Last December I had Christmas Eve dinner in Florida with my father, who is a retired college professor, his wife, and some of their old colleagues. One of these was a man whose late wife had for years been a liaison to the Penn State athletic department--I'm sorry, but I don't remember her exact job title. He and his wife had been good friends with Tim Curley, who gave them a rocking chair as a retirement gift that he keeps in his home.
He was extremely upset by this whole thing, but he wasn't surprised by it. I hadn't posted on this thread, but when I read this article, it reminded me of what he said: his wife's biggest problem in her job had been dealing with Joe Paterno and the football program. He said that Paterno believed that he was the sole authority concerning what happened in the program, and that their problems should remain in house. I'm sorry if I'm mischaracterizing what he said, but this is what I got from his rather passionate speech.
He also told us that everyone at Penn State knew that there was some major problem that had led to Sandusky's forced retirement, but no one knew what the nature of it was. While he had been friends with Curley, he didn't apologize for him, but instead painted a picture of a program with no outside accountability.