Coach Joe Paterno was a great man and great coach. Nothing anyone can say or infer will ever take that away from him.
In my opinion, Paterno could not conceive of the evil which lurked inside of Sandusky. Since Paterno could not conceive of the things Sandusky was capable of, it did not exist for him. Paterno was Nittany Lion football and Penn State University, through and through. Nittany Lion fans and Penn State people understand that about Paterno. His legacy and what he meant to the university, the players, the fans, the students can never be soiled nor diminished.
When Coach O’Brien came aboard, we chose to support him 110%. We chose to support the players and student body and move forward, trying to make sense of the evil perpetrated and perpetuated by certain ranking officials at the university. Coach O’Brien and the team overcame the horrors and proved to be resilient. They won and lost with dignity. It is unfortunate that O’Brien may have felt some animosity towards Paterno admirers, but we have always wished coach O’Brien the best of luck at whatever he chose to do. We knew of his long term goal to be an NFL head coach and accepted that his time in State College may be short. He did wonders in his two years and his contributions will be remembered and respected, as they should be.
I think the point of the article is that support of Bill O’Brien and the football team as well as support for the TRUTH about what happened - which includes Joe’s legacy as well as the ridiculous prosecution of GS/GS/TC are mutually exclusive.
Only the media (and some haters on forums like this) could be dense enough to think they are not.