I’ve been a Penn State football fan from the time I began watching football at the age of about six. I’ve always admired how Joe Paterno ran his program and I’ve always respected the coaching ability of his long-time Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky. To find out that Mr. Sandusky has been molesting and sexually assaulting young boys is devastating (grand jury report here). To realize that Paterno knew about it and did basically nothing? I feel personally betrayed. It gives me a sense of how Catholics must feel about the pedophilia scandals in the Church. A football team is not as personal as one’s personal faith, but I can see how it creates a real conflict of emotions to realize that an organization you have loved has some really grotesque flaws. Joe Paterno recently became the winningest football coach in NCAA history, and he’s generally run one of the cleanest and classiest programs in the country. To see all of that so badly tarnished is really depressing. Unfortunately, I can come to no other conclusion that Paterno should resign in disgrace.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
I don’t think Paterno is the right target here. At least he reported it up the chain of command.
The AD, University President, and the acting Head Coach all seem to have dirtier hands than Paterno.
That’s why he wasn’t charged with a crime and the others were.
Look at this nonsense.
I saw that.
Look at this: I have complete confidence in how they have handled the allegations about a former University employee.
He says this AFTER the facts about how they “handled” the allegations came out.
First of all, the AD repeatedly lied to the grand jury about whether he had been informed at all. When, in truth, he’d been told by Paterno and then interviewed the witness (after waiting 10 days).
But, look, if someone came to me and told me that a guy I’d worked with for 36 years was buggering a ten-year old in the locker-room showers, I’d do a little more than tell my athletic director. First, I’d figure out who the kid was and make sure his parents knew what happened. It seems like no one ever did that.
Paterno clearly should have done more, but looking at his individual situation, I can guess why he didn’t.
This is an old man in mental decline whose eroding facilities have led him to become increasingly dependent upon other people to handle responsibilities that are formally his. The people he told are, literally, exactly the people to whom he has been delegating more and more of his responsibilities.
For the 5000th time, he told these people about some issue that needed attention, and for the 5000th time, they told him they’d take care of it for him. So, he did what he always does. He put his responsibilities in the hands of the younger, more able people on whom he’s come to depend.
Stop excusing him. This stuff has gone on longer than Paterno’s supposed decline. His problem isn’t mental, it’s physical. His teams are half-rate because he never goes on the road to recruit any more.
“Excusing” him. Whatever.
Never try to draw a fine distinction to someone whose only purpose in life is to stick his fist in the air.
this is so wrong of them
Let’s get one thing straight. He did not molest or sexually assault these children. HE RAPED THEM! DO NOT DARE SANITIZE THIS! You are a father. I want you to look at your son right now and you tell me how you would feel and what you would do not only to the fucking animal that rammed his penis up your little boy’s anus REPEATEDLY but the fuckers who knew about it and did NOTHING!!!! EVERY LAST ONE OF THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS KNEW SOMETHING WAS GOING ON BUT THEY WEREN’T GOING TO ALLOW SOME POOR BLACK KIDS TO HINDER THEIR MULTI MILLION DOLLAR CASH MACHINE! FUCK THEM AND ANY OF YOU WHO WOULD DARE MAKE EXCUSES FOR ANY OF THESE BASTARDS!
Acting Head Coach? Paterno is the head coach!!
Do you not understand what “acting” means, or are you unfamiliar with Joe Paterno and the state of the Penn State program?
He’s become a figurehead, and the responsibility for running the team has been delegated. He’s more or less the mascot at this point.
And you know this how? The one thing he has delegated is recruiting, the rest, I doubt that much.
You should stop. You’re embarrassing yourself. This is an openly-reported, openly-acknowledged situation.
I’m literally laughing at you, that you would come onto a thread and pretend to know something about the topic, and write something as pig-ignorant as to ask me how I know that Joe Paterno has stepped back from actually managing the Penn State football team.
Just stop.
Hey, Calvin: I heard that Milli Vanilli lip-synchs their concerts.
Don’t ask me how I know! Ancient Chinese secret.
Lol.
OT: I was wondering if anyone saw that Fred Hiatt called senior citizens thugs today in the Kaplan Test Prep Daily.
From BooMan: But, look, if someone came to me and told me that a guy I’d worked with for 36 years was buggering a ten-year old in the locker-room showers, I’d do a little more than tell my athletic director.
Amen. I was a 2nd line supervisor for decades. I would do a heck of a lot more than tell my supervisor.
At a minimum, I would talk with the alleged perp and talk to the young man’s parents.
I do not think Joe did enough.
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"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."So did this Second Mile charity have any connection to an international church which was very involved the sex abuse of little boys? Note it takes a lot of money and influence to successfully cover up years of abuse.
Good ‘ol Joe was part of the cover up. He KNEW that the AD had done nothing because Sandusky was still coming around.
The big question; was Joe socializing with Sandusky, either through the football program or privately? If yes, then Joe is a child abuser.
Children ALWAYS come first. ALWAYS. Except at Penn State. At Penn, the football program apparently comes first.
Lest we forget to mention;
MULTIPLE RAPES TOOK PLACE IN THE FOOTBALL LOCKER ROOM SHOWERS AT PENN STATE!
AND JOE KNEW ABOUT THEM.
nalbar
In the mid-’90s I spent months researching a long story on alleged crimes against women and children (mostly assault and rape) by sports figures. I came up with over 500, and this was in the days before the Internet and Google, where I was relying on microfiched newspaper records. I’m sure I missed a lot of cases that were never more than local stories.
The cases were generally of two types: players, who’d often been pampered all their lives and come to believe they could get away with anything, being accused of (and defended against charges of) beating or raping women; and college, high school, and youth coaches being accused of this sort of thing. I don’t remember any cases involving a coach of the stature of Sandusky, but there were a lot of them. And it’s the nature of such crimes that they’re vastly underreported.
Adults who choose to make their living around sweaty kids or young adults usually have the best intentions. But not always. And it can and does happen anywhere. Even in a program like Penn State’s that is supposedly the paragon of virtue.
What was more surprising to me when I worked on my story, and as I’ve followed the issue in the years since, is the number of people in the athletic world, from administrators to fans, willing to cover up or make excuses for these sorts of crimes. As with the Catholic Church, I think there’s a cognitive dissonance involved; people don’t want to believe that someone they’ve worked with, or someone who works for a program they’ve invested emotional energy in, could be capable of such a thing. So they resort to denial.
Even if he has no direct culpability in this case – which doesn’t seem to be true from initial reports – Paterno can do his last and greatest job of setting an example for others by resigning, and thereby giving these charges and crimes the weight they deserve. The resulting publicity would make some AD or coach in Kansas or Georgia think a little harder if the same issue comes up on his watch.
One kid, god forbide, even two kids……but eight? The numbers alone causes one to stop and examine it more closely as more than rumor or misunderstanding.
My problem with Paterno’s actions is this; since Sandusky was no longer an employee of Penn State, what was the point of speaking to University personnel and not contacting the appropriate law enforcement authorities?
If anyone sees or is told about an ex-employee/colleague do something like this, is the common behavior to inform the owner of the company the person used to work for or go to the appropriate law enforcement authorities?
Some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and know it’s wrong.
“what was the point of speaking to University personnel and not contacting the appropriate law enforcement authorities?”
I suspect that this is a consequence of Paterno’s unique situation (being basically a figurehead while other people run the team). Going to other people in the program to take care of things is what he’s been doing ever since his decline began. He was probably handling this the way he handles any problem with the team: telling someone, and being told “I’ll take care of it, Joe.”
Did you see when these accusations date from? And how long has been Paterno’s decline been going on?
He turned 70 in 1996, meaning he was 76 years old when the first charges came out in 2002.
You figure it out.
Being anything BUT a Penn State fan, all I could think of is that these are the same guys who gave Rene Portland’s homophobia a pass for so long.
The NCAA death penalty in perpetuity should suffice as punishment. Destroy the entire program and never let it be allowed to exist again.
Joe Pa released a statement. http://mobile.pennlive.com/advpenn/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=vESx2y0j&full=true#display
This grad student was so distraught but Paterno never asked why? This sexual predator had an incident investigated by University police in 1998 when he was a coach and Paterno never knew about that?
They looked the other way and this creep ruined the lives on many young boys.
He’s lying. What a dirtbag.
The witness now supposedly works for Paterno. Is he going to contradict Paterno?
Paterno’s story does not add up. Everyone testified to the grand jury. They determined that two lied to them. The only way to know they lied is if one of the other two involved (Paterno and the graduate student) testified that is was a rape, not ‘inappropriate behavior’. Certainly it was the graduate student, because he was the one that spoke to the AD.
Basically Paterno is taking the AD and administrators side, saying it was all a huge misunderstanding. And the graduate student was paid off with a job. Now I realize why HE did not follow up, and why he tolerated being around Sandusky for another nine years. He was paid.
It’s worse with his statement. He’s done. What a bunch of sociopaths.
It’s going to get worse.
nalbar
nalbar
BTW, the student was not so ‘distraight’ that he refused to be involved in a program where rapes were taking place in the showers, and refused to be around the rapist when he brought other kids to practices.
nalbar
If you want to subject yourself to horrifying thoughts, go read the stories of the 8 victims. It is so awful and disturbing.
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/Sandusky-Grand-Jury-Presentment.pdf
Paterno should have retired 15 years ago. No 85 YO – NONE – NOT A SINGLE ONE – can run a Division 1 college program, with hundreds of athletes, boosters, coaches, etc.
Paterno should IMMEDIATELY be fired from his figurehead position. IMMEDIATELY. INCOMPETENCE OF THE VERY MOST BASIC.
He is the director, and he is a FAILURE.
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"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."