This is the third time I have written to NewsLanc regarding Penn State head football coach, Joe Paterno. The first two letters were in support for retaining the coaching icon, the winningest coach in the sport’s history.
Now, sadly, my position has changed. As the recently released two-year grand jury investigation shows (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/06/sports/ncaafootball/20111106-pennstate-document.html), many adults within the Penn State administration, including Paterno, were aware that his former defensive coordinator of more than 20 years was caught having inappropriate sexual contact with a minor male child. After learning of it from a credible eye witness, Paterno reported the activity to his athletic director, and then forgot about the issue.
The coach, Jerry Sandusky, also a former player under Paterno, continued to have access to the locker rooms and facilities at Penn State. Sandusky even ran a youth summer football camp at a Penn State satellite campus for years after some of these incidents were reported. He was allowed on campus as recently as last week.
Paterno should have done more. He should have called the cops, made Sandusky accountable, and, above all, protected the child. But he did nothing. This was not the behavior of a paragon of virtue, as the public thought of Paterno. It was the behavior of an enabler of a pedophile, so as to protect his football program and spare it from the humiliating and sordid charges.
Now, the national media firestorm around the story will not abate any time soon. Paterno is a frail 84 year-old man and every single day he is exposed to the media, he will be dogged by these charges. He will be followed by the paparazzi like Lindsey Lohan. This is untenable for him personally, and will only harm the school and the team he has coached for decades. Therefore, he has to go. Now.
“Happy Valley” is probably the most ironically named place on earth now. It will never be the same, and neither will the way we look at a once exalted coach.
What do you think Joe would have done if it was HIS son being raped in the shower. I am sure he wouldn’t tell a staff member and then “forget about it”
You, the Penn State board, and the media are apparently forgetting the presumption of innocence in U.S. law. It’s just this sort of unsubstantiated allegations that allowed Joe McCarthy to terrorize Hollywood and now the U.S. media is using it to sell commercial air time. It’s this sort of knee jerk reaction that makes U.S. justice not just a joke, but done right scary.