Jerry Sandusky Busted/Paterno did NOTHING to prevent him from continuing his assault on children.

[crissfan172]

A couple of more good articles.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/colleges/20111106_Bob_Ford__Vick_a_factor_in_McCoy_s_emergence.html?c=r

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/jerry-sandusky-penn-state-football-sexual-abuse-scandal-tim-curley-gary-schultz-how-could-administration-let-it-happen110511

Blaming Paterno is just poor reporting. If they actually had the facts, they would see that it got to the head of the university police, who failed to do anything about it. These articles say that they told Sandusky to do it elsewhere, and they practically say that Paterno was part of that group. The report makes it clear that Paterno was NOT in that meeting and NOT a part of that decision. He told Curley, who then set up a meeting between himself, McQueary, and Schwartz (the head of university police). From there the decision was made. The most you could possibly say is that Paterno didn't make sure the head of university police did his job. Last I checked, that's Graham Spanier's responsibility, not his. Paterno is guilty (legally or morally) of nothing. He will NOT resign over this, but I wouldn't be shocked if he retired after the season since his contract expires. However, I also wouldn't be surprised to see him return next season.

It's absolutely terrible what happened, but it's also a disgrace that people are trying to attack Paterno's integrity, with that one article claiming this to be the "real Paterno". People should realize who the real bad guys are here and stop attacking the biggest name just to increase their page views.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Blaming Paterno is just poor reporting. If they actually had the facts, they would see that it got to the head of the university police, who failed to do anything about it. These articles say that they told Sandusky to do it elsewhere, and they practically say that Paterno was part of that group. The report makes it clear that Paterno was NOT in that meeting and NOT a part of that decision. He told Curley, who then set up a meeting between himself, McQueary, and Schwartz (the head of university police). From there the decision was made. The most you could possibly say is that Paterno didn't make sure the head of university police did his job. Last I checked, that's Graham Spanier's responsibility, not his. Paterno is guilty (legally or morally) of nothing. He will NOT resign over this, but I wouldn't be shocked if he retired after the season since his contract expires. However, I also wouldn't be surprised to see him return next season.

It's absolutely terrible what happened, but it's also a disgrace that people are trying to attack Paterno's integrity, with that one article claiming this to be the "real Paterno". People should realize who the real bad guys are here and stop attacking the biggest name just to increase their page views.

While it should be expected that a few are jumping on the story with questionable motives, you're missing the point.

Paterno knew about it, knew about repeat offenses, knew that the administration did nothing. Even if it wasn't his LEGAL responsibility, it was his moral responsibility. Not only as a member of society, but specifically as someone who goes into the homes of families and tries to convince them that he is the right person to take care of their sons.

If he didn't do everything that could reasonably be expected, how can he do that now?

[mweb]

I think it's a disgrace that people are sticking up for a man who could have made sure the appropriate thing was done if he chose to.

Paterno should not get the lions share of the blame by any means, but he and every single other person with some knowledge of what was going on that then failed to put a stop to it should be ashamed of themselves.

[BaltimoreTerp]

By the way, Schultz wasn't in charge of the university police. They were in his department, which isn't the same thing; its like calling the U.S. Attorney General the head of the FBI.

http://deadspin.com/5856777/a-guide-to-the-sexual-child-abuse-charges-against-jerry-sandusky-and-to-penn-states-alleged-willful-ignorance

Of particular interest:

Schultz said there was never any discussion between himself and Curley about turning the 2002 incident over to any police agency." The graduate assistant was also never questioned by police.

So the police weren't notified in 2002, and the supposed "person in charge" didn't even know there had been a report in 1998.

[crissfan172]

While it should be expected that a few are jumping on the story with questionable motives, you're missing the point.

Paterno knew about it, knew about repeat offenses, knew that the administration did nothing. Even if it wasn't his LEGAL responsibility, it was his moral responsibility. Not only as a member of society, but specifically as someone who goes into the homes of families and tries to convince them that he is the right person to take care of their sons.

If he didn't do everything that could reasonably be expected, how can he do that now?

First off, he did not know about repeat offenses. He only knew about the one in 2002, and he reported that to the appropriate person. Schultz, whose job it was to oversee the university police, should have had the university police start the investigation right away, seeing as he did know about the prior investigation. There was nothing in the full report that said that Paterno was aware of it, and it definitely made is seem like only a few members of the university police knew about it at all. All he had was a second-hand account of an incident. If anybody was responsible for going straight to the police it would be the administration members or the witness. The administration has the legal responsibility to report it and McQueary was the only one that saw the incident. The only two things that would have been appropriate for Paterno to do would be to report it to his superiors or to tell McQueary to report it to the police. He wasn't there and he wasn't in charge. The ONLY reason he's getting crap for this is because of who he is. People think just because he's a public figure that he's responsible for the actions of his superiors, which is a load of crap. There's a reason he wasn't involved in anything that happened after he reported it, and that's because he wasn't involved in any way shape or form. He was told about an incident and he passed it along to whom he was supposed to. I refuse to fault the man for that.

[SteveA]

Blaming Paterno is just poor reporting. If they actually had the facts, they would see that it got to the head of the university police, who failed to do anything about it. These articles say that they told Sandusky to do it elsewhere, and they practically say that Paterno was part of that group. The report makes it clear that Paterno was NOT in that meeting and NOT a part of that decision. He told Curley, who then set up a meeting between himself, McQueary, and Schwartz (the head of university police). From there the decision was made. The most you could possibly say is that Paterno didn't make sure the head of university police did his job. Last I checked, that's Graham Spanier's responsibility, not his. Paterno is guilty (legally or morally) of nothing. He will NOT resign over this, but I wouldn't be shocked if he retired after the season since his contract expires. However, I also wouldn't be surprised to see him return next season.

It's absolutely terrible what happened, but it's also a disgrace that people are trying to attack Paterno's integrity, with that one article claiming this to be the "real Paterno". People should realize who the real bad guys are here and stop attacking the biggest name just to increase their page views.

Crissfan -- the bottom line is that after the 2002 incident, Paterno ordered Sandusky not to bring any more of the kids from his program to the Penn State campus. That means he KNEW something was up (after all, the report from the GA had come directly to him). And he did nothing other than report it to make sure that it wouldn't happen anymore. His ONLY CONCERN that he acted further on was to make sure it didn't happen on his premises.

That certainly leads one to the conclusion that Paterno was more concerned about the image of his football program than he was about the well-being of innocent children.

[mweb]

I would be pretty shocked if Paterno didn't know about the investigation in 1998.

[crissfan172]

Crissfan -- the bottom line is that after the 2002 incident, Paterno ordered Sandusky not to bring any more of the kids from his program to the Penn State campus. That means he KNEW something was up (after all, the report from the GA had come directly to him). And he did nothing other than report it to make sure that it wouldn't happen anymore. His ONLY CONCERN that he acted further on was to make sure it didn't happen on his premises.

That certainly leads one to the conclusion that Paterno was more concerned about the image of his football program than he was about the well-being of innocent children.

No he didn't. Curley and Schwartz are the ones that made that decision and told him that. Paterno wasn't in that meeting or involved in that process at all. He reported it and expected them to do the right thing. That trust was betrayed by two despicable human beings.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Joe Posnanski is spending this season in State College with Paterno, for a book he's writing. It will be interesting to eventually read his take on everything.

And here are some of them:

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/11/06/darkness/

[crissfan172]

I would be pretty shocked if Paterno didn't know about the investigation in 1998.

Did you read the full report from Attorney General? It was a minor investigation that involved two university policemen having permission to eavesdrop on a conversation between the victim's mother and Sandusky. Sandusky promised that he wouldn't do it (shower with boys) again. I have no idea why charges weren't filed, but since they weren't, Paterno probably never learned of the incident. If you read the 20+ page report (and yes...it is very disturbing), you'll see that Paterno's name is only mentioned in respect to the 2002 incident.

[crissfan172]

And here are some of them:

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/11/06/darkness/

It sounds like this is where it all went south:

As my grand jury testimony stated, I was informed in 2002 by an assistant coach that he had witnessed an incident in the shower of our locker room facility. It was obvious that the witness was distraught over what he saw, but he at no time related to me the very specific actions contained in the Grand Jury report. Regardless, it was clear that the witness saw something inappropriate involving Mr. Sandusky. As Coach Sandusky was retired from our coaching staff at that time, I referred the matter to university administrators.

It sounds like Joe wasn't informed of the specifics of what McQueary saw. You can believe him or not, but if that's true, then it makes complete sense that he didn't contact the police himself (though I don't believe he was the right person to do it to begin with).

[mweb]

Did you read the full report from Attorney General? It was a minor investigation that involved two university policemen having permission to eavesdrop on a conversation between the victim's mother and Sandusky. Sandusky promised that he wouldn't do it (shower with boys) again. I have no idea why charges weren't filed, but since they weren't, Paterno probably never learned of the incident. If you read the 20+ page report (and yes...it is very disturbing), you'll see that Paterno's name is only mentioned in respect to the 2002 incident.

And I repeat, I would be shocked if Paterno didn't know about an investigation of his defensive coordinator that revealed he was showering with young boys in the locker room.

It's also interesting that Sandusky was forced to resign in 1999.

[mweb]

It sounds like this is where it all went south:

It sounds like Joe wasn't informed of the specifics of what McQueary saw. You can believe him or not, but if that's true, then it makes complete sense that he didn't contact the police himself (though I don't believe he was the right person to do it to begin with).

Every single person that knew or suspected child abuse was the right person to contact the police.

[crissfan172]

And I repeat, I would be shocked if Paterno didn't know about an investigation of his defensive coordinator that revealed he was showering with young boys in the locker room.

It's also interesting that Sandusky was forced to resign in 1999.

I had a similar thought while reading through all the stuff, and the only article I could find that mentioned that as a possibility was from April (http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/549032/Questions-now-surround-Sandusky-s-Penn-State-departure.html?nav=746). The investigation was in early 1998, and he announced his retirement in the summer of 1999 before the season started. It seems to me that if he was forced to resign it would have been after (or before) the 1998 season, though it's in the realm of possibility that they waited a whole year.

As for whether or not Paterno was aware of the of the investigation, I really don't think he was. Police investigations with no charges aren't usually made known to people unless they're brought in for questioning. It sounded from the report that the only person that would have known was Sandusky since he was never arrested or even brought into the police station for questioning. I find it very believable that people outside of the university police had no idea about the investigation, as I could see them trying to bury it once they decided they didn't have the evidence to charge him.

If Paterno did know about the 1998 incident, then I would say that he should have gone to the police as soon as McQueary came to him, or at the very least make sure that somebody did. If he did not know and McQueary really didn't give him specifics, I could see why he only reported it to his superior. As I said, you can choose whether or not to believe what has been said by Paterno and the Grand Jury, but if it is true, he didn't do anything wrong.

[mweb]

You can hide behind the he told his superior line all you like, but he certainly didn't do the right thing there imo. The right thing is to tell the proper authorities. It's an issue for them to handle, not the AD or anyone else at PSU.