Can't believe there's not already a thread on this. In 2002, one of JoePa's graduate assistants saw Jerry Sandusky anally raping a 10 year old boy in the showers at the football facilities. He told Paterno, and Paterno's actions were, well, inadequate. This is pretty shocking, as I've always seen Paterno as the Dean Smith of college football. (Maybe the other way around.) I can't imagine my thoughts and feelings if I found out that Smith had coddled a child rapist. http://espn.go.com/college-football...state-nittany-lions-says-true-were-all-fooled
I just read the indictment but for some reason can't link it here. Everyone at PSU needs to either resign or be fired.....TODAY.
has an effect on recruiting aswell. 5 star Noah Spence, the top rated player in the state of Pittsburgh and 2 best DE in all of the land..(theres an argue for best DE in all of the land), is now thinking about not going to PSU. He's been a HUGE PSU lean since the summer, but with these allegations, his dad has been furious and is now having him look at Maryland and Pitt strongly, since he wants his son to stay close to home. LSU and Florida are also contenders. This will have a deep impact. Thats for sure.
I can't think of anything comparable in terms of a legend destroying his legacy at the finish line. You might say "what about Woody Hayes," but 1. He just slugged a guy. He wasn't involved in child rape. And 2. Woody Hayes was a thug. When he did that, it was IN character. With what I know of Joe Pa's character, this is completely out of character. But then, obviously not...I mean, he DID it. And it wasn't some snap decision that he couldn't undo, like Chappaquiddick. It was a decision he made and stuck by day after day after day.
As a diehard Michigan fan I can say that I admire and respect Woody Hayes and what he accomplished at that school in Ohio. Without Woody there is no Bo and vice versa. While people remember that punch that's not what they remember him for. It's hard to say at this point in time what this will do to Paterno's legacy. Maybe ten years from now it will all be football related but the immediate future looks bleak for Joe and the school.
Ah not really, this is the Catholic Church part two -- somebody unflashy, old school, and firmly institutional chooses to protect the institution/employee rather than take the side of the outsider. Or The Thin Blue Line. Circle the wagons, let's take care of our own. Seems like Joe Pa to me alright.
Absolutly disgusting to hear this. This Sandusky loser needs to be locked up for a long time and Joe Pa should just retire today. To me this really puts a stain on his legacy and it should.
Because that's really the sad thing about all this, JoePa's legacy... not the fact that he's an immoral asshole who let an assistant and friend get away with raping at least 8 boys, possibly more, as did several other complicit people. I know this is a thread in the Football subforum and JoePa is seen as a great guy to many college ball lovers. But that's not really the story here.
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/Sandusky-Grand-Jury-Presentment.pdf I'm assuming yall read this yet?.. if not, take a read... this guy is a sick sick person.
JoePa should go to jail. As should anyone involved. Graduate Assistant gets a friggin job on the staff in return for not calling cops/filing a complaint = accessories after the fact. Throw the book at them all. Also, guy left Penn St. in 2000. 1998 allegation reported to campus police, but investigation and then nothing happened. However a year and a half later, pedophile resigns out of the blue. Guarantee that another allegation surfaced in 2000 that they buried.
Everybody on here mentioned something about his legacy and you come after my post because of 1 comment?? Get the hell out of here. Obviously it's disgusting what happened to the kids and like I said in my post that Sandusky guy needs to go away for a long time and Joe Pa needs to step down and retire. And yes this does put a stain on his legacy and how people have viewed him all these years. The title of this thread is Joe Paterno. So sorry for saying something about him or his legacy in a football forum.
Just like superdave I couldn't get thru the whole thing. Just a little backdrop story.... When I was in 5th and 6th grade at a Catholic elementary school in Virginia I was an altar boy. One weekend there was a religious retreat in Richmond the other altar boys and one of the priests were going to. Letters got sent to our parents asking for money and permission to go. For some reason my old man said no way, you're not going. I was heartbroken....all my friends were going. When they got back one of the kids....I'll never forget him because I was good friends with his brother, came back to school totally changed. He was always really outgoing, funny and full of life. He came back almost unrecognizable. He wouldn't meet us at the playground, wouldn't talk to anyone at recess...nothing. As kids we didn't know what the problem was, just new that something wasn't right. A year later the whispers about that priest started to make the rounds. Bill left school and I never heard from him again. Fast foward to when I was about 20. One of my good friends from school called me up and said...did you hear about Father So and So? I said, no...what? The bastard drove out to some field in the woods and shot himself. I sat and wondered what ever happened to Bill....and also what would have happened if my old man would have said ok, you can go.
Woody Hayes advised the administration to build a tunnel in the 60s between the administration building and the building across the road. He also had some, ah, interesting views on how to deal with student protesters. Woody certainly wasn't a "thug" as superdave describes him, but he certainly had some forceful views on law and order, to say it politely. That's my guess as well, though I'm not sure this is something Paterno needs to go to prison for. Resign? Probably (though as an Ohio State fan, I hope he stays since he's not much of a coach/recruiter anymore). But there's no obligation on a person from a legal perspective to report crimes. Imagine if one of your best friends for 30 years does something like this? It's easy to say now how you'd react in this kind of situation, but it's so hard to know.
Well I could go back and edit my reply so it's not quoting you, since it's targeted at the thread in general. Too bad it's too late for you to take back such an overreaction. Of course it stains his legacy. Who gives a ********? He doesn't just need to step down and retire, he needs to explain why when he was told his friend was sodomizing kids in the locker room he reported it to the university instead of calling the police. He probably needs to go on trial for a crime or covering up a crime. And threads like these should focus on that. What he did is not merely a stain on a legacy, it is the result of not wanting to deal with problems and hoping they will go away. He's a despicable man for not having the honor to stand up and do something about it. Don't get defensive about it, you'll be digging yourself a hole you don't want to be in.
True, but it's not hard to determine right versus wrong. You would be very very wrong to cover for your friend. I'm guessing that you know this. My thought is, if you hear about a 10-year old being assaulted in *your* premises, on *your* watch, that's as if it's *your* child. You make damn sure that you follow through as if it was your child. Paterno fell massively short of doing that. Yes I understand why Joe made his decision, but it was the wrong one and he needs to accept responsibility and resign. Immediately.
I think that's much easier to know in hindsight. It was on the word of one person and presumably Sandusky was able to explain it away somehow (otherwise he wouldn't have stayed employed). And Paterno did pass it on to the University, which generally deals with crime on campus. He didn't necessarily act optimally and probably should resign, but I was objecting to imprisonment.
Are you sure that's the case when the victim is a child? I think I saw a Law & Order about this once. And yes, Hayes was a thug. He was a sort of Bobby Knight, slugging players in practice because he knew they couldn't fight back.
New report out that Sandusky was working out in the PSU weight room LAST WEEK. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footba..._sandusky_penn_state_presence_last_week110711
Very well put. Paterno has to go this time. Has to. I'm shocked. And yeah, Hayes was a thug. The stories of him hitting not only the Clemson player, but his own players made it all the way down here when he was still coaching. Suggesting ways for other thugs to easily deal (violently?) with young undergrads is thuggish. That he was too high up in the organization to do it himself is no excuse. That said, I don't think he would have dealt with an assistant this way if he'd been told what Paterno was told, tho. I think Hayes would have beat dude's ass upon confirmaing the facts, fired him and then called the cops. Knight, too, IMO.
Prison. Without a doubt. The Graduate Assistant who witnessed the 2002 rape was given A JOB on on the staff and numerous promotions since then. It doesn't get any more clear than that. Accessories after the fact = jail time. AT A MINIMUM, THE DA should try them all for conspiracy after the fact. If they lose, so be it. Should definitely roll the dice though as giving the guy a job and covering it up is enough to try the case. The graduate assistant DID NOT witness horseplay in the shower. He witnessed an adult anally raping a minor. With all due respect, if I witnessed one of my best friends in the world anally raping a minor, I would stop it immediately (or at least die trying). After it was done, I would immediately walk down to my nearest police station and talk to or fill out whatever paperwork was necessary to see that he spent the rest of his life in prison. Sheesh...it's not like he killed someon and is asking me to cover it up after the fact.
