Joe Paterno situation

[fletcher21]

What's you guys' opinions on this sordid situation? Father in law is the bigger PSU and Joe Paterno fan I know of. He's pretty shocked, but believes Joe still deserves to go out on his own. Looks like he'll be forced out within days. He has blame in this, but I am unsure how much blame he deserves. I do know that the offender is lower than whale s***, and believe his days are numbered. There are a lot of bad people out there, but someone who hurts a young kid is about as low as it gets. Anything going to happen to PSU in terms of no bowl games or anything? Sad situation all around. Joe Paterno coached 50+ years and was considered top 3 all time, but this will tarnish him forever.

[Aristo]

What's you guys' opinions on this sordid situation? Father in law is the bigger PSU and Joe Paterno fan I know of. He's pretty shocked, but believes Joe still deserves to go out on his own. Looks like he'll be forced out within days. He has blame in this, but I am unsure how much blame he deserves. I do know that the offender is lower than whale s***, and believe his days are numbered. There are a lot of bad people out there, but someone who hurts a young kid is about as low as it gets. Anything going to happen to PSU in terms of no bowl games or anything? Sad situation all around. Joe Paterno coached 50+ years and was considered top 3 all time, but this will tarnish him forever.

Well, I think Paterno is taking more heat than he deserves. But at this point, the best thing for the school is to clean house and start over. If they try to keep moving forward, I thin it will erode Penn St.'s ability to recruit.

But Paterno told his bosses, and it is not his job to follow up on the investigation. He got a second hand report, and passed that along. But the folks above him dropped the ball, and Paterno is going to fall with them. For all he knew, the guy was exonerated or something else was at play.

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I would not send my son to play there. I'd find a program for him that was not tainted. So Paterno and everyone involved has to leave.

[F308GTB]

What's you guys' opinions on this sordid situation? Father in law is the bigger PSU and Joe Paterno fan I know of. He's pretty shocked, but believes Joe still deserves to go out on his own. Looks like he'll be forced out within days. He has blame in this, but I am unsure how much blame he deserves. I do know that the offender is lower than whale s***, and believe his days are numbered. There are a lot of bad people out there, but someone who hurts a young kid is about as low as it gets. Anything going to happen to PSU in terms of no bowl games or anything? Sad situation all around. Joe Paterno coached 50+ years and was considered top 3 all time, but this will tarnish him forever.

Not a PSU fan, and I told one OSU grad today I bet she's happy the pressure in the Big 10 is off OSU for their recent "issues". Does PSU deserve NCAA sanctions? Nope. This is a legal matter, not violation of NCAA rules. Let the local, state, and/or federal prosecutors nail the perps to the wall. Does Paterno deserve to go? If he knew, hell yeah! It means he'd rather win than stand up for what's right. If he didn't know the full extent, you can't really blame him.

[Rodster]

How is he to blame for what happened?

[DivotMaker]

How is he to blame for what happened?

He is not to blame for "what happened", but from what I gather, he is to blame for not firing Sandusky on the spot and calling the authorities. If I were a parent, I would be ready to come at Paterno and the entire PSU Administration for their incomprehensible lack of handling and reporting in this matter.....

[Lancer]

If what I read is correct, and Paterno knew about this and it was brought to his attention and he ignored it, he's just as guilty.

But my feeling about Paterno for the last 7-10 years is he's pretty much a senile old man who's a figurehead for the people running things behind the scene. And why not, he's a great marketing figure for PSU recruitment.

As Disney has Mickey Mouse, PSU has Joe Paterno.

But I think it's time for him to go.

[pk500]

How is he to blame for what happened?

JoePa learned Sandusky ass-f*cked a 10-year-old boy in the showers at Penn State in 2002 yet continued to welcome Sandusky to the Penn State football family and grant him access to all facilities, as recently as last week.

The "teacher of men" simply reported this heinous fact to his superiors and then went on with his business of designing plays, with absolutely no regard for the welfare of the kid Sandusky violated.

[Diablo25]

How is he to blame for what happened?

JoePa learned Sandusky ass-f*cked a 10-year-old boy in the showers at Penn State in 2002 yet continued to welcome Sandusky to the Penn State football family and grant him access to all facilities, as recently as last week.

The "teacher of men" simply reported this heinous fact to his superiors and then went on with his business of designing plays, with absolutely no regard for the welfare of the kid Sandusky violated.

Bingo. He needs to go. This went on for YEARS. It is nuts here in Pa. There is no excuse. Just passing it off on his superiors doesn't cut it in my book. He is ETHICALLY guilty. Remove him immediately. Living legend or not.

[Lancer]

Paterno is probably a selfish self loving SOB. That's the only angle I see him playing if he didnt report anything. Protect JoePa was his #1 responsibility, not protect underage kids.

As for the accused, one of the cops should give him a gun and let him off himself, saves all of us tax money.

[Naples39]

I don't think you can expect a coach to run his own police investigation, and he did pass the word along to his superiors/administrators whose job it is to deal with this stuff.

That said, you'd expect more of a reaction and some response that wasn't so apathetic to the allegation. That's a lack of competence and leadership to simply not care about a serious crime. He should've at the very least confronted the guy personally (or maybe he did? I don't know that much about it).

Best case for JoePa personally is that he confronted the guy, told the administration what a graduate assistant reported to him, but the Sandusky denied it to Joe and the administration cleared him after presumably running an investigation.

[XXXIV]

Why didnt he at least fire Sandusky?

Legend no more.

[RobVarak]

I don't think you can expect a coach to run his own police investigation, and he did pass the word along to his superiors/administrators whose job it is to deal with this stuff.

That said, you'd expect more of a reaction and some response that wasn't so apathetic to the allegation. That's a lack of competence and leadership to simply not care about a serious crime. He should've at the very least confronted the guy personally (or maybe he did? I don't know that much about it).

Best case for JoePa personally is that he confronted the guy, told the administration what a graduate assistant reported to him, but the Sandusky denied it to Joe and the administration cleared him after presumably running an investigation.

I'd be more willing to forgive his handling of this if the allegations involved NCAA violations or some other regulatory infringement. Raping a kid in a shower is really the sort of thing that raises the bar on what is reasonable in terms of investigation, reporting and response.

Also, it's very obvious that the organizational chart at PSU does not reflect the actual disposition of power and decision making at the institution, making his defense less reasonable in my eyes.

From where I sit there's certainly enough in the reporting so far that I'm comfortable saying that he is guilty of behavior which should absolutely get him fired. Whether it was age and indifference or willful obfuscation is really irrelevant to me given that we're talking about perception and morality rather than conviction of a criminal offense.

[Zlax45]

Why didnt he at least fire Sandusky?

Legend no more.

Sandusky didn't work for him in 2002....

[XXXIV]

Why didnt he at least fire Sandusky?

Legend no more.

Sandusky didn't work for him in 2002....

That explains that.

I got confused by the "at least 20 of the incidents allegedly took place while Sandusky was still employed at Penn State" part.

[kevinpars]

We are talking about kids. How could you go to sleep at night knowing that a predator was living in your town and running a charity where he could pick and choose victims? Don't you think that at some point after telling his boss that JoPa might have followed up with "Hey did you do anything about that horribly disturbing information I passed on to you about a predator who is destroying the lives of children in our town?" To me it is inexcusable that there was no follow-up. They should have gone to the police that afternoon. We are supposed to protect our children at all cost. To me, what they did is almost as incomprehensible as what Sandusky did.

JoPa needs to go. The AD needs to go. The president of the college needs to go. They sat on information and let a predator go free for 9 more years. And when it happened in 2002 JoPa would have to have been aware of the issues within his own Catholic faith and the despicable behavior of the church in covering for pederast priests. All the good things he has done in the past has been washed away by this inaction.

[10spro]

We are supposed to protect our children at all cost. To me, what they did is almost as incomprehensible as what Sandusky did.

JoPa needs to go. The AD needs to go. The president of the college needs to go. They sat on information and let a predator go free for 9 more years. And when it happened in 2002 JoPa would have to have been aware of the issues within his own Catholic faith and the despicable behavior of the church in covering for pederast priests. All the good things he has done in the past has been washed away by this inaction.

Absolutely. Protect the innocent at all cost especially at that young age. For those in doubt, just imagine if that was your own kid and an untouchable coach in college football just decides to sweep it under the carpet sort of speak. People may feel bad that he has to go at this stage of his life but having morals is more important than protecting a college's reputation or a friendship for that matter. A damn shame.

[Zlax45]

Why didnt he at least fire Sandusky?

Legend no more.

Sandusky didn't work for him in 2002....

That explains that.

I got confused by the "at least 20 of the incidents allegedly took place while Sandusky was still employed at Penn State" part.

It is very confusing....He retired from Penn State in 1999. As part of his settlement, he still had access to the entire Penn State campus. (Very odd I would think, we aren't talking about having access to a gym or something. He was hanging out in locker rooms). He continued to be around the football program bringing in young boys up to two weeks ago....

[Zlax45]

DOUBLE POST

[toonarmy]

This kind of makes free tattoos and yacht rides with boosters seem trivial. I've spent too much time reading news articles and comments on those articles, but one thing stands out to me -- people can be incredibly blinded by hero worship and by extreme devotion to a sports program.

As big as this story already is, it's only going to keep getting bigger. It will take a very long time for PSU football to recover from this. Good luck trying to recruit elite athletes to a program that is now associated with child rape and coverup. Even if the entire staff is replaced, PSU football will forever be associated with the sickening events that have taken place. It sucks for the players already there having a successful season. This has to be the most bizarre and shocking story in my life of following college athletics, and the more info that comes out the more crazy and disgusting it gets.

[greggsand]

Anyone that saw or was told of ANY of these incidents should have gone outside of the system to make sure something happened (like call the cops). Imagine someone in YOUR office told you they saw someone doing what that monster was doing, and he was still walking around your office EVERY DAY for weeks (much less YEARS). It seems impossible. Hell, one "off the record" talk with cop would have gone a long way. Everyone in the program has to go. This will wreck Penn St for years if not a generations. What recruit is going pick Penn St. over any other school offering them a scholarship?

I feel bad for the football players on the team, as this has nothing to do with them, but what Penn St represents right now, is as ugly as it gets. I don't know how they don't shut down the program until everyone (including Joe Pa) is loooooong gone.

Complacency & self-preservation at it's highest & ugliest level.

[Jackdog]

If I have the unfortunate luck to stumble into the rape of a 10 year old,a call would have been made to 911 to report a murder. Mine or the rapist. No way in hell I could walk away from that without stepping in.That used to be the basic human response. The pussfication of America amazes me.

McQueary is just as guilty of covering this up as Curley,Schultz and Paterno. He was 28 when this went down. He should have called the police before calling his dad. When the powers that be took 3 weeks to take Sandusky's locker room key away,which was a joke,McQueary should have called the police. Loyalty be damned. We're talking about a sexual predator here. Same goes for the janitor James Calhoun. It sounds as if they both were worried about job security. If that's the case,what kind of environment surrounds Penn St football when reporting a deviant crime could lead to getting fired?
The only answer is an environment that is motivated solely by loyalty and strong arm tactics that suppresses anything that may harm the program or the university. What sane person wouldn't risk a job over the life of a child? They chose to keep it within the group while a sexual predator used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys for the next 9 years. Inexcusable!

The more I read the Grand Jury report,the more I believe many heads need to roll in State College ASAP.

[Jackdog]

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=157&f=1395&t=8226553&p=1

We also have to throw in the victims of the crime, as they are to blame. If the first one goes to the police the next day, then this doesn't happen to others.

I don't know what disgusts me more. The OP or all the positive responses he gets.

[HipE]

It doesn't really surprise me that JoePa would take an allegation of sexual assault lightly. Who can forget this gem before the 2006 Orange Bowl, when he was asked about Florida State LB A.J. Nicholson being kicked off the team during bowl game preparations after being accused of rape:

"I think it's so tough, there are so many people gravitating to these kids. He may not have even known what he was getting into. Somebody may have knocked on the door, a cute little girl knocks on the door. What do you do? Geez ... thank God they don't knock on my door. I'd refer them to a couple other rooms. But you hate to see that. It's just too bad, that's all I can say."

At best Paterno is a coward and senile, but considering the power he has as the university, he is most likely just a hypocrite and POS more concerned about the reputation of his program and school than the welfare of children. I'm not even worried about any punishment for any of the coaches or administrators involved other than Sandusky, as I would think living with the knowledge that they helped enable a child molester and are partially to blame for any assaults that occurred after 2002 would be devastating on a daily basis. And I'm guessing we are going to hear about many more victims over the coming weeks. It is all just sickening. Like Jackdog, next to Sandusky I think McQueary makes me sickest of all. He walked in on the rape of a ten year old by an old man and his reaction was to run away and call his dad? I hope working his way up the ranks in the Penn State coaching staff (hmm, I wonder how that happened) has been worth it.

It is just hard to imagine how there were so many failings on so many levels. Read this article and see if it doesn't get your blood boiling. How on earth did Sandusky have the ability to pull kids out of class and take them off campus to do who knows what to them? It is pure insanity!

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index. ... andus.html

And what happened with Ray Gricar? Was his death related to all of this somehow?

[Brando70]

As appalling as a Sandusky's actions are, what's even more appalling is how many opportunities various people had to stop him and didn't. Curley and Schultz had multiple chances to stop this. Paterno surely should have followed up given the seriousness of the investigations. And the graduate student shouldn't have left. I'm not sure if I would kill someone in a situation like what happened in the shower, but f*** if I would leave the kid alone. I would make sure he was safe and at least get him to his parents if not call the police immediately.

Now Paterno is trying to preempt getting canned by offering to retire. If that campus has any shred of decency left it will fire him immediately.

[Brando70]

It is just hard to imagine how there were so many failings on so many levels. Read this article and see if it doesn't get your blood boiling. How on earth did Sandusky have the ability to pull kids out of class and take them off campus to do who knows what to them? It is pure insanity!

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index. ... andus.html

I agree, Hip. It is mind-boggling.

The other thing that's very disgusting and also telling is the punishments that were leveled at Sandusky. If he truly was cleared of any wrongdoing by the AD and VP, why did they do things like restrict his access and notify Second Mile? The whole thing stinks of people attempting to prevent a horrible scandal and what will surely be a number of lawsuits from tarnishing Penn State and its football program.