Posted on 11/07/2011 10:38:08 PM PST by Razzz42
When a state university is embroiled in one of the most heinous scandals in the history of American higher education—and that’s the plane we’re on now; never mind where this stands among college sports scandals—here is what you do not want to hear about the principals involved, two days after felony indictments are handed down …
Athletic director requests and is granted an administrative leave. Former vice president is allowed to return to retirement.
Legendary football coach: Issues a statement pleading ignorance to the most serious accusation in which he’s directly involved.
School president: Issues a statement of his own promising “unconditional” support of the aforementioned and “complete confidence” in how they performed in their official roles.
No, you don’t see the word “fired” anywhere in that.
The grand jury report on the child molestation charges against former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was released Saturday. By Monday afternoon, what’s listed above was all that had been said and done.
The athletic director, Tim Curley, and the former vice president, Gary Schultz, have now been indicted for perjuring themselves in front of that grand jury in testimony about what they knew and what they did not. They got the quiet, gentle send-off. Joe Paterno, who will be 85 in December, has a 409-136-3 record as head coach at Penn State. (AP Photo)
The coach, Joe Paterno, somehow escaped indictment on anything—yet his words, in that statement, are contradicted by what appears in that report, to an insulting degree. If he thinks he looked bad before he issued that statement, he comes off as toxic now.
Meanwhile, the president, Graham Spanier, is taking a stand—to wrap his prominent and powerful underlings in a cocoon of safety and putting his name and reputation, and that of the university he runs, behind it.
In the midst of all that, there’s not a hint of the leadership any of those positions require. There’s not a shred of accountability for what that lengthy statewide investigation uncovered. Not only are all of them avoiding the responsibility that comes with their jobs, they’re curled up in a ball in the corner, praying that it goes away and lands on somebody else.
They should be ashamed.
Somebody at Penn State needs to have the stones to fire somebody.
Even if he just fires himself.
No cushion landing, no golden parachute. If the grand jury report is completely true, then everybody from Sandusky (obviously) to the graduate assistant (since identified as current wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Mike McQueary) who said he saw Sandusky molesting a child in the football building’s showers, to Paterno to Schultz to Curley to Spanier—they all need to be cut off, immediately, before another day of embarrassing spin-doctoring goes by. Recommended On The Web
In wake of Jerry Sandusky scandal, Penn State coach Joe Paterno must go Washington Post: Monday Nov 7 Jerry Sandusky scandal: Is Joe Paterno's reputation tarnished? Los Angeles Times: Monday Nov 7 Joe Paterno on Sandusky charges: "If this is true, we were all fooled." Washington Post: Sunday Nov 6 2 PSU Administrators Step Down, Face Arraignment KDKA: Monday Nov 7 Penn State AD takes leave, senior VP resigns in wake of Sandusky scandal philly.com: Monday Nov 7 The End For Joe Paterno? Courier-Journal: Monday Nov 7 Joe Paterno's legacy in jeopardy The Baltimore Sun: Sunday Nov 6
Yet that is all that has taken place since Saturday, spinning and rear-end-covering and scrambling for ways to tiptoe out rather than being shoved out full-force.
Who’s in charge up there, honestly? Who works for whom? Who defers to whom? Is this the classic old-boys network gone tragically off the rails? Is it just a matter of everybody sharing the spoils of success and ducking when trouble shows up?
Also, is football specifically and big-time sports overall, wagging the university dog … again? You’d like to think that if this same situation took place inside an engineering or administration building, decisive action would already have been taken.
But it might not have, either, seeing now how far up the chain of command this perversion of justice extends. Corruption and abuse express themselves neatly in college sports, but they’re not exactly limited there.
These men of power, influence and authority are proving how masterful they are at protecting themselves and each other.
None of them found it in themselves to protect those young boys from being sexually and psychologically terrorized, on their watches, no less, and seemingly with their knowledge.
It’s nothing more than a complete abandonment of the most fundamental responsibility of an institute of so-called higher education. It’s where Virginia failed with Yeardley Love and a fellow athlete and ex-boyfriend with a past record of alcohol and violence-related incidents. Where Notre Dame failed with Declan Sullivan on that windy day at football practice. Where Baylor failed with Patrick Dennehy, not only when a teammate killed him, but when his coach tried to taint his name to hide the coach’s own rules-breaking. Related on SN
Penn State community 'shocked' by Sandusky allegations Monday Nov 7 Penn State officials head to court on perjury charges Monday Nov 7 Joe Paterno: Shocked, saddened by sex abuse charges Sunday Nov 6 Curley, Schultz step down amid Penn State scandal Sunday Nov 6 Did Paterno do enough if Sandusky allegations true? Sadly, no Sunday Nov 6 Penn State bars ex-coach Sandusky from campus Sunday Nov 6 Penn State AD Curley, other administrator charged with perjury in Sandusky case Saturday Nov 5 Former Penn State assistant Sandusky faces felony sex abuse charges Friday Nov 4
It’s beyond youngsters in the care of careless adults. It’s adults that only care about themselves.
Being the athletic director or head coach or VP or president means more than grandstanding about integrity and principles. It’s lot more than being in the picture when the trophies are handed out and the confetti is flying, or when the ribbon is being cut on a new field house or library.
To paraphrase a very old saying, it’s what you do when nobody’s looking that determines what you’re really about.
And so far, Penn State has done absolutely nothing.
Nobody was looking when Sandusky allegedly forced himself on that boy nearly a decade ago. But somebody saw. Eventually, the biggest powers at the 44,000-student, billion-dollar-endowment flagship campus knew what had happened.
Now everybody is looking at how Paterno, Curley, Schultz and Spanier acted then, and how they’re reacting now.
Time keeps going by, yet none of them has the human decency, nor the responsibility of his position, to say, “You’re fired—and I’m going with you.”
Because that is what needs to happen.
Fired? They need to be arrested. ANYONE who knew about this disgusting rape of boys needs to be ARRESTED.
Penn State football is a cult. Any thing that might disrupt winning seasons was probably brushed under the rug by the school and the football staff. Who knows what else Joe Pa and the gang looked a blind eye to?
I really wanted to give JoePa the benefit of the doubt. The more that is revealed the angrier I become. Any official within the Penn State organization that had a whiff of knowledge of these abuses should be fired immediately. The University will be sued for millions of dollars by many victims(and rightly so).
As for the future of the football program: Penn State needs to clean house,release all players from their scholarship obligations, help players transfer to other schools should they desire, hire an entire new staff with the primary charge of contrition, and try to slowly and surely build this program with a new mission of credibility.
Regarding my previous post: I in no way mean to minimize the plight of the victims at the hand of this monster. This is such a tragedy.
Anyone who knew of this needs to get arrested. And there may have been other sick fiends involved.
Copied from this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2803171/posts?page=65#65
Apparently President Spanier has an interesting academic background, too.
“Spanier was also an author of a study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior concerning the practice of mate swapping, or “swinging”.[4]” from his wikipedia page.
“Penn State needs to clean house,release all players from their scholarship obligations, help players transfer to other schools should they desire, hire an entire new staff with the primary charge of contrition, and try to slowly and surely build this program with a new mission of credibility.
LOL! Surely you jest, right?
Do you have any idea what the football revenue stream is?
And Penn St. Officials have already made very clear by their actions that it is the ONLY thing they give a damn about.
If you dig deep enough, you’ll likely find that gay pedophelia was a sport on campus, among the “Untouchables”.
There is never just one, when it is protected by management like it was.
I doth not jest. The big donor and alumni contributions will come to a grinding halt. We will see an entire new program next year and it won’t be even half of what it is this year. Not to mention the difficulty of recruiting. These allegations are so sick, no one wants to be associated with it. At least not for the coming years. This will take some time.
And Penn St. Officials have already made very clear by their actions that it is the ONLY thing they give a damn about.
I'm trying to think of anything of this magnitude in the sports world. Here we have a legendary coach running a program widely lauded for its cleanliness and high graduation rate now exposed with a very sordid underside. And this is happening during the season when Joe Paterno ought to be taking a victory lap in the wake of win #409.
The only thing that I can remotely equate this to is how Watergate tarnished the reputation of Richard Nixon. In spite of Nixon's valiant fight against Communism in the 50's (Alger Hiss), his legacy is tainted by the third-rate burglary and its subsequent cover-up.
Might there be a death penalty for the program as was done with SMU for what now seems far, far less?
Might there be a death penalty for the program as was done with SMU for what now seems far, far less?
This isn’t the only scandal involving the PSU administration. Remember that they also provided a whitewash investigation of Michael Mann’s unprofessional work.
I'll bet you a dollar that they don't lose a dime over this. They will do some house cleaning for show and then on with the football. Penn State football is a religion here in PA and Joe Pa is untouchable. In a just world all of the staff and coach would lose their jobs or quit from embarrassment and they would start from scratch. I would be very surprised if that happened.
Not that they are equal, but I thought of Woody Hayes, one of the greatest coaches of all time, who is ultimately remembered for punching the Clemson player.....all of the great things he did, and yet, that is probably what he is best remembered for.
Just as with Paterno, he won’t be remembered as the coach who has won the most games, he will be thought of the one who didn’t do enough to stop a monster.
One of the posts in an earlier thread said that a detective who initially investigated the original allegations in 1998 went missing and was never found or heard from again...years and years ago.
The entire football program is a sorry ass joke run by ‘gods’
Agreed. Paterno and everyone who knew and did not call police should be in jail for a long long time!
If Paterno’s ten year old grandson was getting raped by an old homo, I wonder if he would simply want it reported to the homo’s employer?
What is also weird is the grad assistant “not knowing” what to do when he saw it happening. Get a metal pipe and beat the man until dead-THATS what you do when you see a child being raped!!!
Penn State is a cult. It did nothing to sanction the professor who manipulated climate data. It held a phoney review and let the bum off. University leaders are an incestuous and shameless lot, and no outsider will force their hand unless funding is at stake.
As long as Paterno did not commit perjery he will not be touched — this football season.
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