Penn State Gets it Wrong
Head coach for 46 years, Penn State's Joe Paterno yesterday issued a moving statement, announcing that he would retire at the end of this year.
At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can. This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.
The Penn State board of trustees--who, let us remember, owe much of the rise of their institution to national prominence to the 84-year old coach--refused to accept Paterno's retirement, firing him instead. From a statement by John Surma, Jr., the vice chairman of the board:
We thought that because of the difficulties that engulfed our university, and they are grave, that it is necessary to make a change in the leadership to set a course for a new direction.
Nonsense. Setting a new direction would have involved graciously accepting Paterno's retirement. Firing him instead represented a punitive action--and informing the coach by telephone instead of extending the simple courtesy of telling him in person proved high-handed and crass. This is, again, a punitive action--and for what? Did the board even attempt to make a case that Paterno had done wrong? When an accusation of Sandusky's disgusting activities reached him, Paterno immediately referred them to Penn State authorities. The coach himself now wishes he had done more, yet the responsibility for investigating the matter very clearly lay with the institution, not with him.
This Saturday, Penn State will play Nebraska. It would have been the last home game in the long career of a good man, a coach who has won more games than any other in the history of college football, and a figure who has done more--far, far more--for Penn State than any member of the board of trustees.
I'm not saying the Penn State kids who protested last night were justified in letting their anger get the best of them, destroying property. Pace Mollie, who in a post below offers kudos to the trustees, it looks to me as though the trustees got so caught up in a display of their own moral rectitude that they committed an injustice of their own.
Addendum, placed here 30 minutes after the original post: Ricochet members have convinced me, pretty briskly, that it was not Penn State but yours truly who got this one wrong. I hereby--and in italics!--reverse myself. Thanks for setting me straight.
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Comments :
May '11
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
I cannot believe I am about to type these words, but here goes. Peter you are, in this case, wrong. Joe Paterno had a member of his coaching staff report that he had witnessed a crime. A felony no less committed against a child. Where I come from and the way I was raised, you don't call your boss. You call the police. In criminal matters, the AD isn't the authorities, in my book. I put it to you Peter, assume an intern at Hoover comes into your office and states he saw a sexual assault on campus the previous night. Do you call the cops or your boss?
May '10
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
For many years, I have asked, as an essay question in our last unit in US History, the following:
If it hadn't been for Watergate, what would Nixon have been most remembered for?"
This is a question being asked of students for whom Nixon is a non-memory to them like Warren G. Harding is for us. We find out what they got out of the reading and discussion of that chapter. (FYI - most say China or Paris Peace Treaty. I also look forward, this year, to asking if he deserved any credit for Apollo 11's achievement. He was president when it happened: Is it his Osama Bin Laden hit moment?)
So, what will history say about Joe Paterno? Multi-decade winning coach, or child abuse enabler? Hard to say for a few years...
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
As best I can tell, the indictments themselves establish the lines of authority: The AD and another university official have been indicted, not Paterno. He might have done more. He might have exercised better judgment. But he broke no law--and, as far as I can tell, he had no reason to suppose the university would fail to do the right thing.
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
Peter Robinson:
When an accusation of Sandusky's disgusting activities reached him, Paterno immediately referred them to Penn State authorities.
"Referred them to Penn State authorities"??? To the authorities at a school where the football program is the crown jewel, almost sacred? Sorry, Peter, but I disagree with you on this. Paterno's first call should have been to the police, then to the university president, informing him that he had already notified the police. Instead, he punted. Given the nature of the accusations here, this is unacceptable.
I've had great respect and admiration for JoePa as a coach for many, many years now, but "punting" to the "university authorities" in a situation like this was a gross abdication of his responsibility, and the university trustees were right to do what they did.
Dec '10
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
I'll echo Emory when I say that I never thought I would disagree with Peter, but Paterno deserves to be fired.
Such an egregious dereliction of responsibility requires some sort of punitive action. He shouldn't be brought up on charges, but like Emory said, in that situation you don't only call your boss, you call the police.
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
By the way, Emory, I may very well be wrong--I grant that right away--especially if we eventually learn that the trustees knew more than they're now saying.
But my basic point is this: As matters now stand, the trustees chose to punish Joe Paterno--but have failed to say why. A fresh start, a change in leadership--that could have been accomplished simply by letting the man retire. Kicking him that very day--denying him his last home game--and informing him by telephone? That is, as I say, punitive. The trustees have no right to punish Paterno without saying, quite precisely, why.
Edited on Nov 10, 2011 at 9:29amMay '10
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
It's getting worse...
Jun '11
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
Absolutely wrong. Paterno forced the trustees' hands when he didn't resign immediately, then delivered his self-serving and arrogant statement. How generous to relieve the board of that burden of spending "a single minute discussing my status."
Re-read that statement while reflecting on what Paterno apparently ignored for years.
Feb '11
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
No. You say to the witness "Here is the phone. Call the police. Or I will."
First responsibility to call the police is with the witness. He isn't a kid, he is twenty-eight.
Edited on Nov 10, 2011 at 9:30amMay '10
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
Peter, I wonder: were you satisfied when Cardinal Law was allowed to retire and given the chaplaincy of one of the great churches in Rome?
I wasn't. I am still appalled that bishops have not been held accountable for their role in covering up crimes against children in the name of protecting the reputation of the Church.
Edited on Nov 10, 2011 at 9:33amJan '11
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
Goodness, Peter, you are so wrong on this I don't know where to begin. Joe Paterno gave access to the Penn State facilities to a child rapist for at least nine years after he knew that the man in question was a child rapist. To protect his program, his school, and his legacy, Joe Paterno not only didn't report a horrific act of sexual predation to the police or follow up on making sure something was done about it, Paterno continued enabling and giving cover to the sexual abuse of at least 8 other boys, and likely more, for almost a decade. For this he deserves to retire gracefully?? Are you kidding me?? Penn State is supposed to allow the spectacle of a stadium full of people cheering and giving standing ovations on national television to a man tha let children get raped with impunity for the rapist, right under his nose? Good Lord, Peter, do you actually know the facts of this case? I pray you are making this judgement out of ignorance, especially as a Catholic who presumably should be more sensitive to the horrors of the abuse and the damage covering it up can do than anyone.
Feb '11
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
Of he had reason to suppose. The perp is still interacting with kids in the school's athletic facilities years later. What did he think - that the police investigated and found no reason to file charges?
Edited on Nov 10, 2011 at 9:35amRe: Penn State Gets it Wrong
Steve Manacek
Peter Robinson:
When an accusation of Sandusky's disgusting activities reached him, Paterno immediately referred them to Penn State authorities.
"Referred them to Penn State authorities"??? To the authorities at a school where the football program is the crown jewel, almost sacred? Sorry, Peter, but I disagree with you on this. Paterno's first call should have been to the police, then to the university president, informing him that he had already notified the police. Instead, he punted. Given the nature of the accusations here, this is unacceptable. · Nov 10 at 9:24am
Okay, Steven, Emory, you know what? You're right and I'm wrong.
My morning with Ricochet: I went from fury with the trustees while on the elliptical machine at the gym to conceding, about 15 minutes after putting up my post, that they did, more or less, the right thing.
I still insist, though, that the trustees should have explained themselves (this is why I'll grant only that they did "more or less" the right thing). Above, Steven Manacek put the matter succinctly, and, as my withdrawal from the field, defeated, neatly demonstrates, irrefutably. Why couldn't the trustees have done the same?
Jul '11
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
Happy Valley is an extremely tight knit community where little comes in or out. Usually this is a good thing but of course horribly not so good here. Paterno is an old man with a storied career and one that maintained a habit of being loyal to his athletes/friends in the most positive of ways.
Some people cannot fathom the depths of such horrific actions and no one should judge Paterno until the full facts are known.
Did the former QB tell Joe he saw sodomy of a child or something less descriptive? Either way, I can tell you that some things just don't compute for people and they push stuff away or do not believe it.
I have great admiration for the man's career and character. I refuse to judge him yet over this issue.
As a side note for any who think I am making light of what occurred, I would not go to the police if that were my child. I would strap on a 45 and send that animal straight to hell where hopefully a Dante like torture in the afterlife awaited him and all the other human scum that rape kids.
Jul '11
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
So is it known exactly what the former QB said to Paterno?
If it was child rape then I'll judge Paterno as a damn fool that ignored a beast in his midst.
Jun '10
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
"To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it." --Dr. MLK Jr.
Paterno (along with several others) was an accomplice, and deserves the punishment of an accomplice. They needed to clean house immediately and Paterno got exactly what he deserved.
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
katievs: Peter, I wonder: were you satisfied when Cardinal Law was allowed to retire and given the chaplaincy of one of the great churches in Rome?
I wasn't. I am still appalled that bishops have not been held accountable for their role in covering up crimes against children in the name of protecting the reputation of the Church. · Nov 10 at 9:32am
Edited on Nov 10 at 09:33 am
You're right, you're right, you're right. (And I was wrong, wrong, wrong.) The Cardinal Law matter still infuriates me, and the parallel with Joe Paterno is, as you suggest, only too stark.
Mar '11
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
Peter: I agree with the posters on the thread and disagree with your initial inclination. Paterno was dead wrong and, perhaps, an accessory. One simply cannot stand by and do nothing in cases like this.
Nevertheless, I can't help but wondering: after so many years, someone at Penn State finally took decisive action on this at the Trustee level. But this cannot possibly be the first time someone, anyone, at that level heard a disconcerting word about what may have happened in a Penn state lockerroom. Surely not.
So: Is the Board of Trustee's finally acting so decisively in order to cover their own prior negligence?
Mar '11
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
I am a long time lurker. I am very happy that you changed your mind on this one. The grand jury indictment puts Paterno in a very bad light. Just because he was not indicted does not mean that he is without fault. In my mind, he should have called the police. Instead, he let Sandusky remain on campus for years. This is utterly shameful.
May '10
Re: Penn State Gets it Wrong
In 1998, the mother of one of Sandusky's victims confronted the coach while police listened in. He admitted to showering naked with the boy and touching him inappropriately. He then told the mother, "I wish I were dead." Six weeks later the case was closed and that was it.
Sandusky was 55 and Paterno's heir apparent. When he "retired" no other program, college or professional made a run at him. Why? Was the knowledge of his predatory acts so well known inside the football community that he was viewed as too toxic to be employable? Why wasn't this aggressively handled back then?
We may never know because a major player in the initial investigation can't answer any questions.
The county prosecutor back then was a man named Ray Gricar. Gricar disappeared in the summer of 2005. His car was found abandoned. Several months later his laptop was found in a nearby river, its hard drive removed. This past year he was declared legally dead. There is no provable connection between the two cases as of now.
As of now these dots are not connectable. But it is just too darn inconvenient.