LEHIGH VALLEY EXPRESS TIMES EDITORIAL: …But there’s no sting in Thornburgh’s findings, because Paterno’s failing seems to be one of omission: He apparently didn’t tell anyone to investigate, either, and didn’t follow up in any emphatic way. He didn’t ban Sandusky from the university’s football facilities. While Paterno did notify administrators of assistant coach Mike McQueary’s report of Sandusky’s shower-room behavior with a boy, we’re left with a gap of many years — between that incident and Paterno’s grand jury testimony — in which the record seems indefensibly quiet.
People will differ on the persuasiveness of this report. Those who believe Paterno was railroaded can point to the lack of a smoking gun. There’s no memo, for example, advising anyone to back off. Others will look at the lack of action — and the heavy-handed way in which Paterno fended off the administration in protecting players and his own coaching longevity — and see the how the coach’s iron rule may have thwarted anyone in the administration from doing the right thing.
Two parts of the family-commissioned report ring true. One is a criticism that trustees were too quick to endorse the Freeh report, in an effort to put it in the rearview mirror and begin making amends. The other is an analysis by a former FBI expert on Sandusky’s “skilled and masterful” grooming methods that worked not only on his victims, but snookered those in positions of responsibility… (more)
EDITOR: Since when do we dishonor someone’s life time spectacular achievements for on a single occasion fulfilling his responsibilities but failing to act heroically? Paterno himself expressed deep regret that he had not done more.
And what right did the NCAA have to intervene in administrative matters at a university, let alone without conducting its own investigation?
And why does Gov. Tom Corbett first push Penn State to accept the penalties and then, sensing the voter tornado gathering against his handling of the Sandusky and Penn State matters, sue the NCAA for doing what he had invited?
May all of us not be judged only by our worst lapse.
