Penn St ex-coach, others charged in child sex case

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This is gonna go from inferno to nuclear in no time. Penn State is in BIG trouble here. First question I want answered is why did such highly regarded coach 'retire' at age 55 and NEVER return to coaching? There's gonna be a lot of dirt flying here...
 

After reading more of the coverage it's hard to fathom how JoePa can keep his job through the end of the week. As drastic as it sounds and as much as some have been derided for this already it may be in PSU's best interest to forfeit the remainder of the season...this is a dark dark cloud that only a complete overhaul can begin to erase.
 

Phil Sheridan from the Philadelphia Inquirer. The local sports media going in for the kill. I thought it would be national non-sports media.

He has been doing that for almost a decade, at least, knowing what he knew. He can’t possibly think it’s acceptable to keep doing it.

From here, it sure looks as if Sandusky’s “retirement” from Penn State was orchestrated after he was accused and investigated of inappropriate contact with a young boy in 1998. It sure looks as if the graduate assistant who reported seeing Sandusky rape a child in a shower in 2002 was rewarded with a permanent staff job for not taking the matter beyond Paterno.

Is that far-fetched? Read the grand jury presentment and tell me anything is more far-fetched than that. If all of these allegations are true — and there are too many witnesses and too many disturbing patterns to dismiss them — then Sandusky felt completely comfortable raping children in the Penn State football facilities. He did almost nothing to conceal his crimes. And let’s not kid ourselves that Sandusky just started doing this suddenly in the 1990s. This is merely what this investigation turned up for this grand jury.

And we’re supposed to believe the man who rules State College like a pharaoh knew nothing? And that when he was told, he figured someone else would handle it, then forgot all about it?

It just doesn’t add up. Paterno’s absolute power allowed him to remain head coach for years longer than anyone expected. He can’t be head coach any more because that same absolute power makes his cover story look ridiculous.
 


Like I said, JoPa had a tiny window to retire on something resembling "his own terms". That window slammed closed at some point this afternoon when people across America began to realize that the winningest D1 football coach was very likely involved in enabling a child-rapist in some capacity.

By the time this has played-out in the media, and has extended into the non-sports forums, Paterno's legacy and Sundusky's will be unrecognizably blurred.

Your aunt (who cares nothing about football) will be talking about this on Thanksgiving; and she will know who Paterno is, while Sandusky will remain virtually unkown.
 


Mick Turition said:
Just checking back in now, no need to expand on why I think Paterno will not be back next year after reading everyone else's comments. I will take it one step further and say that I believe NONE of the current coaching staff will be back next year. I predict a complete housecleaning and naming of a new head coach from outside the Institution within one week of this year's final game. JoePa announces his resignation; a short and embarrassing 'celebration' of his career; no getting to name his successor or any involvement in that process at all. Adios JoePa. Enter the biggest name Coach out there who might be interested; surprised if discrete inquiries not already being made.
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I think you're right the entire staff is let go. I'll go further and anyone who was in assistant the last 15 years would be off limits.
 

Buttcheeks McGaffigan said:
I think you're right the entire staff is let go. I'll go further and anyone who was in assistant the last 15 years would be off limits.
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I thought the same thing especially regarding Al Golden. They'll have to find a Kill FCA guy.

People still probably having a hard time coming to grips with Joe Paterno not being NCAA football answer to John Wooden anymore.
 

akgopher said:
I thought the same thing especially regarding Al Golden. They'll have to find a Kill FCA guy.

People still probably having a hard time coming to grips with Joe Paterno not being NCAA football answer to John Wooden anymore.
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Since the sickness has already been addressed, I think Ferentz and Mason will be mentioned early and Ferentz often unless he publicly says no right away.
 

akgopher said:
You obviously didn't read the grand jury report. This is the biggest story in sports and it is ugly. Read the grand jury report before you make another comment about what McQueary (grad assistant) and the maintenance man (former Korean War vet) saw on separate occasions. The maintenance man was so distraught co-workers were scared he was going to have a heart attack. Another HS coach caught him on the floor with another boy in a HS. Eight boys have come forward, including a soldier serving overseas. This more than a few unstable people. Desperate cell phone calls. His first FORMAL investigation coinciding with his "retirement" before his 60th birthday while he still had dreams of coaching PSU.

Bob Ford says it best when alluding to Paterno meeting his obligation when asking if he would have expected more if it was one of his grandchildren. Paterno was in his 60's and 70's when this was going down. Reminds me a lot of the generation of people who kept quiet and didn't address the Catholic abuse in the 50's, 60's, and 70's, and 80's.
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Just finished it...awful, awful stuff. A couple of questions. Why didn't the Grad Asst go directly to police after seeing a child being raped? This is crazy to me. Imagine, you are a 28 year old grown man, former college fb player and you see a child getting raped in the shower....the first thing you do is call your Dad? How about go to your office, lock the door, and call the effing police! After all there is a 10 year old being raped in the same building as me! Or how about grab a baseball bat and go hit the guy in the head and be a hero(easy for an internet poster to say of corse)! But no, the best thing you come up with is to go to your Dad's house and talk it over for a while and figure out the best course of action...which would be call the police immediately right? Nope, Dad and son were so concerned about the child that they would wait until the next day to have a meeting with Joe Pa...never mind that you left the scene of a crime where a 10 year old boy was getting RAPED! Sheesh. I'm sorry but that is shameful imo. (not to mention that the Grad asst, the only person who had full knowledge of the rape that night, continued to live and work around Sandusky on the PSU campus for eight more years while he continued to brutalize kids. He was so concerned that Sandusky got off scot free and might be brutalizing more kids that he does.....nothing.)

So why didn't the Grad student call the police...fear perhaps? What would he have to lose? Possibly advancing through the coaching ranks at Penn St? Possibility of bringing shame on the Penn St football program? Is it possible that the Grad student woke up the next morning feeling guilty that he did nothing the night before and decides to meet with Joe Pa in order to clear his conscience? Is it possible that he doesn't give Joe Pa the whole story in order to hide the fact that he saw a child being raped the night before and did nothing to report it?

Is it possible Paterno lied under oath and the Grad Student told the truth? Sure, but's that's my point. We don't know what the hell was said in that meeting! Is it possible that the Grad Student lied to the grand jury? Of course, to cover his own ass.

Child molesters gravitate towards jobs where the have easy and trusted access to children. They will spend years developing an image just to get this access. The ability to deceive everyone around them is part of what makes serial molesters so difficult to see and stop. I'm not saying Paterno is innocent or gulity, but does the lynch mob have to control decision making in our country? See Duke lacrosse as a good recent example. I want the truth to come out and all guilty to be held accountable as much as anyone, but can't we let the justice system play this thing out before we start firing and asking for resignations? Scapegoating in this country is becoming the norm and I fear that Paterno could become a victim of just guilt by association whether he knew or not.
 



The "Grad Student" is still on Paterno staff. If he was involved, we're back to where we are. Your theory goes bust.

This whole staff will have to go to save the PSU athletic program. End of story.
 

highwayman said:
The "Grad Student" is still on Paterno staff. If he was involved, we're back to where we are. Your theory goes bust.

This whole staff will have to go to save the PSU athletic program. End of story.
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If he was involved? He was involved in as much as he saw a crime and fled the scene, didn't call police, and waited until the next day to report. We are getting very conflicting reports about what he said to the higher ups. This thing is far from over.
 

If the President of the University loses his job this week and JoePa doesn't we will know just how strong the cult of personality is. Also, the Duke Lacrosse case can't be used for cases so well flushed out as this one is...you have a chain of command and the person smack in the middle is an 84 year old legend with the most power and somehow he's to be protected?
 

I'm surprised how quick people are to assume they'd do different than McQuery.

I don't know what I would have done. It's easy to imagine myself going to the police but...
 



Studwell55 said:
I'm surprised how quick people are to assume they'd do different than McQuery.

I don't know what I would have done. It's easy to imagine myself going to the police but...
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Agreed. There's some false indignation here. You don't see someone you've known and trusted raping a ten year old, put your hand on your hip, think, "well, I never..." and march right over and pick up the telephone to the cops.

This would FREAK your S%#T out. You'd be in shock, you'd want to believe upon belief that you didn't see what you saw, you'd probably definitely sit down for a few minutes, you very well might call someone you trust first.

HOWEVER, you gotta think that after a period of sober reflection you conclude you gotta call the police. As we see over and over in scandals, it's the cover up that's gonna kill a lot of careers besides Sandusky's here....
 

JPIIGopher said:
If he was involved? He was involved in as much as he saw a crime and fled the scene, didn't call police, and waited until the next day to report. We are getting very conflicting reports about what he said to the higher ups. This thing is far from over.
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I re-read your post. I guess my point is that it doesn't matter anymore--from the FB program standpoint--who knew what and when, or how people reacted.

This is an unmitigated and colossal disaster for the PSU FB program. The ONLY way out is to have the entire staff resign or be let go. As a parent, you are going to send your athlete (or non-athlete for that matter) to PSU, knowing that something of this magnitude occured? Do the details really matter? Recruiting will take a huge hit--maybe in all sports.

Who's guilty, innocent, and the facts are long gone after only a few days. This is a potential program-killer. Does the B1G want PSU in the first ever Championship Game? How do they spin all this? How do you hype the game?

My God, this is a FUBAR of massive proportions.
 

JPIIGopher said:
Is it possible Paterno lied under oath and the Grad Student told the truth? Sure, but's that's my point. We don't know what the hell was said in that meeting! Is it possible that the Grad Student lied to the grand jury? Of course, to cover his own ass.
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A couple of things we know:

-The administration was passed along at a minimum enough information for Schultz to tell the grand jury that he was under the impression that there was a wrestling match going on between Sandusky and the ten year old boy and that Sandusky may have inappropriately grabbed his genitals.

-The administration felt it was serious enough to tell Sandusky that he wasn't allowed to bring children onto campus anymore.

Given that Paterno was the conduit of information from McQueary to the administration those facts kind of blow up the theory that McQueary may have not told Paterno anything.

And yes McQueary was put in a difficult situation that I'm sure he would have given anything to get out of. But that doesn't absolve him from the responsibility of doing the right thing. I'm sure that Joe Sensor's wife didn't mean to run anyone over and was terribly frightened but she still should have stopped and called the police.
 

A potentially big bomb down the road is the timing of Sandusky's retirement. Was it any way connected to the allegations of abuse? Can't believe they not only didn't contact the authorities, but then they let him stay around after forcing him to retire as as an assistant. I'm sure people are looking hard at this angle.
 

School just canceled the Joe PA weekly press conference. Media is all over PSU Campus.
 

Interesting comments and perspective from Kim Jones from YES Network when she was on with Mike Francesca yesterday. She went to PSU and covered Penn State after graduating. She said that because State College is such a small/close-knit community - there were most definitely whispers and talk about everything that is now coming out in the Grand Jury report. Also said there was no way that Paterno didn't know what happened in 1998 - he knew everything that went on in that town. Which might play into Mulligan's point about the timing of Sandusky's retirement, but also shows how much everybody put their heads into the sand.

http://www.yesnetwork.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=19983411
 

It looks like Penn State canceled their scheduled press conference and JoePa now reportedly won't participate in the BT Weekly Teleconference. I hope they understand that running from the media is not an option. Unless something big is going down today (re: Joe Pa getting fired or "retiring" effective immediately) they absolutely have to talk to the media.

From a crisis communications standpoint, they couldn't have handled the last few days any worse than they are.

http://espn.go.com/college-football...ittany-lions-call-joe-paterno-news-conference

Go Gophers!!
 



Studwell55 said:
I'm surprised how quick people are to assume they'd do different than McQuery.

I don't know what I would have done. It's easy to imagine myself going to the police but...
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I can see not doing something right away, but qt some point you have to call police for the good of the child.
 

I don't think this could get any uglier. This is a sickening story and Sandusky deserves to rot in a cell for the rest of his days. Hopefully justice will come to his victims. As for those who are fans of PSU, they don't deserve this. I would take an academic scandal over this any day.

On a football note. I would think Urban Meyer would be getting a call from State College in a couple weeks
 

Ron Johnson Super Fan said:
A couple of things we know:

-The administration was passed along at a minimum enough information for Schultz to tell the grand jury that he was under the impression that there was a wrestling match going on between Sandusky and the ten year old boy and that Sandusky may have inappropriately grabbed his genitals.

-The administration felt it was serious enough to tell Sandusky that he wasn't allowed to bring children onto campus anymore.

Given that Paterno was the conduit of information from McQueary to the administration those facts kind of blow up the theory that McQueary may have not told Paterno anything.

And yes McQueary was put in a difficult situation that I'm sure he would have given anything to get out of. But that doesn't absolve him from the responsibility of doing the right thing. I'm sure that Joe Sensor's wife didn't mean to run anyone over and was terribly frightened but she still should have stopped and called the police.
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Great point. It looks bad for everyone. My opinion is that they all had to know something more than they are leading onto, but the well being of the program became more important. I'm just trying to figure out how I can be wrong, Joe Pa has been my favorite coach since childhood. But if he knew Sandusky was dirty and did nothing that makes me ill.
 

JPIIGopher said:
Great point. It looks bad for everyone. My opinion is that they all had to know something more than they are leading onto, but the well being of the program became more important. I'm just trying to figure out how I can be wrong, Joe Pa has been my favorite coach since childhood. But if he knew Sandusky was dirty and did nothing that makes me ill.
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Me too, I keep trying to tell myself he did everything right... it's looking less and less likely though. Honestly, he may have done everything right still, but just not right enough.

I am a elementary school teacher and being a teacher I am a mandatory reporter. Thankfully, I have never had to report anything, but if I did, I think I would go to the Principal or Supt and report what findings I have. In this situation, I would ask them what do I do? Do I go to the police? Do they handle it (talking to the police)? You would think something this serious would get reported immediately.
 

It looks like damage control is shifting into gear at PSU with Paterno's press conference being canceled. I expect an annoucement of Paterno's retirement, effective at the end of the season, by next Monday. Concurent with that annoucement will be the annoucement of a search committe for his replacement. While he may of done the minimum, he was legally required to do, Paterno didn't do the right thing, and he has to pay the price. In time everyone touched by this including the President are gone.
 

I say JoPa will be gone by Saturday. This is a sad situation. Why is it so difficult for people to do the right thing?
 

SelectionSunday said:
I say JoPa will be gone by Saturday. This is a sad situation. Why is it so difficult for people to do the right thing?
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Who knows, we try and teach our kids to tell the truth and when adults can't even do the right thing it's terribly disheartening. Major Universities just like to cover things up hoping they'll go away when, in fact, when it erupts, it's much, much worse.
 


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