Posted on 02/10/2013 7:10:13 AM PST by Uncle Chip
A report commissioned by Joe Paterno's family calls the July 2012 Freeh report that was accepted by Penn State trustees before unprecedented sanctions were levied by the NCAA against the school's football program a "total failure" that is "full of fallacies, unsupported personal opinions, false allegations and biased assertions."
The Paterno family report, which targets nearly every conclusion and assertion the Freeh report made about Paterno in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, states that while former FBI director Louis J. Freeh has had an honorable past and good reputation, his investigation -- especially as it relates to Paterno -- relied on "rank speculation," "innuendo" and "subjective opinions" when it concluded that Paterno concealed facts about Sandusky in part to avoid bad publicity.
Freeh was hired on Nov. 21, 2011 and paid $6.5 million by Penn State University trustees --
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The Paterno family immediately roundly and loudly rejected the report, and, four days after its release, instructed its lawyer to form a "group of experts" to conduct a comprehensive review of the facts and conclusions. The Paterno family asked its attorney's law firm, King and Spalding of Washington, D.C., to start "a comprehensive review of the report and Joe Paterno's conduct. They authorized us to engage the preeminent experts in their field and to obtain their independent analyses."
The law firm hired former U.S. attorney general Richard Thornburgh, former FBI supervisory special agent and former state prosecutor James Clemente, and Dr. Fred Berlin, a treating physician, psychiatrist, psychologist and expert in sexual disorders and pedophilia at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and School of Medicine. The family's report attacks Freeh's conclusions, assertions, methodology, investigative abilities and choices, disclosures and independence.
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(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
No more "public" than the president or athletic director, but much better known. The easy targets are those with little or no notoriety.
I’ll stick with easy, that’s the way I see it. I do, however, understand your perspective.
How can anyone believe that Joe Paterno did not know what was going on with Sandusky. Who sees a guy take little boys on trips and not wonder? Not only Paterno, but a lot of people, including players had to have been suspicious, but Penn State football was above everything else. It’s sickening. How anyone in the Paterno family can show his or her face in public is beyond me.
Then last football season, ESPN showed more Penn State games than ever, and even talked about how sad it was for the players. How about the boys who were raped? If there were any justice in this world, there would be no Penn State football program now.
Are you saying he had no FURTHER moral obligation to exercise his considerable sphere of influence to ensure that a criminal investigation was jumpstarted somehow, somewhere? If only for the protection of those kids?
You know it's quite interesting that so many relay the Joe Paterno personality cult in State College and say he IS State College (a god, if you will). Yet suddenly...ironically...they portray Joe as this limp-minded guy unable to exercise a considerable sphere of influence...somebody who couldn't even indirectly ensure that the most subtle spark of an investigation was ignited.
Sorry, Penn Staters: You CAN'T have it both ways!
Once the quarterback hands the ball off cleanly to the halfback, what is his further responsibility???
>> How about the boys who were raped? If there were any justice in this world, there would be no Penn State football program now.<<
Bu- bu- bu- paterno was a GREAT COACH! That absolves him!
(do I need the /sarc?)
#1...we know Paterno testified that he was told (by McQueary) that some "inappropriate action" was witnessed re: Sandusky upon a boy in a Penn State locker room shower.
#2...As mentioned in post #122 re: a quote from columnist Scott Ostler: "With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more," Paterno said in a statement. That's pathetic. You need hindsight to tell you that you must do whatever you can to stop a dangerous criminal?
Hence, Paterno ALREADY conceded he failed to act!!!
What did this "failure" to act include?
(a) After McQueary met with Paterno, he delayed telling his supervisors for 24 hours. (What? What if YOUR kid Chip was accessable to a re-rape the night Paterno said nothing) And (b) ...What was a LOT worse: He never followed up in the LONG RUN to ensure that the authorities (not just his superiors) found out McQueary's eyewitness report.
Then (c), Paterno upgraded McQueary's lot in life (from grad asst to wide receivers coach & then head of recruiting). What? You don't think Paterno had the option of asking McQueary from 2004 to 2009 if the police had ever questioned him about the matter...and upon finding out 'no' -- to use his considerable influence to direct McQueary to do that?
Spanier is loath to take a hard line in negotiations because, ultimately, Paterno holds the hammer -- his relationships with top Penn State donors. The president was asked to estimate how many millions Paterno has personally raised just during Spanier's 13-year tenure:
"I don't know if we can quantify it. I think we can say his contribution to our overall fundraising efforts is unprecedented among any university coach or sports figure. There is nothing like it.
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/11/the_truth_behind_graham_spanie.html
If the halfback fumbles the ball within the reach of the QB, who happens to be the most influential all-encompassing turf QB there is, what is your recommendation, Chip:
(a) twiddle your thumbs?
(b) pull out your i-phone and get a text going for clarification on what to do next?
or (c) Pick your nose?
So coaches who coach their college LEADERS to be instantaneous decision-makers on the spur of the moment somehow can't manage to get their act together over a lengthy 8 or so year-period, eh?
No matter what the lawyers will feed on Penn State for years for all the stupid moves that all made.
Joe Paterno was essentially a sideshow to the dark goings-on at Penn State, but he keeps getting all the attention because he was mega-famous. Even on this thread people are acting like everything that went down was essentially about Paterno. That is herd psychology. People are starving for a bete noire in this story, and only iconic types like Paterno can fill those shoes. Sandusky was never famous enough for that role.
But the halfback didn’t fumble the ball then and there in the backfield. That happened further on downfield.
(Oh, you mean the "halfback" -- Paterno's supervisor -- IMMEDIATELY went to the authorities, eh??? Yeah, right)
“Hence, Paterno ALREADY conceded he failed to act!!!”
Colo, I can look back at many instances in my life - now with perfect hindsight - and wish I had done more. Hindsight works that way. At the time things happen, we usually don’t possess a 360 degree view of all information. Later I simply said that in light of all that came out, with perfect hindsight now, he wished he had done more.
He did not say he failed to act.
No, the Paterno acoloytes are acting like JoPa was a saint who could do no wrong.
He did. He reported it to Tim Curley, the PSU AD, who went to Gary Schulz, PSU VP who oversaw the PSU Police Department, and both of them went to the Pres of PSU about the matter.
What more was Paterno supposed to do. It got to the top and got there rather quickly with a sense of urgency.
“No, the Paterno acoloytes are acting like JoPa was a saint who could do no wrong.”
I can only speak for myself... I didn’t particularly like Paterno in my limited exposure to him, though he had many good qualities and cared about his players. I also did not like him as a coach in many ways. I thought the game had passed him by and that he should have retired a decade or more earlier. Also, I would’ve preferred a coach that implemented a split offense...
Having said that, he was tireless and generous in his dealings with students and at psu. I don’t judge a 50+ career by innuendo and unproven allegation, which is what Freeh did.
I didn’t post any factual errors.
Your hero is a scumbag who put his own “legacy” above that of young boys that were being molested.
May God judge him and his sycophant supporters accordingly.
There are few I believe who would disagree. That does not excuse or absolve him from failing to act decisively and responsibly in regards to protecting innocent children from the serial molester Sandusky..
And how did he fail????
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