And not for the reason you might think. For those who are just now tuning in to the events unfolding at Penn State, Joe “Papa Joe” Paterno, the 84-year-old legendary coach of Penn State’s football team and a 61 year veteran of Penn State football, was fired last night, along with University President Graham Spanier. The pair were fired over the child sexual abuse scandal in which long-time assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was alleged to have used his status and a charity he created–as well as Penn State property–to groom and sexually abuse boys as young as 10 years.
The grand jury report is here, but be warned, it’s very difficult to read. According to the timeline, Joe Paterno learned of the allegations from a graduate assistant coach, who had stumbled across Sandusky and a young boy in a locker room at Penn State, in 2002. Paterno contacted Penn State athletic director Tim Curley, and did not call the police. He continued to work with Sandusky at Penn State for several years thereafter.
Sandusky is facing 40 charges, and Curley and a Senior Vice President named Gary Schultz have been charged with perjury. Spanier, Paterno, and several other Penn State officials had been making statements to the press, but failed to express sympathy for the victims, at least 8 boys aged 10-14 so far, until Wednesday, November 9th. Instead, their comments focused on protecting their careers or on supporting their colleagues who are facing perjury charges in the cover up. Paterno, caught up in the scandal because of his awareness of the facts of the case and his failure to contact police, hired a lawyer and offered a statement to the press yesterday:
”I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season,” Paterno said in a statement.
“At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can.”
“I am absolutely devastated by the developments in this case. I grieve for the children and their families, and I pray for their comfort and relief.
“I have come to work every day for the last 61 years with one clear goal in mind: To serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care. I have the same goal today.
“That’s why I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season. At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can.
“This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.
Paterno’s offer to retire at the end of the season was apparently not enough for the Board of Trustees at the Big Ten school. Last night, the Board took action and fired Paterno and Spanier.
So why were Penn State students protesting last night? Why did they gather in the thousands and tip over a media van in the roadway? Was it because the students were outraged at the abuse that had been perpetrated against these boys and the university officials who covered it up so long?
No, no it wasn’t. Penn State students were angry that Papa Joe Paterno was fired at all, and especially because…wait for it…he won’t get his 410th career win. They wanted one more game. Yes, you read that right: thousands of Penn State students care more about Paterno’s and Nittany Lions’ sports record than they do about 10 year old boys who’ve been sodomized. Seriously. Pictures and video reaction after the jump.
The crowd gathered on Beaver Avenue to protest firing of Coach Paterno.
Students gathered on both Beaver Avenue and College Avenue, and in front of Joe Paterno’s house. At College Avenue, protesters stormed and tipped over a media van that was reporting from the scene.
Penn State students flip media van.
Aftermath of destruction.
At one point Paterno came out of his home to join and express solidarity with his supporters. Unfortunately, ESPN video is incompatible with WordPress, so I can only offer a link.
I encourage you to watch it as it shows a fairly unrepentant man with a clear head and a sharp focus, which I mention because some people keep using his age–84–to excuse his actions. For whatever reason, he later came back out and yelled for protesters to back off.
Today, Penn State students will have to live with the fact that this is what they showed the world when one of their coaches was accused of serially and sexually abusing young boys and another beloved coach got caught up in the scandal after failing to do the right thing. The end of Joe Paterno’s career, while tragic, is no match at all for the tragedy of several boys who were abused over months and sometimes years, most of whom were economically or socially disadvantaged in one way or another. This is the reality that Penn State, its students and its fans must face: that no win–not even a 410th–is worth what happened to those boys.
This article has been cross-posted from P&L.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | Graham Spanier, Joe Paterno, Penn State
When I first heard about the protest I figured it was like a lynch mob wanting Paterno’s ass.
I can’t believe they were upset he was fired.
I think most of America is with us on this one. Twitter is on fire with criticism of the students and of Joe and the rest of the Penn State players in this scandal.
https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/penn%20state
Why should they care about the kids, it’s not like the kids were Penn Staters, after all.
On your blog I posted that I am starting to connect these dots because as an immigrant frankly I don’t get why college sports are so important as an industry.
Definitely with you on that.
me too.
Actually major sports are money makers for colleges.
Facts are so inconvenient sometimes. LOL.
It’s not uncommon for head coaches to make more than heads of administration.
Paterno was one of the first coaches to insist that his players really did get an education. Back in the sixties and seventies colleges were graduating illiterate athletes.
He also, like Bobby Knight, donated millions of his own money to fund the school library. And that’s awesome. But it doesn’t excuse this.
So, did the cover-up happen because the image of the sports program was too important to be damaged?
That’s what we need to find out, VM. What exactly went on in the several meetings various university officials had about this through the years. And why did so many of those meetings take place off-campus?
In particular, I want to know what Curley and Schultz told the graduate student coach exactly. Because he seemed bothered enough about what he saw to go to lengths to report it to various officials from Penn State, including Paterno, Curley, and Schultz. He didn’t go to the police, and that is odd, but it might have something to do with the discussions with powerful people at the time. He was a graduate student/coach after all.
That is what is so stupid – If they had taken immediate action it wouldn’t have harmed the image of the sports program very much.
At first it was just one individual, now it’s the whole program.
Exactly, myiq. If they had just done the right thing from the get-go, they’d be a shining example to the rest of Academia AND sports on how to handle stuff like this. Now the whole school is getting a well-deserved bad rap.
They were throwing rocks all over the place and screaming “one more game!” I was watching it in real time and I could not believe it.
Tweeting your post:
Thanks. I like your addition very much. It’s a darn good question.
That whole case is really sad. He should be fired.
It’s really screwed up and I’m not trying to defend Paterno and these protesters, but child sexual abuse is so horrible, it’s probably human nature for many to just try and pretend it didn’t happen. I don’t think people are necessarily evil, it’s just that their brains don’t want to deal with the atrocity, so they shut it out and focus on something else. We have to find a way to change this because those kids don’t have anybody to turn to if everyone is too chicken shit to deal with reality.
They were talking about it on the radio the other day and a woman caller said that she thinks that if there was even one woman on the coaching staff the cover-up would not have happened. I was thinking — that could be true. It always seems to be these all-male groups that cover-up for pedophiles.
(Feel free to prove me wrong)
More women coaches and assistant coaches will have to be hired to prove you wrong. Not holding my breath. ITA that women in and around locker rooms would break the code of silence.
Closed, masculine societies can become very dangerous places, esp for the most vulnerable — children, women, etc. More transparency is definitely needed.
Sports is money, money is power, and power corrupts.
A woman might be more likely to blow the whistle, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it. When I was in junior high school, a certain woman teacher covered for one of the fathers who’d come along on an overnight field trip to “help out,” i.e., harass the girls almost constantly with unwanted touching, tickling, and inappropriate comments. She refused to see what was right in front of her, because it was too inconvenient.
Jesus. Sandusky victim’s sister goes to Penn State, and she’s talking.
{{headdesk}}
This focus on Paterno is fine, but if you read the grand jury timeline, a whole shit load of other people have been dropping the ball for decades now.
“1998…Jerry Lauro, an investigator with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, testifies he and Schreffler interviewed Sandusky, and that Sandusky admits showering naked with Victim 6, admits to hugging Victim 6 while in the shower and admits that it was wrong.
The case is closed after then-Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar decides there will be no criminal charge…”
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7212054/key-dates-penn-state-nittany-lions-sex-abuse-case
Everybody knew what was going on.
Every one of them should be fired.
Absolutely agree. More heads should roll. And I expect they will.
a lot more.
Compare the size of this crowd to any OWS protest:
he did report it to school authorities but not to the police.
Part of the problem last night was the way he was fired. A person from the board came to his house gave him an envelope with a telephone number to call. When he called he was told he was fired. That was a lousy way to do it.
I do understand that more is expected of an icon,and that is Papa Joe, but you do not fire him that way.
Sorry, but I have no sympathy for him.
I do get that, and agree, but two seconds of reflection should have been enough for these students to know you do not go ape-shit and riot over that. Compared to what happened to the boys, that’s a small thing. If anything, they should have been rioting for the boys, and for more heads to roll, if they had to riot at all.
That said, Paterno’s statement before he was fired was a CYA coward’s move.
I don’t care if they put his head on a fucking stake.
Paterno should be fired, but I do get HelenK’s point. Paterno did report it. He was dealing with school officials who were covering it up, a DA who had declined to file charges in the past, and a child welfare system that had dropped the ball.
It’s not easy to report sexual abuse when the entire system is rallying around the perpetrator. Paterno didn’t have many good options. Go to the media with it, attack the DA, call out child welfare, criticize school officials. He would have lost his career and been run out of town on a rail.
I doubt that he’d have been run out on a rail. He could have gone to the police or the press. His legendary status would have insulated him if he had stood up to it.
That said, he’s not entirely responsible, nor should he pay the price alone. I’m with myiq; clear out the football staff of anybody that was there since at least 2002.
His status may have protected him. I don’t think we’ve ever had a male sports hero like him actually stand up against child abuse. He may have been able to protect himself.
I do however, know several less powerful people who literally sacrificed their lives and their careers trying to get the system and the authorities to listen to them.
If Paterno had done the right thing he would be a hero. If Penn State had fired him he would have had his choice of offers from other colleges.
Agreed — He would have been a hero.
The McQueary character comes across pretty awful to me after reading about him this morning. Yes, he did tell school authorities what he saw, but but but what he SAW with his OWN EYES was a 50-something year old man anally RAPING a ten year old child in the goddamn shower with the lights all turned off in the locker room at 930 at night! McQueary is a big tall young ex division I football player for lords sake. He witnessed with his own eyes a small child being raped right in front of him and he didn’t throw the guy to the floor and kick him a couple times?? He just shut the shower curtain and went home to talk to his father and school officials about how to “manage” the situation.
DISGUSTING.
Exactly!
Good points, Murphy. I didn’t know that about McQueary.
McQueary’s head can go on a stake too, fucking loser.
When I first heard the story about a ‘young intern” walking in I thought he was a high school kid, not a grown man.
Some moral compass on that asshole.
About McQueary…he was a low man on the totem pole. He reported it but after serving 20 years in the military I know how he must have felt. How do you accuse one of the most popular men in the state of such a heinous crime? If everyone else including the Athletic Direct and a School Vice President is covering it up how much credibility do you have especially since charges had already been filed and dropped the police once already.
A caller into talk radio speculated that maybe McQueary is also a victim of Sandusky (there was opportunity since their families know each other and he played with Sandusky’s kids) and the strange behavior is victim flashback behavior.
If that’s true he should come forward with it.
Iowa Hawk tweeted this link
(warning, video on autoplay)
http://www.nesn.com/2011/11/jerry-sandusky-rumored-to-have-been-pimping-out-young-boys-to-rich-donors-says-mark-madden.html
Jeebus!
If true it would certainly explain the cover-up.
Paterno should have called the cops.
Does he have a cell phone?
9-1-1
Perhaps, but shouldn’t at least the actual eyewitness, the WR coach, have called the cops? Instead, he called his Dad and then met with Paterno who in turn called and the met with the AD and the VP who, among his duties, also happened to be in charge of the campus police.
What really amazes me is that there doesn’t seem to be much focus on the prople running the charity Sadusky started where, from what i understand he got his victims, and the fact that the WR coach still has a job.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7214380/joe-paterno-president-graham-spanier-penn-state
This happened yesterday, and was appropriate: https://twitter.com/#!/DailyCollegian/media/slideshow?url=pic.twitter.com%2FpYAvWvjm
They removed Sandusky from a mural celebrating Peen State football. The artist removed his image from the chair, repainted the chair, and then painted a blue ribbon (for child abuse) on the chair. That was classy.
Nice.
Joe Paterno did nothing wrong. He reported the abuse when he was told about it and acted according to policy as written. Joe Paterno has spent his entire life helping young men achieve excellence.
The grand jury had more facts than you all do. They did not find the need to call for Mr Paterno’s arrest.
Yes, he could have done more, but he did what was required.
His responsibilities were met.
The other bastards who committed the abuse and who covered it up deserve your wrath.
To fire Joe Paterno over this is just wrong.
Nobody here is suggesting he needs to be arrested. Just that firing was appropriate. YMMV. Beside, the post itself is mostly about the pig-headed students of Penn State who participated in last nights riots.
Joe Paterno, as a Mandatory Reporter(coach/school personnel) as defined by Pennsylvania state law, absolutely positively had a legal responsibility to file a report with the Pennsylvania Department of Child Welfare. The mere suspicion of child abuse is a trigger for mandatory reporting to the CHILD WELFARE DEPT, not to the Penn State athletic department. He was right to tell Penn State, but he BROKE THE LAW when he didn’t report to the state law enforcement agency that is set up to investigate these allegations and crimes.
http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/state/index.cfm?event=stateStatutes.processSearch
Facts are facts. Joe Paterno broke the law. Very badly.
Joe Paterno broke the law. Very badly.
and he slept at night, possible very well. How??
He is all about Joe, doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ass about the victims.
Here’s the law specific to Pennsylvania: http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/049/chapter42/s42.42.html
It looks like he did have an obligation to report it verbally and in writing to Dept. of Public Welfare. The key part of the law is that anyone who in the course of their professions comes into contact with children. In this case, Joe did, because he was on the board of Second Mile and because the kids used Penn State facilities. So I guess he did break the law. But he wasn’t alone. I hope they blow the lid off this whole thing.
Paterno announced he would retire at the end of the season like he was god or something. If this was ok with the Pres of the university is not known, but it obviously was not discussed with the regents. The regents have fully asserted their authority and I do not think any more football coaches or university presidents are going to be deciding when or if they are leaving with any major felonies lingering over athletic programs. Paterno showed that he thinks he can skate or is not answerable to anyone and the regents showed him that he is as was the president. He was fired in the manner of someone who has infuriated the boss and I can see why they were pissed. They have to deal with the lawsuits and mess left behind.
Does anyone think they should reopen the case of the missing DA?
Paging the FBI. The whole thing stinks.
According to the article you linked to earlier (and Helen reposted below) the FBI was involved at the time. His friend seems pretty convinced that it’s unrelated, but that is speculation. I’ll say this, in light of the new allegations about “pimping” involving big donors to Second Mile and a possible cover-up by Penn State officials, it could lead to a break via motive. Some powerful people would have powerful reasons to want his silence if he was bribed at the time.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/DA-Who-Never-Charged-Sandusky-Has-Been-Missing-Since-2005-133615093.html
not enough evidence in 1998
Catholics?
This is just like it. PSU will be surprised at how bad the backlash will be. If there’s anything Americans hate more than pedophiles, it’s people who cover up for pedophiles.
Here’s a handy little guide:
After you get off the phone from talking to the cops, then you can consider calling other people.
None of us know how far this cover up went. Abuse was reported to the cops in 1998. Abuse was reported again in 2008. We even have two parents reporting abuse of their own kids to the cops.
Apparently everybody, from the school to the DA, to the cops, to child welfare, had received reports. They knew what was going on. The DA had to have been informed because he declined to press charges. Child protective services had to have been informed because they investigated and then closed the file. The cops had to have been notified because they hid in one victim’s house while the mother confronted the perp for a confession.
Exactly. Paterno’s getting most of the heat because he’s the big public fish but this thing has so much fail by some many people it’s ridiculous,
I think there is even a story out there about Sadusky being allowed by one school to take an unrelated minor out of class! Apparently, the school didn’t find out until the mother called wondering why her kid was being taken out of class. They then did an investigation and found out the kid was being molested.
Iowahawk uncovering some interesting stuff on his twitter account:
&
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/11/10/dont-be-enabler-when-child-is-abused-heres-what-to-do/#ixzz1dKL4qn00
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/11/penn_state_coach_mike_mcqueary.html
mike mcqueary who witnessed assault will coach Saturday’s game
Cant make this shlt up:
Meh. College football left the local communities long ago and became farm teams for the NFL.
Like the Olympics dropped amateurs, for semi-professionals, as long as they gave a cut for their endorsement contracts. Meh, meh.
Then professionals. Meh, meh, meh.