Penn State football officials implicated in covering up on campus child rape by coach

[gargamel]

You're probably right, but I'm still uncomfortable with ruining Paterno's previously spotless legacy based on "probably" when we haven't even heard from the man yet.

[JimmytheT]

Originally Posted by gargamel

You're probably right, but I'm still uncomfortable with ruining Paterno's previously spotless legacy based on "probably" when we haven't even heard from the man yet.

Wow, his "football" legacy? The man turned a blind eye to child rape, along with the other "pederasts at distance" at that school. To even give a damn about football and some guy's legacy in these circumstances is horrendously myopic.

[GirlySports]

It's not just the football program, Paterno has raised alot of money in other areas, donated millions to the local economy and the school over the years. The church is named after his wife!

Here's some perspective on how much the football program makes. But even all that 'legacy' can be washed away if everything is true.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/164433...child-molester

Curley even admitted to the grand jury that he “advised Sandusky that he was prohibited from bringing youth onto the Penn State campus from that point forward.” Yet as Deadspin.com reported, even this “punishment” was fictional. As late as 2009, Sandusky was on campus running a sleep-away camp for boys as young as nine years old. One alleged victim told the grand jury that Sandusky brought him to a Penn State preseason practice in 2007—a full five years after Paterno was made aware of the shower rape. This is why it’s hard to take seriously Paterno’s statement on Sunday, where he said, “If this is true we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things, and we grieve for the victims and their families. They are in our prayers.”

We are past prayer and into the realm of criminal negligence (and the major players are circling the wagons. Sunday night, after an emergency meeting of the Penn State Board of Trustees, Curley requested to be placed on administrative leave so he could devote himself full-time to his defense. Schultz also announced he would be retiring, effective immediately). I agree with the Washington Post’s Mike Wise, who wrote, “They would all be party to a worse crime than any crooked, pay-for-play booster at Miami, Ohio State or even SMU ever committed: guilty of protecting a program before a child.” But at the same time I would argue that the connective tissue between benign booster scandals and this monstrous state of affairs are more substantial than people want to admit. It’s connected to the Bowl Championship Series, “conference realignment” and all the ways in which college football has morphed over the last generation into a multibillion-dollar big business. This isn’t about Sandusky. This is about about a culture that says the football team must be defended at all costs: a culture where the sexual assault of a 10-year-old is reported to Paterno before the police.

This is what happens when a football program becomes the economic and spiritual heartbeat of an entire section of a state. The Nittany Lions football regularly draws 100,000 fans to Happy Valley. They also produce $50 million in pure profit for the University every year and has been listed as the most valuable team in the Big 10 conference. Another economic report held that every Penn State game pumps $59 million into the local economy: from hotels to kids selling homemade cookies by the side of the road. It’s no wonder that Paterno is revered. He took a football team and turned it into an economic life raft for a university and a region. When something becomes that valuable, a certain mindset kicks in. Protect the team above all over concerns. Protect Joe Pa. Protect Nittany Lions football. Protect the brand. In a company town, your first responsibility is to protect the company.

Penn State has never been an “outlaw program.” It’s what every school aspires to become. Think about that. Every school aspires to be the kind of place where football is so valuable that children can become collateral damage. If the allegations are true, if the school in fact knew this was going on, then the program should be shut down. If the allegations are true, Joe Paterno should be instructed to take his forty-six years and 409 wins and leave in disgrace. It’s tragic that it’s come to this for a legend like Paterno. But it’s even more tragic that protecting his legend mattered more than stopping a child-rapist in their midst. Damn Sandusky. Damn Paterno. Damn Penn State. But above all, damn the fact that the billion-dollar logic of big-time college football leads to decisions as venal as those made in Happy Valley.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Sorry misreading wiki, penn state is considered a public Ivy, a public school that competes with the Ivy leagues in academic rigeur.

Maybe PSU alums think that, the rest of the country does not.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I think these are the key points for Paterno

Paterno hears from the grad and then the next day tells "a version" to the AD.
What does a version mean? How accurate was Paterno's report. Once Paterno goes to the AD, he feels that he's done his duty. Should Paterno have spoken up later on in the following years as he sees that nothing has been done. Was he shutdown by the AD? Should Paterno have eventually taken matters into his own hands and call police while the school is supposedly handling things?

Impossible that he was shutdown by anyone, they worked for him. I don't care what the organizational structure says, Joe Paterno had more power than the rest of the school combined.

Honestly the thing that really gets me is all the BS the guy built his career on. The whole 'do things the right way' mantra apparently didn't apply to him.

I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt at first, but I can't do it.

[CaptainCrunch]

At this point, I go back to my original question/statement that I don't think its proper for the university to be investigating this anymore in terms of the football program. Obviously the cops have to be involved, but at this point, you have accusations of a coach molesting and raping young boys, you have a head coach that may have known and did nothing about it.

This is worse then allegations of recruiting violations, I think the Penn State program has to be suspended until this is all cleared up.

[SeeBass]

All I can say is , imagine if this was a Catholic school like Notre Dame that this happend at.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

At this point, I go back to my original question/statement that I don't think its proper for the university to be investigating this anymore in terms of the football program. Obviously the cops have to be involved, but at this point, you have accusations of a coach molesting and raping young boys, you have a head coach that may have known and did nothing about it.

This is worse then allegations of recruiting violations, I think the Penn State program has to be suspended until this is all cleared up.

They aren't, it's being investigated by a variety of agencies as a criminal act.

I don't see how suspending the football program makes any sense though. This wasn't a football program issue, it had nothing to do with football. There were people from the program involved, but that's a very different thing.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by SeeBass

All I can say is , imagine if this was a Catholic school like Notre Dame that this happend at.

And? You think people would be more outraged? I don't know that it's possible for people to be more outraged.

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by valo403

And? You think people would be more outraged? I don't know that it's possible for people to be more outraged.

Not about level of outrage but if it was another Catholic institution with child molestation. I think the reprucussions against the church would be even bigger than the blowback against one state school.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by valo403

They aren't, it's being investigated by a variety of agencies as a criminal act.

I don't see how suspending the football program makes any sense though. This wasn't a football program issue, it had nothing to do with football. There were people from the program involved, but that's a very different thing.

I get that, but you still have the university involved in this and it seems like taking unilateral action.

And while its not a football related issue based on players or conduct on the field, it is an issue involving the head coach and assistant coaches of the program and possibly the alumni as well. I think you have to sanction the football program or suspend it until all of the facts are confirmed

[valo403]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I get that, but you still have the university involved in this and it seems like taking unilateral action.

And while its not a football related issue based on players or conduct on the field, it is an issue involving the head coach and assistant coaches of the program and possibly the alumni as well. I think you have to sanction the football program or suspend it until all of the facts are confirmed

If you suspend that program all you're doing is spreading the damage. The people responsible are being dealt with, suspending the program puts consequences on people that had nothing to do with it.

[HOZ]

Originally Posted by valo403

If you suspend that program all you're doing is spreading the damage. The people responsible are being dealt with, suspending the program puts consequences on people that had nothing to do with it.

Absolutely. Suspending the program hurt the kids that have nothing to do with this. As well as a plethra of others.

Suspend the profit for the school? As in, the school can no longer profit from the Lions.

[You Need a Thneed]

Suspend the football program.

For the riots, suspend the entire school.

Don't offer refunds.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by HOZ

Absolutely. Suspending the program hurt the kids that have nothing to do with this. As well as a plethra of others.

Suspend the profit for the school? As in, the school can no longer profit from the Lions.

However if you remove the profitability of the football program, don't ordinary students get whacked with the guaranteed cost increases?

[HOZ]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

However if you remove the profitability of the football program, don't ordinary students get whacked with the guaranteed cost increases?

True. I am looking at it from a perspective of a student player. I signed up to play football with THE prestigious college. I didn't commit the crime. I a here to play and now you shut down possibly THE experience of my lifetime.

This is DUKE lacrose written all over it. The person who did the wrong just screws over all the kids.

[afc wimbledon]

I cannot see how the football program will be able to raise funds or recruit players after this, then there is the law suits that are going to eviscerate both the football and likely the collage financially, it isn't just the kids he abused at the college, the kids he raped at the program can argue the schools lack of action led to their rape and also draw a direct link to Sandusky's involvement at PSU enabeling him to set up a charity that gave him access to his victims, I can see a couple of hundred kids coming foward once this starts to get rolling, he's obviously highly predetory and essentially had unfettered access to victims over almost a decade, if you assume a few million a kid your looking at over a hundred million.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by HOZ

True. I am looking at it from a perspective of a student player. I signed up to play football with THE prestigious college. I didn't commit the crime. I a here to play and now you shut down possibly THE experience of my lifetime.

This is DUKE lacrose written all over it. The person who did the wrong just screws over all the kids.

For the most part, just to play DA, if they did suspend the programs, most of those players would be snapped up by other programs, they might not be Penn State level programs but I doubt for the most part that their dreams would die.

And yeah Duke was a complete flip out situation. I don't know what they can do about the football program at Penn, but this to me is a lot worse then recruiting and booster misconduct and something has to be done to clean it out.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I cannot see how the football program will be able to raise funds or recruit players after this, then there is the law suits that are going to eviscerate both the football and likely the collage financially, it isn't just the kids he abused at the college, the kids he raped at the program can argue the schools lack of action led to their rape and also draw a direct link to Sandusky's involvement at PSU enabeling him to set up a charity that gave him access to his victims, I can see a couple of hundred kids coming foward once this starts to get rolling, he's obviously highly predetory and essentially had unfettered access to victims over almost a decade, if you assume a few million a kid your looking at over a hundred million.

Financially this will wind up devastating in terms of lawsuits, and it will hurt recruiting, but I think you are drastically overstating the impact on the football program.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

For the most part, just to play DA, if they did suspend the programs, most of those players would be snapped up by other programs, they might not be Penn State level programs but I doubt for the most part that their dreams would die.

And yeah Duke was a complete flip out situation. I don't know what they can do about the football program at Penn, but this to me is a lot worse then recruiting and booster misconduct and something has to be done to clean it out.

Something is being done. People are being indicted.