The Confidential

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Archive for the tag “Paterno”

09 Nov 2011
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More On Paterno

The latest news in the Penn State scandal is that Joe Paterno is not going to resign and that it is likely the Board of Trustees for Penn State will investigate (i.e. allow him to finish the season) before taking action.  And students in Penn State are out on his lawn supporting him.  Unreal.  A colossal mistake.

Imagine if Paterno said this on Monday evening:

Regardless of what I did or did not do in the past, and regardless of whether it was right or wrong, it is in the best interests of everyone for the focus to shift away from issues about Joe Paterno coaching.  Instead, the focus should be on #1 helping identify and counsel the victims; #2 ensuring justice is done; and #3 restoring the good name of Penn State.  In that order.  Joe Paterno simply is not on that list.

If my conduct is currently judged by anyone to have fallen short, I apologize for that now.  While my natural inclination is to try to fight to convince you of my side of the story, I cannot let myself be a distraction or obstacle to the most important goals being reached.  For those worried about my legacy, the legacy of Joe Paterno is not more important than the victims, justice, and Penn State.  And, if my legacy is going to be tarnished, it is going to be because of what I did or did not do several years ago and NOT because of what I did or did not do this week.  

For those talking about football right now, stop.  Realize that football is not the most important thing in life.  I certainly have never said it was.  And nothing that I have done in the past was based on putting Penn State football ahead of any other interests.  And, regardless of what you might think, Penn State can win football games without Joe Paterno.  So you need to stop worrying about football and re-focus on the three priorities here.  You can and should support the team on Saturday and in the future–those players have never been accused of doing anything wrong.  And although football games are low on the list of priorities, I am not going to allow controversy regarding me to interfere with them.

This is certainly not how I wanted my career to end.  But I have to acknowledge that I need to move on to a greater calling right now.  And that is using whatever is left of my good name to help the victims.  Even that might not be good enough in the end, but as a fighter I have to do what I can to win that battle.  Because that fight needs to start immediately, I hereby resign from my position with Penn State.

The reaction?  Of course, many would not be satisfied with that.  There are some who think Paterno should go to jail.

Most people, however, are in the middle and would feel that a self-imposed punishment at this juncture would be appropriate.  There would also be many people enraged that Paterno fell on the sword–even if it is a sword that he created unnecessarily many years ago.  And those people would not waver in their support for a quasi-martyr.

And if he truly did devote his efforts to helping these victims and other victims, his legacy would be restored over time.  America is always willing to forgive those that sincerely ask for it.  Eventually.

But that did not happen.

Instead, Joe Paterno is digging in–forcing the Board of Trustees to do something.  It is clear that Joe Paterno’s integrity is really just a myth.  Looking back, Joe Paterno was always looking out for Joe Paterno.  From there, it is not hard to extrapolate that he did not report this crime because it would have reflected poorly on him–hiring a pedophile and employing him for all those years.  Moving to less important matters, it becomes apparent that his continued  coaching is entirely about ensuring his place in the hierarchy of football coaches.  Even if it means being a detached coach in the press box without a headset.  As long as the win total grows.  The library donation was to immortalize his name, not to further education.  And so on.

Anything that happens to Joe Paterno’s legacy at this point is well deserved.   Needless to say, that legacy has peaked.  It is just a matter of how far he is going to let it fall before (finally) doing the right thing.

 



 


 


 

Posted by acaffrey in Football and tagged ,
07 Nov 2011
9 Comments

Joe Paterno Must Resign

By now, most everyone has read the news about the scandal at Penn State.  If you want to know more details, find a copy of the grand jury report.  No link here.  It is disturbing.  In any event, The Confidential has reached the conclusion that Paterno should resign immediately.

Paterno was probably not under a legal obligation to report the abuse that he did not witness.  His status as a non-supervisor seems to prevent same.  And it is apparent that there is at least some debate as to whether Paterno was morally obligated to call the police.  While the overwhelming majority of the comments are zealously advocating that he was morally obligated to do so, there is a reason why these incidents are under-reported to the point that states must pass laws to compel reporting.  For whatever reason, human beings are able to talk themselves out of reporting crimes that they should.  If Paterno deviated from his moral responsibility, his deviation is not unique.

What is unique is that Paterno is entrusted to run a major football program.  Running such a program requires him to police the interactions between his players and boosters.  It requires him to look out for the best interests of the 18- to 22-year-old men that parents entrust to him.  Most of all, it requires him to be engaged with the program. What this scandal demonstrates is that Paterno has not been engaged with the program for some time now.

It is unfathomable that Paterno allowed Sandusky to come anywhere near Paterno’s program.  There were reports of an incident of some nature occurring in 1998.  Even if Sandusky was cleared, one would think that Paterno would not want him anywhere near the program.

Regardless, even if Paterno’s first knowledge was truly 2002, that should have been enough.  Paterno should have wanted that guy to be 1,000,000 yards away from his campus, much less the weight room and football facilities.  The fact that Sandusky was able to continue to use these facilities at any point after 2002 suggests that Paterno either did not care that he was using the facilities or did not know.  If he did not care, then this means that abuse of a child is a non-issue for Paterno.  That’s bad.  If he did not know, then this means that Paterno is simply not capable of running the program.  How can he NOT know?

If Sandusky was paying Penn State players, would Paterno know?  He has to.  If Sandusky was convincing Penn State players to use steroids, would Paterno know?  He has to.  And if Paterno does not know that the guy he reported to his supervisor as abusing a child was not in his locker room, that’s a failure.  A football coach in today’s game has to know a lot more about his players than how fast they are and how well they block/catch/tackle.

Even worse, Paterno is routinely entrusted with youth.  While his players are not as young as Sandusky’s victims, they are still the young sons of parents.  Can parents rely on Paterno to make sound decisions about their kids’ well being?  If something happens with one of their kids, will Paterno take action or will he refer it upstream and forget.  As a parent, there is an easier solution than wondering, you tell your kid to go elsewhere.  This will hurt recruiting.

But this is not about recruiting.  This current issue is not about recruiting and wins.  It is about young men that will be permanently scarred by what happened in Paterno’s locker room.  It is about whether Paterno can be entrusted to run the program anymore.  Even if there is an argument to be made that Paterno did not have a duty to call the police, are we really to believe that he did not have a duty or obligation to follow-up to see what happened?  If not a duty, perhaps an innate curiosity to see “whatever happened to that investigation”?   But… nothing.  As noted above, either he did not know or he did not care.  Only two choices here.  Neither are acceptable.

That’s not the Paterno that is morally superior to anyone.  That’s a Paterno that is running a program from the press box, only without the headphones to connect him in.  And if he is not connected to the program, then he should not be running it.  The sad thing is that we are not talking about the future, but about the past.  His resignation is not due, it is overdue.

This does not mean that others do not deserve blame.  The perpetrator of these crimes naturally comes first.  And there may be facts that show others are more or less responsible than Paterno.  But long before the full story comes out (if ever), Paterno needs to step down and let someone else do the job.  The new coach may win fewer games and be less of a legend.  But, for now, Penn State will have to settle for a head coach who is engaged with the program on a daily basis.

Posted by acaffrey in Football and tagged , ,

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