Joe Paterno and Penn State

[jamo]

As a long time PA resident, I can assure you more than a few people care about his coaching ability AND record.     There are a heckuva lot more young men in his 46 years as head coach that he guided in their formative years at Penn State, making them into the people they went on to become.      This seems to have been totally forgotten.       I can't believe no one seems to be able to separate his coaching career from this Sandusky debacle.     As I've said repeatedly, I don't condone whatever coverup happened, but fergodssake people, give the man his due.    He earned it.

No one in this entire thread or anywhere online is saying that Joe Paterno was bad Xs and Os coach. NO ONE. He's gotten "his due" for years now. But he also covered up and enabled a man who raped over a dozen children, and that's at least a few thousand times more important than guiding a few kids to the NFL.

[inthehole]

Its tough on me based on my history with JoPa, going to the games my whole life, seeing him all the time ... he was a legend, but in the end, just an old man who based on one of his last interviews before he passed, simply seemed he didn't realize the extent of the crimes, which is why he didn't act as he should have.        He was always so involved in helping kids - I have a VERY hard time believing it was his intention to cover this up if he actually knew what was happening to those kids.      Therein lies the crux of the matter - if further evidence comes forward proving there's absolutely no question he knew exactly what was happening, I'll support removing his statue with everyone else ... until then, I think people just want vengeance and are dogpiling on JoPa with practically a blood lust.

[RonTheSavage]

Originally Posted by inthehole

Its tough on me based on my history with JoPa, going to the games my whole life, seeing him all the time ... he was a legend, but in the end, just an old man who based on one of his last interviews before he passed, simply seemed he didn't realize the extent of the crimes, which is why he didn't act as he should have.        He was always so involved in helping kids - I have a VERY hard time believing it was his intention to cover this up if he actually knew what was happening to those kids.      Therein lies the crux of the matter - if further evidence comes forward proving there's absolutely no question he knew exactly what was happening, I'll support removing his statue with everyone else ... until then, I think people just want vengeance and are dogpiling on JoPa with practically a blood lust.

It's pretty clear that Joe knew and covered it up according to the Freeh report. You cant tell me that the most powerful man on campus didnt know this was going on. If he didnt know then why did say that he want Sandusky treated humanely???

From ESPN

According to the 267-page Freeh report, Paterno lied -- to a grand jury, no less -- about his knowledge of a 1998 assault of a young boy (Victim 6) by longtime Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky in a football facility shower.

His lies and, worse yet, his silence from the time of that first reported assault in 1998 helped empower a sexual predator for the next 13 years. Paterno did nothing to stop Sandusky. He was, said former FBI director Louis Freeh, who wrote the report, "an integral part of this active decision to conceal."

Paterno despised weakness in his players, yet he was the one who took part in and, it can be reasonably argued, helped orchestrate a comprehensive cover-up by university president Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and school vice president Gary Schultz.

Sorry I trust this report way more than anything out of the mouths of anyone near that campus!

[burtonda]

Originally Posted by inthehole

Its tough on me based on my history with JoPa, going to the games my whole life, seeing him all the time ... he was a legend, but in the end, just an old man who based on one of his last interviews before he passed, simply seemed he didn't realize the extent of the crimes, which is why he didn't act as he should have.        He was always so involved in helping kids - I have a VERY hard time believing it was his intention to cover this up if he actually knew what was happening to those kids.      Therein lies the crux of the matter - if further evidence comes forward proving there's absolutely no question he knew exactly what was happening, I'll support removing his statue with everyone else ... until then, I think people just want vengeance and are dogpiling on JoPa with practically a blood lust.

Read the report.  The evidence is damning.  Only PSU students and alumni seem unable to understand and accept this.

I bleed Spartan green and white.  But if Tom Izzo did what JoePa did I'd be the first in line to rip his statue off campus (if Izzo had a statue).

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by Spyder

PSU alum are so damn blind to facts right now that I cannot even believe it. We honestly need to withdraw our troops from hopeless places in this world and start taking care of things here at home. People are so damn detached from reality and desensitized that it is really, really scary.

And THAT is why the death penalty on the football program needs to be imposed.  Because that same culture still exists there.

[bwdial]

Originally Posted by inthehole

Its tough on me based on my history with JoPa, going to the games my whole life, seeing him all the time ... he was a legend, but in the end, just an old man who based on one of his last interviews before he passed, simply seemed he didn't realize the extent of the crimes, which is why he didn't act as he should have.        He was always so involved in helping kids - I have a VERY hard time believing it was his intention to cover this up if he actually knew what was happening to those kids.      Therein lies the crux of the matter - if further evidence comes forward proving there's absolutely no question he knew exactly what was happening, I'll support removing his statue with everyone else ... until then, I think people just want vengeance and are dogpiling on JoPa with practically a blood lust.

When this first all came out, I wanted to believe the same thing.  I thought that maybe Paterno didn't exactly understand because he was from a different era.

Then I read the Freeh report.  He understood.  Perhaps he couldn't wrap his mind the fact that his longtime assistant was raping kids in the showers in the Lasch Building, but he understood that it was against the law... and he helped cover it up.