BREAKING: NYTimes: Paterno is Out

[UNTflyer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-said-to-be-planning-paternos-exit.html?_r=1

[Green Mean]

Scandal or not there was talk he wouldn't be here next season anyways. No point in announcing an exit unless he is gone today.

[UNTcrazy727]

I think I'm on the wrong website. Is this a Penn St or UNT forum?

[UNTflyer]

I think I'm on the wrong website. Is this a Penn St or UNT forum?

This is the biggest story in college football of the last decade.

[Green P1]

Wasn't this his last season anyway? No story here.

[UNTcrazy727]

This is the biggest story in college football of the last decade.

Does it need 3 threads and a new one with each breaking update? I don't think so.

[foutsrouts]

No one has said it yet, so I guess I have to give the obligatory:

QUITTER!

[UNTflyer]

Wasn't this his last season anyway? No story here.

Last season of his contract, yes. But if he wanted to coach for another 10 years they would have let him.

[KRAM1]

NCAA should immediately announce than any Penn State player wishing to transfer will have immediate eligibility at any school in any conference willing to accept the transfer! I would not want my name associated with this program at this time in any way shape or fashion.

Penn State should be very much ashamed of itself. The handling of this goes beyond stupid. Perhaps it reflects some of the arrogance associated with such programs. Don't know, don't care. But, this is far worse than I could ever imagine. Sickening.

[GreenBat]

Forget about Joe Paterno and the players at Penn St. Everyone should be concerned with the victims. The BOR should clean house of anyone that had knowledge of this. I don't want to throw the GA, who witnessed the "shower scene", under the bus, but why didn't he report it to the police. He could have stopped 7 years of abuse.

[UNT90]

NCAA should immediately announce than any Penn State player wishing to transfer will have immediate eligibility at any school in any conference willing to accept the transfer! I would not want my name associated with this program at this time in any way shape or fashion.

Penn State should be very much ashamed of itself. The handling of this goes beyond stupid. Perhaps it reflects some of the arrogance associated with such programs. Don't know, don't care. But, this is far worse than I could ever imagine. Sickening.

Yep, and there should be huge NCAA sanctions for lack of institutional control, but we all know that will never happen. This will be a staggering blow to the Penn St. program. They can look to be way down in competitive football for the next 5 to 10 years (depending how deep this scandal goes and how long it stays in the public eye).

Who would even want to take that coaching job after this scandal?

Easily the biggest scandal in college football history.

[Green P1]

I don't want to throw the GA, who witnessed the "shower scene", under the bus, but why didn't he report it to the police. He could have stopped 7 years of abuse.

why didn't he walk in there and stop it himself? Was the recently graduated college football player not physically able to stop a 60 year old man from sodomizing that little boy? I put as much or more blame on that coward as anyone else involved.

[CMJ]

After reading numerous accounts and thoughts on news sites and message boards, this is basically what I think happened.

The first time anything suspicious involving Sandusky came to PSU's attentions seems to have been 1998. Here is what the choices were.

1.Bring it into light, arrest Jerry, take the huge massive PR hit

2.Cover it up and let father time whittle it away

I think they did number one BECAUSE of Joe Paterno. So ego driven and known for doing things the right way, JopePa couldn't stand that this happened under his watch all these years. He also didn't want to believe that one of his best friends was a sexual predator, probably only half way believing it himself (how many times do relatives of major cons try to ignore all warning signs....all the time).

He didn't want anyone to know about his failure to see the dark side of his best buddy. So they agreed with Jerry they wouldn't bring charges AND allow him to keep up the lifestyle for his silence. All lead by Paterno. Paterno is the key leader in this. I think he had all intentions to retire after 1999 (it was really all over the news that he was looking to retire soon if you recall) and turn the reigns to Jerry. But when this came out,obviously that plan was dumped. After Jerry "retired", Penn State football basically collapses. They go through a couple of 5 win seasons (and people start saying he's over the hill) with only one winning year over a four year stretch.

Paterno, who stayed on due to the scandal, was burnt out, and didn't really wanna keep on. But he must stay on as head coach because now he has no hand picked successor. So he reorganizes in 2004 and overhauls his staff making them take on more and more responsibility, as he slips further and further into the father figure figurehead.

All this time Paterno holds the dark secret. That's why it has looked the last few years like he would die on the job. Now he trusts no one to take over his program, because his right hand for a generation burned him so badly.

My reading simultaneously makes Paterno look like a monster and sadly sympathetic.

Edited November 8, 2011 by CMJ

[SilverEagle]

Yep, and there should be huge NCAA sanctions for lack of institutional control, but we all know that will never happen. This will be a staggering blow to the Penn St. program. They can look to be way down in competitive football for the next 5 to 10 years (depending how deep this scandal goes and how long it stays in the public eye).

Who would even want to take that coaching job after this scandal?

Easily the biggest scandal in college football history.

And if anyone thinks that this is an isolated institutional incident, I would direct your attention to recent happenings (the last ten years...or more) with the Catholic church.

Edited November 8, 2011 by SilverEagle

[greenminer]

Yep, and there should be huge NCAA sanctions for lack of institutional control, but we all know that will never happen.

According to the NCAA?

I thought these were criminal offenses, and nothing to do with the compliance as it pertains to rules set in place for student-athletes and the sport/competition?

This isn't intended as a disagreement, I just want to understand the premise for this statement. If true, then the NCAA has responsibilities that go beyond this and is no different that pursuing action against an institution for a department secretary that steals from the local pawn shop.

Edited November 8, 2011 by greenminer

[UNT90]

Forget about Joe Paterno and the players at Penn St. Everyone should be concerned with the victims. The BOR should clean house of anyone that had knowledge of this. I don't want to throw the GA, who witnessed the "shower scene", under the bus, but why didn't he report it to the police. He could have stopped 7 years of abuse.

I agree with you, but you also got to understand that Sandusky had a huge amount of power in that organization. It's pretty obvious after reading the Grand Jury summary that Joe Pa protected him the first time around and allowed him back on campus. Here is this kid faced with seeing something that many people can't even comprehend happening, and then faced with the thought of "who is going to believe me if I tell anyone?" At least the GA told his father and Joe Pa (who, make no mistake, is part of the cover up). When nothing happened after that, it just re-inforced his original thought that no one would believe him.

Still not an excuse for not immediately putting an end to the abuse when witnessing it in the shower that night, but he is far less culpable than those above him who willfully chose to do nothing (Joe Pa, AD, VP).

These 3 should be in jail. Sad that they won't ever spend a day there.

[UNTflyer]

"who is going to believe me if I tell anyone?"

I understand that point of view. There isn't a jury in Pennsylvania that would convict Paterno of jaywalking, and most of his staff probably has a similar untouchable aura around them.

[UNT90]

This isn't intended as a disagreement, I just want to understand the premise for this statement. If true, then the NCAA has responsibilities that go beyond this and is no different that pursuing action against an institution for a department secretary that steals from the local pawn shop.

This is a coach, an AD, and a school VP turning their head while a coach in the football program (yes, he was still a part of the football program) uses said program to recruit, groom, and then sexually molest 10 year old boys in the shower of the athletic facility that houses said football program.

A secretary stealing paper has nothing to do with the football program. This has EVERYTHING to do with Penn St. football. Not even close to a comparison.

If coaches and programs can be disciplined for using the football program to pay future players, they can damn sure be disciplined for willfully ignoring the roll of their program in the sexual abuse of young male children.

But it's Penn St. and it's the NCAA, so I would bet they would use your argument.

Edited November 8, 2011 by UNT90

[risinggreen]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-said-to-be-planning-paternos-exit.html?_r=1

"He became the head coach in 1966, and he has been widely credited with helping spearhead the Penn State football program and the rest of the university from a local enterprise into a national brand. Along the way, Beaver Stadium grew to 108,000 seats from 29,000 and Penn State’s endowment grew from virtually nothing to more than $1 billion."

Sorry to be a little off the subject, but the eggheads of the world who proclaim that a school's athletic success has very little to do with the overall success of the university are idiots. Didn't realize Penn State's resources were so humble prior to the 60's/70's.

Along with the victims and their families, I feel sorry for the sane people of the world who work with kids on a regular basis. If they weren't getting a suspicious eye from parents and such before, they likely will be getting one before this thing is over. Preachers, teachers, youth organization leaders, youth coaches, and now upper level college coaches. Truly sickening.

[UNT90]

"who is going to believe me if I tell anyone?"

Also the point of view of many of Sandusky's victims, I'm sure.

I'm not excusing the GA's roll at all. It is something that he will have to live with for the rest of his life, especially knowing that other children were abused after 2002, but there are people in positions of power that should answer way before a GA at Penn St.

[GreenEnergy]

Stayed too long.

[TIgreen01]

I'm not excusing the GA's roll at all. It is something that he will have to live with for the rest of his life, especially knowing that other children were abused after 2002, but there are people in positions of power that should answer way before a GA at Penn St.

That's just passing the buck. The GA going to his superiors is understood. However, once nothing was done, not going to the police is inexcusable. Considering his inaction, the only conclusion one can reach is that he was included in the cover-up.

[UNT90]

That's just passing the buck. The GA going to his superiors is understood. However, once nothing was done, not going to the police is inexcusable. Considering his inaction, the only conclusion one can reach is that he was included in the cover-up.

I was under the impression that he was no longer at Penn St. and just read that he is the recruiting co-ordinator and WR coach at Penn St.

This sheds a whole new light on this. Probably the only reason he wasn't indicted is because without his testimony, there is no case against the AD or the VP. May have even cut a deal .

[NorthTexan95]

NCAA should immediately announce than any Penn State player wishing to transfer TO UNT will have immediate eligibility!

Fixed it for you.

[Green Mean]

why didn't he walk in there and stop it himself? Was the recently graduated college football player not physically able to stop a 60 year old man from sodomizing that little boy? I put as much or more blame on that coward as anyone else involved.

Unfortunately big big big time college football is more important than the sanity of this world. As for Mcquerey...that SOB is getting a pass in all this. Oh and by the way he was a graduate assistant in hopes to have a coaching career which he is currently one of the assistant football coaches up there. Make no mistake there was a reason he and his dad didn't go beyond what they did. Just pathetic on all levels. They should all face legal consequences.