The Confidential

Penn State & Death Penalty

Wow.  Already we have a respected commentator suggesting that Penn State should drop football for a year or two.  ESPN’s Lester Munson states as follows:

Consider the cancellation of the football program for a period of at least two years. It might not be possible to establish a new culture without the total elimination of the old one. A two-year hiatus might be the only way to eliminate a systemic problem. How important is football to an institution of higher learning that serves 95,000 students and is supposed to be dedicated to the pursuit of excellence? When Tulane University was caught in a basketball point-shaving scandal in the mid-1980s, the university leadership eliminated the sport for several years to allow a complete renewal of values. When the U.S. Congress discovered a series of abuses in 2008 in its page program, which was designed to offer opportunities to young people, the members of Congress agreed to eliminate it altogether.

He also notes just how hard that would be for the Board of Trustees to do.  So let’s not kid ourselves about the likelihood of that happening.

But it remains a possibility.  And, if it did happen, what would the repercussions be?

Your answer will be the “denial” answer.  Why even think about that which cannot happen?

To that, the Confidential notes that this is a scandal of unprecedented terms:

#1  The SMU scandal involved paying players.  To be sure, that is cheating.  However, it hardly violates the 10 Commandments.  It violates an NCAA rule that seeks to promote amateurism in sports.  Big difference.

#2 Another scandal involved the cover-up of a murder at Baylor.  The cover-up of a murder by the basketball coach is certainly reprehensible.  But it was a one-time incident, rather than systemic.  The murder victim was not a child.

Compare to the instant matter.  More than 99% of the country finds child sexual abuse reprehensible and disgusting.  Things get wishy-washy when a parent is criminally charged for a severe or unique punishment of a child.  That is partially why Bobby Knight remained a polarizing figure.  When it comes to discipline, things get murkier for some.  Child sexual abuse is never defended.  It is always taboo and properly so.  There is no excuse for not doing the maximum to prevent it.  It is newsworthy whenever it is reported.  There is no defense by those who commit it.

And that is where Penn State finds itself… straddling the line between committing it and enabling it.  If one imputes the conduct of Sandusky to the University, that is bad enough.  Molesting children on trips to watch bowl games or in the locker room is terrible.  Not ensuring that this repeat offender be criminally investigated is inexcusable. That’s the message that is being sent.  Sure, Joe Paterno may or may not be more culpable than others… but this all happened at Penn State. And the odds are that Sandusky did not start doing this in 1998.

But ask your grandmother what she thinks of this scandal?  She’ll know about it and have an opinion.  That is why this situation is drastic.

If you are Penn State, trying to make this go away quickly can have a backlash.  Those watching from afar will not be pleased if there is not an appropriate response. This is the type of no-lose situation for Congress to get involved in and hold hearings about: has college athletics gotten too big to police itself?  Who, other than the colleges, will oppose this?  In fact, there will be college professors supporting the inquiry.  And I am sure the IRS wouldn’t mind convincing folks that we should be done pretending that athletic departments are entitled to the same tax breaks as charities and churches.  The vultures will be circling.

Meanwhile, there sits Penn State.  If it says that it “cannot cancel football,” that fuels the fire of those who would see a college sports environment where the schools are simply unable or unwilling to police themselves.  If it cancels football, it will suffer financially and endure a major hit to its reputation.  But it will also begin the process of rebuilding its reputation.  And its leadership may conclude that it is the only way to truly rebuild its reputation.

And Penn State is better situated to recover than SMU.  Penn State is a major public institution.  It has a local and national following.  There will always be 45,000 students streaming through.  It has the markets.  It can survive.

So let’s not pretend it is impossible.  Even if unlikely, it is possible.

Then what?

Even if for two years, the 12-team Big 10 suddenly becomes an 11 team conference.  Under NCAA rules, no championship game.  Meanwhile, the biggest embarrassment in college sports took place within the Big 10. Compounding improbability upon improbability, could the Big 10 go in a different direction?  At that point, Penn State would be a shell of itself in the one thing that matters most–college football.  But the Big 10 prides itself on academics, and Penn State would not suffer there.  There would still be the research consortium.  And all the non-revenue-generating sports.  Just does not seem likely.

But as long as we are talking remote possibilities, how ironic would it be if Penn State ended up separating from the Big 10 and joining the Big East.  A Big East without Pitt and Syracuse.  A Big East without West Virginia and Boston College.   In this crazy world where the Big 10 has 12 teams, the Big 12 has 10 teams, and the Big East is considering San Diego St., we have long since moved past the idea of things working out in an orderly fashion.  So, yeah, we might as well throw irony into the mix too.  We are beyond the point of being surprised.

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.