Incredible ugliness at Penn State

[dabvu2498]

JoePa skipped his weekly presser.

It was painful to watch Matt Millen just now on ESPN.

Nothing but sadness to this whole scenario.

[Stray]

This whole thing is just disgusting. I think a lot of people would agree that there's legal responsibilities, then moral responsibilities. If what we think we know is true, then Joe Paterno did not do enough. He's not in any legal troubles, but for a man of his position he did not do enough. To allow that trash to hang around their facilities for several years after just makes it worse on top of not going to the police.

Now Penn State has cancelled their press conference, where apparently Paterno was prepared to make a statement and answer questions, but who knows what's going on. And we have Matt Millen crying on ESPN. It's just a circus that needs to stop.

A statement needs to be made, and Paterno needs to be heard on why he did and didn't do certain things. Then the investigation by the police can do their thing and put those guilty in jail.

[Stray]

Now the NYT is reporting Joe Pa is out at Penn State, could take weeks or days. Just said it live on SC.

[BuckeyeRed27]

Originally Posted by Stray

Now the NYT is reporting Joe Pa is out at Penn State, could take weeks or days. Just said it live on SC.

According to a few sources on Twitter (FWIW) the BOT voted him out and asked Patero to resign and he has refused to do so.

[RiverRat13]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeRed27

According to a few sources on Twitter (FWIW) the BOT voted him out and asked Patero to resign and he has refused to do so.

What would make anyone think this would make Paterno resign? Tom Bradley has been the de facto head coach for years while Paterno has sat up in the pressbox safely away from the real coaches, shamelessly still counting the wins to his own resume. JoePa thinks he has done no wrong in this situation. That stubborn old man ain't gonna go quietly.

I would guess he finishes the regular season but is out before the bowl game.

[cincrazy]

I feel for those people such as Matt Millen. I can't imagine what emotions they're dealing with. The shame and embarrassment that they feel. I'm a Buckeye through and through, and the Tressel situation brought me to tears a few times while defending him. And I just can't even fathom the scenarios being reversed. When you believe in an institution with all of your heart and soul, and it betrays you, it's a bitter, hurtful feeling.

The house needs to be cleaned out at PSU. Everyone needs to go.

[medford]

At this point, I don't think JoePa gets a say. There is no way they can have him coach again this season. Part of the coaches duty is to have press conferences after the game, the further the school distances themselves from Joepa at this point, the better off they are.

[HotCorner]

After reading the grand jury report, I wonder how much and how long the PSU athletics department knew of allegations against Sandusky. These allegations go back as far as 1994. Sandusky was at a time the heir apparent to JoePa. But in 1999, he was informed that this was no longer the case. He retired the same year - according to Sandusky to spend more time with his Second Mile program. Ew. One has to wonder whether there was "too much smoke" regarding allegations against Sandusky so PSU (AD and JoePa) decided to pull the "heir apparent" head coach position knowing that this action would probably led to Sandusky's resignation.

Side note: Sandusky has an auto-biography. It's titled Touched.
http://www.amazon.com/Touched-Jerry-.../dp/1582613575

[Sea Ray]

I don't see Joe Paterno as the bad guy in all of this. He's paid to coach football. He's not supposed to know how to handle a sexual abuse case. He reported it to higher authorities and that's all I'd ask of him. This incident had very little to do with him except that it happened to occur in the showers that his team uses during the season. If this guy had chosen lacross showers to abuse kids would the lacross coach be drilled for not reporting it?

Paterno had very little to report to police. He didn't see anything. It was all heresay. The grad asst technically is the only one who could testify about this since he's the only one who could attest to what happened.

Ideally the University officials should have told the grad asst that they are going to report on it but it was ultimately up to the grad asst to cooperate with police.

We can't expect a 75 yr old ball coach to know the protocol for dealing with this. Paterno deserves better after all he's done to end his career like this.

[BuckeyeRed27]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

I don't see Joe Paterno as the bad guy in all of this. He's paid to coach football. He's not supposed to know how to handle a sexual abuse case. He reported it to higher authorities and that's all I'd ask of him. This incident had very little to do with him except that it happened to occur in the showers that his team uses during the season. If this guy had chosen lacross showers to abuse kids would the lacross coach be drilled for not reporting it?

Paterno had very little to report to police. He didn't see anything. It was all heresay. The grad asst technically is the only one who could testify about this since he's the only one who could attest to what happened.

Ideally the University officials should have told the grad asst that they are going to report on it but it was ultimately up to the grad asst to cooperate with police.

We can't expect a 75 yr old ball coach to know the protocol for dealing with this. Paterno deserves better after all he's done to end his career like this.

Are you paid to know how to handle a sexual abuse case? I know I'm not. You know who is? The police. If it was all hearsay that is for the police to determine, not Joe Paterno, or the AD, or the university president.

[Stray]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

I don't see Joe Paterno as the bad guy in all of this. He's paid to coach football. He's not supposed to know how to handle a sexual abuse case. He reported it to higher authorities and that's all I'd ask of him. This incident had very little to do with him except that it happened to occur in the showers that his team uses during the season. If this guy had chosen lacross showers to abuse kids would the lacross coach be drilled for not reporting it?

Paterno had very little to report to police. He didn't see anything. It was all heresay. The grad asst technically is the only one who could testify about this since he's the only one who could attest to what happened.

Ideally the University officials should have told the grad asst that they are going to report on it but it was ultimately up to the grad asst to cooperate with police.

We can't expect a 75 yr old ball coach to know the protocol for dealing with this. Paterno deserves better after all he's done to end his career like this.

When you are told about an incident this horrific how can you not notify the police? I get that protocol is to report it up the totem pole, but when it became evident that nothing was going to happen why wouldn't he inquire more into what happened?

I know he's just a football coach, but he's a guy that's sat in parents living rooms for decades selling them on why they should send their kids to play for him. There is a responsibility above and beyond just what it written in the law here. Then to hear what he heard several years ago and not object to Sandusky remaining around their program and in their facilities is mind numbing.

So to me it comes down to common sense. When you hear the words 'child' 'rape' 'lockerroom' 'Sandusky' in any order how is the natural response to NOT contact the police? Who cares about protocol...these are horrific allegations and have been known about for over a decade.

[George Anderson]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

.

We can't expect a 75 yr old ball coach to know the protocol for dealing with this. .

Regardless of how old he is, the fact that Joe Pa reported it but never followed through with it is flat out wrong and he should be forced out. Using age here to excuse a cover up is wrong.

Besides Paterno still let Sandusky use facilities with the boys from his group after this incident. Joe Pa knew this guy and his sickness but still let him come around the program.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeRed27

Are you paid to know how to handle a sexual abuse case? I know I'm not. You know who is? The police. If it was all hearsay that is for the police to determine, not Joe Paterno, or the AD, or the university president.

Nobody has to determine whether it was heresay. It's straightforward. Paterno's testimony that sexual abuse happened is heresay because he didn't see it. We can argue over whether he should have reported it but it's not debatable whether it was heresay. Joe Pa did not see the crime being committed

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by George Anderson

Regardless of how old he is, the fact that Joe Pa reported it but never followed through with it is flat out wrong and he should be forced out. Using age here to excuse a cover up is wrong.

Besides Paterno still let Sandusky use facilities with the boys from his group after this incident. Joe Pa knew this guy and his sickness but still let him come around the program.

I got the impression that Sandusky was not allowed to do that:

Curley later met with Sandusky and told him he was no longer allowed to bring children onto the Penn State campus. He forwarded the report on to university president Graham Spanier, who approved of Sandusky’s ban from bringing children onto campus and himself never reported the incident to police.

[George Anderson]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

Nobody has to determine whether it was heresay. It's straightforward. Paterno's testimony that sexual abuse happened is heresay because he didn't see it. We can argue over whether he should have reported it but it's not debatable whether it was heresay. Joe Pa did not see the crime being committed

For years during the football season Paterno spent more time with Sandusky than he did with his own wife. Paterno being around this guy as much as he had been had to have suspicion of his behavior. Let's not act like Paterno was legitimately shocked when this recent scandal came out.