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The (dubious) sins of Joe Paterno, or: What would you have done?
In defense of Joe Paterno
Joe Paterno's abrupt dismissal after 46 years as Penn State's head football coach strikes me as a case of shoot first, ask questions later.
No one should be treated this way, least of all a man who for half a century has functioned as a role model to thousands of young men.
What is it, exactly, that Paterno did? Assistant coach Mike McQueary reported to him that he had witnessed former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky raping a boy, about ten years old, in the locker room showers. Paterno promptly reported the information to Penn State's athletic director, assuming that the athletic director would handle the matter.
Are you certain that, in the same circumstances, you wouldn't have done the same thing?
In retrospect, Paterno has acknowledged that he should have pursued the matter further, especially since so many other people who should have acted failed to do so, or didn't do enough.
Governor's role
Penn State's 32 trustees, for example. Were they unaware of the allegations that had been made against Sandusky? If they weren't aware, why not? If they were, why didn't they take action? What do university trustees do at their bi-monthly meetings? Talk about how to cut costs at the university, how much to raise tuition and what to order for lunch?
Governor Corbett, on Sunday's talk shows, said the trustees were right to fire Paterno as well as university's president, Graham Spanier. Corbett himself is a trustee ex officio, but he says the only meeting he has attended was the one at which the trustees fired Paterno and Spanier.
However, Corbett was Pennsylvania's attorney general when the state investigated the first sexual abuse allegations against Sandusky. That investigation ended up with a blank. Does Corbett feel any remorse for letting the matter drop?
Orgy of hypocrisy
Who else is at fault? A grand jury summary cites a campus police investigation in 1998 after a mother complained that Sandusky had showered with her 11-year-old boy. The Centre County district attorney and the state's Welfare Department also reviewed those allegations. The reviews must have been perfunctory, because no charges were brought.
So now we witness the other extreme: an orgy of hypocrisy. Advertisers cancel their spots on Penn State football games. A racetrack-casino in the Pittsburgh area fires former football star Franco Harris as its celebrity spokesman because he had the effrontery to come to Paterno's defense.
Sportswriters have called for canceling the next football season, even eliminating Penn State's football program altogether. That's right: penalize the players, the student body, the alumni, the fans and the other universities that have scheduled games against Penn State. None of these parties had anything to do with what one man may have done and what Paterno didn't do.
All those who've never made a mistake raise your hand. I thought so.
For my part, I believe it's a disgrace to cancel a lifetime of achievement for one mistake that didn't seem like a mistake at the time and that anyone might have made. Send not to know for whom Joe Paterno's bell tolls; it tolls for thee.♦
To read another viewpoint by Bob Ingram, click here.
To read another viewpoint by Dan Rottenberg, click here.
To read a response, click here.
No one should be treated this way, least of all a man who for half a century has functioned as a role model to thousands of young men.
What is it, exactly, that Paterno did? Assistant coach Mike McQueary reported to him that he had witnessed former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky raping a boy, about ten years old, in the locker room showers. Paterno promptly reported the information to Penn State's athletic director, assuming that the athletic director would handle the matter.
Are you certain that, in the same circumstances, you wouldn't have done the same thing?
In retrospect, Paterno has acknowledged that he should have pursued the matter further, especially since so many other people who should have acted failed to do so, or didn't do enough.
Governor's role
Penn State's 32 trustees, for example. Were they unaware of the allegations that had been made against Sandusky? If they weren't aware, why not? If they were, why didn't they take action? What do university trustees do at their bi-monthly meetings? Talk about how to cut costs at the university, how much to raise tuition and what to order for lunch?
Governor Corbett, on Sunday's talk shows, said the trustees were right to fire Paterno as well as university's president, Graham Spanier. Corbett himself is a trustee ex officio, but he says the only meeting he has attended was the one at which the trustees fired Paterno and Spanier.
However, Corbett was Pennsylvania's attorney general when the state investigated the first sexual abuse allegations against Sandusky. That investigation ended up with a blank. Does Corbett feel any remorse for letting the matter drop?
Orgy of hypocrisy
Who else is at fault? A grand jury summary cites a campus police investigation in 1998 after a mother complained that Sandusky had showered with her 11-year-old boy. The Centre County district attorney and the state's Welfare Department also reviewed those allegations. The reviews must have been perfunctory, because no charges were brought.
So now we witness the other extreme: an orgy of hypocrisy. Advertisers cancel their spots on Penn State football games. A racetrack-casino in the Pittsburgh area fires former football star Franco Harris as its celebrity spokesman because he had the effrontery to come to Paterno's defense.
Sportswriters have called for canceling the next football season, even eliminating Penn State's football program altogether. That's right: penalize the players, the student body, the alumni, the fans and the other universities that have scheduled games against Penn State. None of these parties had anything to do with what one man may have done and what Paterno didn't do.
All those who've never made a mistake raise your hand. I thought so.
For my part, I believe it's a disgrace to cancel a lifetime of achievement for one mistake that didn't seem like a mistake at the time and that anyone might have made. Send not to know for whom Joe Paterno's bell tolls; it tolls for thee.♦
To read another viewpoint by Bob Ingram, click here.
To read another viewpoint by Dan Rottenberg, click here.
To read a response, click here.
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