Joe Paterno standing on the sidelines for the rest of the season is disgraceful.
Or, up in the press box where he actually has been where an out of bounds ball carrier won’t give him his third broken bone. Which only points out why 84 year olds probably shouldn’t be “coaching.”
But – yes.
As stated previously - everyone with knowledge should have reported it to the police.
That includes the witnesses, and the administrators…aaaaaaaannnnnnd…Joe.
You want to give Joe a pass for some reason - maybe it’s because he’s a big name or you thought he ran a clean program.
The rest of us don’t make a distinction between the janitor witness, the GA witness, Joe, the administrators - all of them should have called the police.
For everyone defending Paterno’s lack of action (and before I type this, know that I generally root for Penn State, but I’m an SEC fan, and don’t really care that much outside the conference), remember this: If Joe Paterno didn’t want Sandusky at the football facilities, around the program, or at the locker room, HE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN. There is not a football coach in the country with any sort of pull who can’t control who goes into the team locker rooms. And this is Paterno, who ruled the roost.
Also, don’t you think if he wanted to, he could’ve found out the name of the kid that was in the locker room? But nope, didn’t care about that. It’s disgraceful. The kid that Sandusky was walking around with in 2007 could’ve been protected had someone done something in 2002.
This retirement thing is damn offensive. The way I look at it is Paterno knows he did something rather shitty (which he seems to admit). The least he could do to retain a little honor is to step down. But lets say he thinks he really did NOT do something that bad. IMO the honorable thing to do in that case, since the allegations are SO serious would to be to say something like “While I am NOT guilty of these allegations and I believe a thorough investigation will prove my innocence, the only proper course of action right now is to step aside until the investigation is complete”.
But hey, it football and that shit is too damn important for somebody as
“critical” as ME (Paterno) to not be there. The perfect storm of an out of control ego, the holy grail of football, and good dose of fucking hypocrisy.
If I was a Penn State player I would tell them I wasn’t playing if Joe Pa was still coaching. Or at least I like to think I would.
A pity it’s a home game. But the next two weeks, Penn State is on the road, at Ohio State and Wisconsin. If Paterno’s still coaching ten days from now, I think we can count on hostile fans to get the message across to the Penn State administration and trustees that leaving Paterno in place was a really, really bad idea.
I remember the Ciavarella case you’re talking about. Reading about it, it was pretty much the living embodiment of Sunshine Gardener from King & Straub’s The Talisman. (Minus, of course, the quarry in Hell.) Comparing that to this case is somewhat like assessing the greater evil of Pol Pot vs Idi Amin.
The wins record was broken on October 29. The Patriot-News (among other media entities) reported on November 4th, that charges were to be filed against Sandusky. The article did not mention the other two indictments. The Patriot-News mentionedAugust 30th that,
Everything takes longer and costs more, I guess.
That Sandusky was the subject of a grand jury investigation was leaked to the Patriot-News March 31st. From that article:
Guessing that he knew he was under investigation at that time, hence the retirement. Again, I appreciate the need for thoroughness in criminal investigation. I understand that, in a case so high-profile, you absolutely want all of the “i’s” dotted/“t’s” crossed. Or you end up with the O.J. Simpson fiasco. I just find the timing of the release questionable, that’s all. It gives the appearance of caring about a sports accomplishment, when that shouldn’t enter into the decision-making calculus at all. At least this D.A. hasn’t ended up dead or missing yet.
I’m assuming you mean this
If the NCAA were to deem it necessary there wouldn’t be a damn thing I could do about it. I wouldn’t like it, because like I said before it’s punishing people who had nothing to do with the scandal, but it wouldn’t be the end of the universe for either the team (who’d either quit football or transfer to another school) or the fans (who would find something else to do on Saturdays.)
Happens all the time.
USC lost its national title and a PAC-10 conference title, was banned from bowl games for a couple of seasons, and lost 30 scholarships, based largely on the actions of Reggie Bush.
I don’t know…wouldn’t it better just to seal off the kids?
My thoughts on the “innocent” get caught in the crossfire. Too bad (though it does suck). Sticking it to the Penn State program/college in some fashion, hopefully major, does more good than harm in my opinion. Sure, some football players get a raw deal, but playing football as a career choice is pretty much the lottery version of life planning anyway (in otherwords get a damn degree worth something while your there too). But, a heavy blow to the program punishes all the “right” people in the all the right ways. The admin suffers. The atheletic department suffers. The RABID fans suffer. The people with dollar signs in their heads suffer. And these folks will suffer signifcantly if the program gets the shaft. Which, to me is just fine because its THESE VERY assholes that turn college sports, something that used to be and could still be a pleasant college tradition, into the hypercompetitive shit storm, way overvalued, crapfest it has become.
THESE are the folks that need a message sent loud and clear about what priorities are important here.
This comment on Paterno seems very poorly aligned with the facts. His record of responsible behavior to his players of all backgrounds is of long standing and about as good as it gets in college football.
I say this as someone who views his actions in this case as a spectacular failure which should have led to his resignation - or dismissal - days ago.
I am not a football fan and don’t know anything about how the rules work. I believe I read above that a player has to wait a year to play if he transfers between schools. Is this correct? If so, is their any possible chance the NCAA could make an exception to the rules for the players currently on the Penn State squad?
I really hate the situation these kids are in. If I were a football player, there is no way I would want to play for JP after all this comes to light. But if you’ve been playing football since you were a kid, it’s gonna be hard to give up the dream of playing college football (and maybe pro) after you’ve finally made it.
Another question - what has happened to the GA who was one of the eyewitnesses? Is he still an assistant coach? He needs to be fired if he is. Covering up child abuse for a cushy job is pretty sick…
Bolding mine.
Doesn’t that kind of make him more reprehensible here? “His kids” (as he calls them) are handpicked by him and can/do advance his glory/reputation.
“His coaches” likewise.
So some random poor kid who isn’t “his” deserves a lower standard of care when “Joe’s” successful coach decides that that non-Joe’s kid makes a handy outlet for his splooge?
Can’t make an omelet, etc. (not attributing this attitude to you, but to JP).
Subtract the inflammatory language, and the answer to this question is “yes”.
McQueary is wide receivers (ouch) coach and recruiting director, making no moves to resign.
NCAA can and does pretty regularly grant waivers for things like this or even for coaches quitting/accepting a new job right before the season starts, but yes, the default is transferring costs a year of eligibility. Not a big factor here.
Frankly – the players aren’t going to care. They are too young to have formed much of a social conscience, and when they hear that the events in question took place in 2001 – when they were playing with Legos – their eyes will glaze over as with any 18 year old discussing The Past. And you’re right, their number one focus is on the game, getting playing time, getting exposure (nothing wrong with that per se, every successful athlete I’ve known has been a bit of a monomaniac/egomaniac as to their athletic ability/interest).
Slight hijack: Why does that rule even exist? I assume there is a reason, but I can’t think of what it could be. Why should any student have a barrier to transfer?
On topic:
I’m not that surprised that he isn’t quitting right away. PSU may have killed the golden goose, but they sure as heck aren’t going to toss the carcass out just yet. They see more dollars and will cash in while they still can. The damage is done already. They will continue to choose money. It’s kind of rational and kind of sad.
Your last sentence is telling. It strikes me that many if not most of the people offended wouldn’t have done anything different that Paterno and the graduate assistant did. Most people don’t have the courage to do that, and I included myself in that group. We flatter ourselves that we do have the right stuff, but too often we don’t have it, really.
In particular, I personally really doubt that 99% of sports talk pundits blathering on their shows about this matter have such courage. I think Mike Golic of ESPN would have saved the boy and taken action, but I have my doubts about the morning crew on 92.3 in Cleveland.
Typically, a 1-year waiting period is enforced unless the player drops to a lower level (from Division 1-a, aka FBS, to Division 1-aa, aka FCS). However, in cases like this, the NCAA has actually shown common sense. The one that comes to mind first is players who were allowed to transfer from USC 2 summers ago after that school received sanctions. I don’t know how many took advantage, but my team (Miami) picked up a player who had signed with USC, but was due to arrive as a freshman in August '10.
Mike McQueary - he is still a coach. He played at PSU (very good wide receiver) in the mid-90s. He’s a position coach and their recruiting coordinator.
When this first broke and we heard a grad assistant had witnessed the events, I had pictured in my head a 23-year nerdy type who loved football but was always too small to play, and then just stumbled across Sandusky and the kid by mistake. Sandusky is pretty big, so I could see a bit of an intimidation factor. But that this was a 28-year old former player who presumably could take care of himself while saving the kid…I don’t have the words.