gig, Paterno made it clear he isn't putting any resumes together. His logic? Why stop now?
"I'm being selfish when I say I hate to see guys like that leave the game," Paterno said. "To me, I'm different than Urban. I've got people calling up saying, 'When the hell are you getting out?' People think I'm going to quit this year. I haven't even thought of it. The situation around me is very stable. The athletic director (Tim Curley) was a kid that I recruited as a walk-on. The coaches have been with me. I haven't had a lot of guys leave. Our president (Graham Spanier) has been with us now maybe 14, 15 years. We have a lot of fun together and I don't see any reason to get out of it yet.
"I was in State College last week and somebody said that I was down at the Hershey Hospital. Geez, Hershey Hospital? I was home chewing out somebody for being late for a meeting. It's ridiculous. I don't know when I'll get out. I honestly don't know. And I haven't even thought about it yet."
Notes: Meyer said junior Janoris Jenkins hasn't decided on whether he will leave for the NFL. He said Jenkins' torn labrum in his shoulder, which he had surgery on after the regular season and will miss the bowl game, actually happened two or three games into the season. "He fought through it," Meyer said. "He's a competitor, he never missed practice. It got really bad near the end." With Jenkins out, Jeremy Brown and either Moses Jenkins or Cody Riggs will start at corners in the bowl. . . . Meyer is big in the Paterno family. "My son, Jay, worships the guy. I keep telling him, 'Hey, your old man is a head coach too you know,' "
Paterno joked. . . . UF will play all three quarterbacks in the bowl. "All three are healthy now. The good news is Jordan Reed (concussion) is 100 percent and ready to go," Meyer said.
