PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: …. Triponey said she doesn’t believe the “Grand Experiment,” the idea that football players could be students, that Penn State under Paterno was trying to reach the highest ground, was a fraudulent concept. A native of Clearfield County, just west of State College, she grew up the daughter of a huge Penn State fan.
“That lens led me to believe that Coach really was a pretty remarkable man,” Triponey said. “To this day, I think I may believe that. But I don’t know, somewhere along the way, the pedestal got so high for the program. The Grand Experiment became such a perfect image – and a facade – that we didn’t dare let on there were blemishes.”…
Triponey said that when she got to Penn State she “wasn’t naive about big-time athletics,” having previously worked at Connecticut and Georgia. But she described how there were battles at Penn State with Paterno as he tried to maintain total control of determining discipline for his players. There was a constant concern by top administrators over how Paterno would respond to her efforts to remain independent and also a suggestion that Penn State policies on discipline for off-campus incidents mirror those of top rival Ohio State… (more)
EDITOR: Interesting article. It was natural for Paterno to argue on behalf of the football program and for Triponey to want to treat all students equally. Had Paterno not practiced constraint, he likely could have arranged for her to be eased out. Friction between opposing advocates is not a bad thing when it is responsible.
