First the statue, now the harsh reality of the sanctions handed down by the NCAA. To say they have left the Penn State football program reeling would be a huge understatement.
‘View from outside Beaver Stadium, where Joe Paterno’s statue once stood’ (via Deadspin.com)
The NCAA has wrapped their head around the unique circumstances surrounding the Penn State football program and fined the university $60 million for their part in the Jerry Sandusky “cover-up.” Mark Emmert, president of the NCAA stated in a news conference on Monday morning,
“In the Penn State case, the results were perverse and unconscionable, No price the NCAA can levy will repair the damage inflicted by Jerry Sandusky on his victims”
Penn State did not argue the sanctions and accepted them without question. They have been ordered by the NCAA to pay the fine to programs outside of the university that help prevent sexual abuse or assist victims of abuse.
While no child should ever have to endure life altering abuse, will the rest of the NCAA sanctions actually help anyone heal? The Nittany Lions must vacate all wins from 1998 through 2011, a total of 112 wins. Those wins were not a result of any illegal activity of those players on the field, the lower level coaches, and anyone else involved in the football program, especially their new head coach. Will rewriting the sports history books help the abuse victims that the leaders of Penn State allegedly turned their backs on?
The rest of the NCAA sanctions includes reducing the amount of scholarships for four years, a four-year postseason bowl ban, and five years probation. The NCAA did rule that all current players can transfer immediately as an eligible player to other schools without penalty. Thankfully, those young men that had nothing to do with what happened to the victims will not be penalized for the failures of a few, but where does that leave the team and their new head coach, former New England Patriots defensive coordinator Bill O’Brian?
Bill O’Brian has decided to stick with Penn State, and according to his statement this morning, he knew he was facing tough times ahead, but did he really know how tough those times would be? According to Jesse Palmer, ESPN College Football Analyst, the penalties handed down by the NCAA are crippling to the Nittany Lions. A four-year reduction in scholarships and a four-year postseason ban could devastate the football program for the next eight years. Bill O’Brian must immediately speak to his players and resell the Penn State football program. He knows that each player, given the right opportunity, could walk from his locker room and into another without blinking an eye. To know his players had nothing to do with the scandal, yet to be punished in such a fashion will be difficult for O’Brian to overcome.
Not only does O’Brian have to worry about his current players, he has to sell his program to new recruits. Potentially, he has to suggest to new recruits that if they want an opportunity to play in any postseason game, they must “redshirt.” O’Brian knows players want to be recruited by teams that have the ability to play in postseason bowl games and be able to compete for National Championships. He must use his remaining scholarships wisely. He must choose recruits that are without controversy; he does not need to give scholarships to individuals that could be banned for criminal activity or dropped from the program because of academic eligibility.
Once the team gets beyond the four-year scholarship ban and the four-year bowl ban, the potential for postseason play could still be out of the Nittany Lions reach. Can Bill O’Brian successfully coach a team that in six years will consist of mostly walkons? Probably not, but in the meantime, Coach O’Brian must focus on getting his team through the next four years. He is going to have to step carefully through the coming seasons to keep the Nittany Lions competitive and keep the Penn State faithful involved in the program. Penn State alumni must prepare themselves and accept that Joe Paterno’s legacy is no more, and bowl games will be a thing of the past, at least for the next eight years.
Workers remove the statue of former football coach Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium on Penn State’s campus in State College, PA. (Christopher Weddle, Centre Daily Times via AP)
The iconic statue of Joe Paterno was removed from outside Penn State University’s football stadium on Sunday, removing what had become, for fans of the late head coach, a symbol of his central role on campus and, for critics, a constant reminder of the worst crisis in the university’s history.
The statue was promptly removed and wrapped in shrink wrap before being covered by a blue tarp. The structure was transported by forklift inside Beaver Stadium, the home of Penn State football since 1960.
University President Rodney Erickson released a statement early Sunday, explaining his decision to remove the statue of Penn State’s beloved Hall of Fame football coach.
“(The statue) became a source of division and an obstacle to healing in our university. For that reason, I have decided that it is in the best interest of our university and public safety to remove the statue and store it in a secure location, I believe that were it to remain, the statue will be a recurring wound to the multitude of individuals across the nation and beyond who have been the victims of child abuse.”
University officials have not yet identified where the statue would be permanently held after its removal.
Paterno’s 7-foot-tall, 900-pound statue had become a flash point in recent days, after the findings of an internal university investigation suggested that Paterno and several top administrators conspired for more than a decade to cover up allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
According to the report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, Paterno helped shape the university’s reaction to at least two abuse allegations – the first in 1998 and another in 2001. In the latter, university officials opted not to notify outside authorities for fear of bad publicity, Freeh said.
Paterno’s family has strongly criticized Freeh’s conclusions and vowed to launch their own investigation. They have openly and publicly criticized the decision to remove the statue.
Paterno, who led the university to two national championships during his 60-year coaching career, earned a reputation for putting integrity and academics ahead of athletic accomplishments. He was also a generous donor, giving more than $9 million to the university over the course of his life.
Several buildings on campus, including the library and a Catholic student center, are named after him or his wife, Sue. Those will remain, Erickson said.
Former Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley was one of a number of top officials who “failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade,” the Freeh Report concluded. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
On Thursday morning, the Wikipedia page for the NCAA death penalty had been edited to include a 10-year ban for the program, a penalty that has been called for on many occasions since Sandusky’s crimes began to come to light. The question, however, is whether the death penalty is the right response.
The argument is familiar by now. Supporters of the Penn State program point out that the only people harmed by a “death penalty” are people who had nothing to do with Sandusky’s crimes, ranging from the new coaching staff led by Bill O’Brien to the student-athletes to the rank-and-file members of the community who derive part or all of their income from Penn State football (vendors, facility workers, etc.). The response from the other side is that the plight of the children abused by Sandusky should take priority over the players and coaches (individual community members who suffer financial repercussions rarely seem to enter into the equation). There’s also the argument that an example needs to be made of Penn State, as a deterrent to other universities who put the success of their football teams and other athletic programs first, ahead of moral concerns, academics and the student body at large.
In reality, though, the truth is that the “death penalty” is not just the right thing to do in terms of a deterrent to other programs. It’s the right thing to do for Penn State.
When Penn State faced Houston in the TicketCity bowl in January, the game drew protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church. While the WBC is as detestable an organization as one will ever find on this planet, they won’t be the only ones protesting when Penn State takes the field this season. If allowed to play, the Nittany Lions will do so under the damning shadow of the Freeh Report, whether it’s protesters inside or outside the stadium or simply the media scrutiny that will accompany any season. The best thing for Penn State as an institution is to make a fresh start, beyond what they’ve already done by replacing the coaching staff and the university officials in the Sandusky scandal, like former president Graham Spanier and former athletic director Tim Curley. The “death penalty” would enable that to happen.
Of course, some of the concerns about the effects of a death penalty are valid, and should be addressed. O’Brien and the other coaches who gave up other jobs to come to Penn State and find themselves without work would need to be compensated until they can find new employment. The players, who are without fault (unlike the SMU players in the ’80s), would need to be allowed to transfer without the loss of eligibility. And ordinary individuals whose livelihoods are derived from Penn State football should be compensated in some way for their lost income. If they’re university employees, they should be retained at their regular rate of compensation and given whatever work is appropriate. If they’re not, other remedies should be found, perhaps from the football boosters who helped support the Penn State program while Sandusky was committing his atrocities.
Many of those arguing against the “death penalty” for Penn State have their hearts in the right place. It’s not easy to argue for the punishment of those who did no wrong. However, if those punishments can be addressed, then the NCAA “death penalty” is the right decision, not only for the benefit of the victims and for our educational institutions as a whole, but for Penn State itself.
AP Jerry Sandusky is shown in this booking photo released early Saturday morning by the Centre County Correctional Facility in Bellefonte, Pa.
Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky has been found guilty of nearly all of the allegations of child sex abuse leveled against him.
After 20 hours of sequestered deliberations, the jury of seven women and five men read 45 “guilty” verdicts late Friday as Sandusky stood and looked at the jury with his left hand in a pocket of his brown sport coat. There were three not-guilty verdicts.
One of the victims — identified as Victim 6 during the proceedings — was surrounded by his family and they cried as the verdict was read.
After court was adjourned, the former Penn State defensive coordinator was led in handcuffs to a waiting police car to be taken to the local county jail.
“The legal process has spoken and we have tremendous respect for the men who came forward to tell their stories publicly. No verdict can undo the pain and suffering caused by Mr. Sandusky, but we do hope this judgment helps the victims and their families along their path to healing,” Penn State president Rodney Erickson said in a statement.
Sandusky likely will be sentenced to life in prison. He faces a maximum sentence of 442 years and will be sentenced in approximately 90 days.
Sandusky’s wife, Dottie, looked forward stoically as the counts were read off and her husband repeatedly was found guilty. At one point, dozens of counts in, she started shaking her head.
Sandusky’s daughter, Kara, broke down as her dad was handcuffed, and held her hand over her heart as her father walked out of court.
The jury found Sandusky not guilty of three sex abuse crimes, including the alleged rape of Victim 2, the boy assistant coach Mike McQueary said he saw being raped by Sandusky in a Penn State locker room shower in 2001. He was also acquitted of indecent assault on Victim 5, who testified in court, and Victim 8, who was the subject of an eyewitness account from a Penn State janitor.
Sandusky and his lawyers, along with prosecutors, had been summoned to court to hear the verdict. Assembled spectators shouted jeers such as “pervert” as Sandusky and his wife walked into the courthouse lit up by flashbulb bursts.
The crowd of hundreds outside the courthouse let out a cheer as word emerged that Sandusky was guilty.
After the verdict, Attorney General Linda Kelly said the jury believed that Sandusky “calculatingly and with meticulous planning mercilessly preyed” upon his victims.
“The jury here in Bellefonte, Pa., would and did believe a kid,” she said, referring to testimony by Sandusky’s victims. “I hope this outcome allows the victims to heal and encourages other victims to come forward.”
Sandusky’s attorney, Joe Amendola, said the defense plans to appeal the guilty verdicts, arguing it was not prepared to go to trial as soon as the judge ordered.
“The Sandusky family is very disappointed, obviously, by the verdict of the jury but we respect their verdict,” he said. “We had a tidal wave of public opinion against Jerry Sandusky.”
He added that Sandusky fully planned to testify in his own defense, but the plan to have him do so was scuttled when the prosecution threatened to have Matt Sandusky, his adopted son, testify as a rebuttal witness that he was molested by his father.
After the verdict, the family of the late Joe Paterno, the legendary Penn State head coach who was Sandusky’s boss, released a statement.
“Although we understand the task of healing is just beginning, today’s verdict is an important milestone,” it read. “The community owes a measure of gratitude to the jurors for their diligent service. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and their families.”
The two-week trial was remarkable for the graphic tales of abuse that ranged from Sandusky playing tickle monster in the shower to aggressive sex including oral and anal sex on boys as young as 8. At one point, jurors were brought to tears by the testimony of the alleged victims who are now grown men.
The defense scored some points back during week two of the trial by putting Sandusky’s wife on the stand and hearing her testify that she never saw anything inappropriate between her husband and children and knew some of the accusers to have behavioral issues. They also poked holes in the stories of two lead investigators on the case by showing that the men told potential victims that others had already come forward claiming Sandusky raped them.
During 30 hours of testimony over two weeks, the jury heard from eight accusers, one eyewitness, a string of character witnesses testifying to Sandusky’s character, and members of the police who investigated the case.
Two people the jury did not hear from include Sandusky himself, who waived his right to testify, and Sandusky’s adopted son Matt. Matt Sandusky was one of his father’s most ardent supporters following Sandusky’s November arrest, but contacted prosecutors at the end of last week saying he was, in fact, a victim of his father’s abuse and would be willing to testify, sources told ABC News. The prosecution did not put him on the stand, and the revelations about Matt Sandusky’s willingness to testify are not known by the jury and will not factor into deliberations.
ABC News’ Michael S. James and Brian Hartman contributed to this report.
On Sunday – when news broke about Joe Paterno’s death – I first saw it in my news feed for the top sports from the Associated Press. I quickly linked that story and posted it here on the blog and told all of you that I’d have more thoughts on Paterno’s death in the coming days. Well, I thought about it for a day or two before ultimately deciding that I wanted to wait until the viewings and memorial services took place to show proper respect to the situation. Now that has all come and gone and I can now throw in my two cents.
A video of Joe Paterno is played at Bryce Jordan Center during a memorial service for the former Penn State coach Joe Paterno in State College, Pa. (By Andrew Weber, US Presswire)
Turning on the television on Thursday, it was hard to escape the coverage of Joe Paterno’s funeral. In light of the disgrace the former football coach at Penn State University, it was a little odd to see him lifted up like he was. Not that Paterno didn’t deserve it.
His work with students and athletes over five decades as head coach, and farther back before that, was an example to us all. Paterno demanded excellence from his football players on the field, but more importantly in the classroom. Even those who didn’t suit up in pads on his gridiron felt the push for excellence in the classroom. But, alas, those of us outside of Happy Valley or not associated with Penn State athletics will remember him not for how he pushed for excellence, but how he settled for doing the minimum.
Paterno’s epic fall from grace started, unbeknownst to us all, in the early 2000s when he was told that his assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, was allegedly in the shower with a minor in a compromising position. Paterno, who stressed doing more than just what was required of his players and students, did the bare minimum and just told his superiors. Now I will agree that a large extent of the blame does fall on the university officials who knew what was going on with Sandusky and did nothing.
Had they done their jobs, we would remember Paterno as the saint he was for so long. Instead, they did nothing and that’s where Paterno actually failed. He didn’t do more than what was required and call the police, alert the media or even alert the children’s parents. Ultimately that is the sad and tragic lesson in all of this.
When you know a horrible crime is being committed, you cannot accept “I did my job. It was out of my hands.” You scream it on a mountain top and tell someone, anyone, that not only is this happening, but the people who are supposed to stop it are looking the other way. I know Paterno could have found forgiveness from the nation.
Sadly, because of Paterno’s sudden diagnosis of cancer and quick deterioration from it, he didn’t get the chance to make amends. History will one day forgive Paterno. Once the Sandusky trial is over and those who denied justice to children are brought to justice, Paterno’s name will be cleared. But for his family and the family at Penn State, public opinion won’t change soon enough.
I do extend my condolences to his family and hope Paterno will take his rightful place as a champion of education and a legend of football.
For now, however, it’s hard to forget what happened just a few short months ago and the night Paterno’s career ended so shamefully. He was rightfully punished. He was wrongfully denied a chance at redemption in the court of public opinion.
The news just arrived in my Associated Press news feed. Very sad and my thoughts, prayers and condolences are with the entire Paterno family during this difficult time. I’ll have more on this in the coming days and will give the man is due. Until then, here’s the story from the Associated Press.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Joe Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday. He was 85.
AP Photo/Jim Prisching
His family released a statement Sunday morning to announce his death: “His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled.”
“He died as he lived,” the statement said. “He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community.”
Paterno built his program on the credo “Success with Honor,” and he found both. The man known as “JoePa” won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and two national championships. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL.
“He will go down as the greatest football coach in the history of the game,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said after his former team, the Florida Gators, beat Penn State 37-24 in the 2011 Outback Bowl.
Paterno’s son Scott said on Nov. 18 that his father was being treated for lung cancer. The cancer was diagnosed during a follow-up visit for a bronchial illness. A few weeks after that revelation, Paterno also broke his pelvis after a fall but did not need surgery.
Paterno had been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation for what his family had called minor complications from his cancer treatments. Not long before that, he conducted his only interview since losing his job, with The Washington Post. Paterno was described as frail then, speaking mostly in a whisper and wearing a wig. The second half of the two-day interview was conducted at his bedside.
“As the last 61 years have shown, Joe made an incredible impact,” said the statement from the family. “That impact has been felt and appreciated by our family in the form of thousands of letters and well wishes along with countless acts of kindness from people whose lives he touched. It is evident also in the thousands of successful student athletes who have gone on to multiply that impact as they spread out across the country.”
The final days of Paterno’s Penn State career were easily the toughest in his 61 years with the university and 46 seasons as head football coach.
It was because Paterno was a such a sainted figure – more memorable than any of his players and one of the best-known coaches in all of sports – that his downfall was so startling. During one breathtaking week in early November, Paterno was engulfed by a scandal and forced from his job, because he failed to go to the police in 2002 when told a young boy was molested inside the football complex.
“I didn’t know which way to go … and rather than get in there and make a mistake,” he said in the Post interview.
Jerry Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator expected to succeed Paterno before retiring in 1999, was charged with sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years. Two university officials stepped down after they were charged with perjury following a grand jury investigation of Sandusky. But attention quickly focused on an alleged rape that took place in a shower in the football building, witnessed by Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant at the time.
McQueary testified that he had seen Sandusky attacking the child and that he had told Paterno, who waited a day before alerting school authorities. Police were never called and the state’s top cop later said Paterno failed to execute his moral responsibility by not contacting police.
“You know, (McQueary) didn’t want to get specific,” Paterno said in the Post interview. “And to be frank with you I don’t know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man. So I just did what I thought was best. I talked to people that I thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it.”
On the morning of Nov. 9, Paterno said he would retire following the 2011 season. He also said he was “absolutely devastated” by the abuse case.
“This is a tragedy,” the coach said. “It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.”
But the university trustees faced a crisis, and in an emergency meeting that night, they fired Paterno, effective immediately. Graham Spanier, one of the longest-serving university presidents in the nation, also was dismissed.
According to Lanny Davis, an attorney retained by the trustees as an adviser, board vice chairman John Surma regretted having to tell Paterno the decision over the phone.
The university handed the football team to one of Paterno’s assistants, Tom Bradley, who said Paterno “will go down in history as one of the greatest men, who maybe most of you know as a great football coach.”
Thick, smoky-lens glasses, rolled up khakis, jet-black sneakers, blue windbreaker – Paterno was easy to spot on the sidelines. His teams were just as easy to spot on the field; their white helmets and classic blue and white uniforms had the same old-school look as the coach.
Paterno believed success was not measured entirely on the field. From his idealistic early days, he had implemented what he called a “grand experiment” – to graduate more players while maintaining success on the field.
He was a frequent speaker on ethics in sports, a conscience for a world often infiltrated by scandal and shady characters.
His teams consistently ranked among the best in the Big Ten for graduating players. As of 2011, it had 49 academic All-Americans, the third-highest among schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision. All but two played under Paterno.
“He teaches us about really just growing up and being a man,” former linebacker Paul Posluszny, now with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, once said. “Besides the football, he’s preparing us to be good men in life.”
Paterno certainly had detractors, as well. One former Penn State professor called his high-minded words on academics a farce. He was criticized for making broad critiques about the wrongs in college football without providing specifics. A former administrator said his players often got special treatment compared to non-athletes. His coaching style often was considered too conservative. Some thought he held on to his job too long. There was a push to move him out in 2004 but it failed.
But the critics were in the minority, and his program was never cited for major NCAA violations. However, the child sexual abuse scandal prompted separate investigations by the U.S. Department of Education and the NCAA into the school’s handling.
Paterno played quarterback and cornerback for Brown University and set a defensive record with 14 career interceptions, a distinction he boasted about to his teams all the way into his 80s. He graduated in 1950 with plans to go to law school. He said his father hoped he would someday be president.
When he was 23, a former coach at Brown was moving to Penn State to become the head coach and persuaded Paterno to come with him as an assistant.
“I had no intention to coach when I got out of Brown,” Paterno said in 2007 at Beaver Stadium in an interview before being inducted into the Hall of Fame. “Come to this hick town? From Brooklyn?”
In 1963, he was offered a job by the late Al Davis – $18,000, triple his salary at Penn State, plus a car to become general manager and coach of the AFL’s Oakland Raiders. He said no. Rip Engle retired as Penn State head coach three years later, and Paterno took over.
At the time, the Lions were considered “Eastern football” – inferior – and Paterno courted newspaper coverage to raise the team’s profile. In 1967, PSU began a 30-0-1 streak.
But Penn State couldn’t get to the top of the polls. The Lions finished second in 1968 and 1969 despite perfect records. They went 12-0 in 1973 and finished fifth. Texas edged them in 1969 after President Richard Nixon, impressed with the Longhorns’ bowl performance, declared them No. 1.
“I’d like to know,” Paterno said later, “how could the president know so little about Watergate in 1973, and so much about college football in 1969?”
A national title finally came in 1982, in a 27-23 win over Georgia at the Sugar Bowl. Penn State won another in 1986 after the Lions picked off Vinny Testaverde five times and beat Miami 14-10 in the Fiesta Bowl.
They have made several title runs since then, including a 2005 run to the Orange Bowl and an 11-1 campaign in 2008 that earned them a berth in the Rose Bowl, where they lost 37-23 to Southern California.
In his later years, physical ailments wore the old coach down. Paterno was run over on the sideline during a game at Wisconsin in November 2006 and underwent knee surgery. He hurt his hip in 2008 demonstrating an onside kick.
An intestinal illness and a bad reaction to antibiotics prescribed for dental work slowed him for most of the 2010 season. Paterno began scaling back his speaking engagements that year, ending his summer caravan of speeches to alumni across the state.
Then a receiver bowled over Paterno at practice in August, sending him to the hospital with shoulder and pelvis injuries and consigning him to coach much of the season from the press box.
“The fact that we’ve won a lot of games is that the good Lord kept me healthy, not because I’m better than anybody else,” Paterno said two days before he won his 409th game and passed Eddie Robinson of Grambling State for the most in Division I. “It’s because I’ve been around a lot longer than anybody else.”
Paterno could be conservative on the field, especially in big games, relying on the tried-and-true formula of defense, the running game and field position.
“They’ve been playing great defense for 45 years,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said in November.
Paterno and his wife, Sue, raised five children in State College. Anybody could telephone him at his modest ranch home – the same one he appeared in front of on the night he was fired – by looking up “Paterno, Joseph V.” in the phone book.
He walked to home games and was greeted and wished good luck by fans on the street. Former players paraded through his living room for the chance to say hello. But for the most part, he stayed out of the spotlight.
Paterno did have a knack for joke. He referred to Twitter, the social media, as “Twittle-do, Twittle-dee.”
He also could be abrasive and stubborn, and had his share of run-ins with his bosses or administrators. And as his legend grew, so did the attention to his on-field decisions, and the questions about when he would retire.
Calls for his retirement reached a crescendo in 2004. The next year, Penn State went 11-1 and won the Big Ten. In the Orange Bowl, PSU beat Florida State, whose coach, Bobby Bowden, left the Seminoles after the 2009 season after 34 years and 389 wins.
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