Another Big Ten Scandal – Another Legendary Coach Gone (The Fall of Joe Paterno)

As I write this, Penn State and Joe Paterno are immersed in one of the most controversial scandals in the history of college football.  As a college football enthusiast, I had come to believe that I was starting to get immune to college football scandals.  This time last year, the world of college football was engrossed in the question of whether then Auburn quarterback had been paid to transfer to Auburn.  Just last week, the NCAA closed the books on that question with a "no proof of wrongdoing" answer.  Before we could even exit the 2010 season, Ohio State was dealing with an issue of free tattoos for their players.  At the time, it seemed a minor infraction, and truthfully, had it been handled properly, it would have stayed that way.  However, during the offseason, evidence emerged that the head coach of Ohio State, Jim Tressel, knew about the infractions early on and then knowingly failed to report those infractions.  I wrote about those scandals in my article The Offseason of our Discontent http://theevilcommish.blogspot.com/2011/07/offseason-of-our-discontent.html.

 

The major difference in the two scandals in The Offseason of our Discontent and the one that is threatening to destroy or at least severely taint the legacy of the coach with the most wins in FBS is that this is not a scandal about college football.  Joe Paterno has been a coach at Penn State for sixty-seven years.  He has been the head coach at Penn State since 1966.  During that time, Penn State has never been involved in any kind of scandal.  Joe Paterno has been a coach that has been the poster child for how to do things the right way.  Early this week, that all came to a crashing end.

Records from a grand jury indictment became public.  In those documents, Jerry Sandusky was indicted on forty counts of sexual molestation and is accused of sexually molesting eight boys from 1994 to 2009.  Sandusky's relationship to Penn State and Joe Paterno is that he was Joe Paterno's defensive coordinator and one time heir-apparent to Paterno.  This in itself would not be enough to taint Joe Paterno.  Events that took place in 2002 have directly linked Joe Paterno to this scandal and yesterday's reaction to those events clearly turned the tide of public opinion from support of Joe Paterno to angry calls for his immediate dismissal. 

In 2002, then Penn State graduate assistant, Mike McQueary witnessed Jerry Sandusky molesting a ten year old boy in one of the showers in the Penn State locker room.  McQueary did what he should have done.  He brought the incident to Paterno.  According to Paterno, McQueary did not lay out the details of what he saw to Paterno only that Sandusky and the boy were in a shower together.  Paterno did what he was required to do.  He brought the incident to Penn State Athletic director, Tim Curly.  Tim Curly and Penn State Vice President Gary Shultz did . . .  nothing.  They are now currently facing criminal charges of their own for their inactions.  By letter of the law, Joe Paterno is criminally guilty of nothing but sometimes doing the right thing is not something that can be mandated in a state statute.

After the 2002 incident, Jerry Sandusky continued his affiliation with the Penn State program and had been on the Penn State campus as recently as last week.  The questions quickly arose on Monday evening as to what if anything Joe Paterno should have done.  The answers were in no way kind to Paterno.  Andy Staples, a writer for CNN.SI wrote an article calling for Paterno's immediate dismissal.  Todd Blackledge, a current ESPN college football announcer and former Penn State quarterback told ESPN News this morning that even though he considers Joe Paterno a mentor and a friend, that if the allegations do hold water that there should be an ultimate accountability.  Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN's College Game Day was on ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning and stated that Paterno would need to go if these accusations proved true and that ultimately, this wasn't about college football, Joe Paterno's legendary status, or anything else other than the victims of these crimes.

By mid-morning today, Joe Paterno tendered his resignation effective for the end of the season.  I doubt that we have seen the end of this story, and I would wager that Joe Paterno's chances of coaching in the Nebraska game this Saturday are less than fifty percent.  Paterno's resignation seemed to come as a conciliatory gesture to allow the University to move forward but something like this doesn't get taken care of so easily.  As I write this, I am sure that attorneys are contacting the victims.  They have the classic perfect legal case—victims of heinous crimes and culprits with bottomless pockets.  Regardless of what Paterno was required to do regarding the 2002 incident, Joe Paterno's continued employment at Penn State has quickly become a liability.  Penn State students have poured out in support of Joe Paterno but so far, their support of Paterno has not spread beyond Happy Valley.  Joe Paterno has stated that he only wants to do what is right by the University that he has been a part of for the majority of his life.  Sometimes what is best is to walk away.