I am no defender of Paterno in keeping the lid on a child molester scandal. I think the NCAA should condsider the death penalty for the football program. What Penn State apparently did was a helluva lot worse than what SMU did.
But putting the football coach in charge of player disclipline is pretty traditional. That’s the way it was at my high school, and the punishment one would get tended to be a lot harsher and more physical than if it came from the principal’s office.
"Coach Paterno would rather we NOT inform the public when a football player is found responsible for committing a serious violation of the law and/or our student code," she wrote in the email, "despite any moral or legal obligation to do so."
Not reporting despite legal obligations to do so?
And letting Paterno decide if a football player should stay in school based on his violations of the law or student code, when all other students are subject to the school's rules and some disciplinary board or administrator?
That goes beyond letting the coach discipline his players, in my opinion.