I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve read a ton of stories and opinions related to the Penn State cover-up that the Freeh Report showed. After a while some blurred with others. Tabs closed. Maybe even some stories missed.
Three pieces stand out for various reasons, so I’m going to explain, link and excerpt a bit of them here. If you have your own favorite put it in the comments so we can take a look.
First up is Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins. Ms. Jenkins was one of the last people to interview Joe Paterno before his death. That piece was not exactly hard-hitting. But then how hard do you go after a dying man getting cancer treatments? She basically let him make his claims of not knowing anything. Now? She feels a bit used and pissed.
Joe Paterno was a liar, there’s no doubt about that now. He was also a cover-up artist. If the Freeh Report is correct in its summary of the Penn State child molestation scandal, the public Paterno of the last few years was a work of fiction. In his place is a hubristic, indictable hypocrite.
And that’s just the opening graph.
There’s nothing like feeling like you have been used to get the anger really flowing.
If Paterno knew about ’98, then he wasn’t some aging granddad who was deceived, but a canny and unfeeling power broker who put protecting his reputation ahead of protecting children.
If he knew about ’98, then he understood the import of graduate assistant Mike McQueary’s distraught account in 2001 that he witnessed Sandusky assaulting a boy in the Penn State showers.
If he knew about ’98, then he also perjured himself before a grand jury.
Guilty.
Paterno didn’t always give lucid answers in his final interview conducted with the Washington Post three days before his death, but on this point he was categorical and clear as a bell. He pled total, lying ignorance of the ’98 investigation into a local mother’s claim Sandusky had groped her son in the shower at the football building.
The knowledge of the 1998 incident. The way he was involved in the non-actions of the 2001 events.
I think back to the night Paterno was fired. Not the rioting in Penn State. But the quick little statement in front of his house where he ended with telling the sycophants to say a prayer for the victims of Sandusky. Did he ever say a prayer for them? Did he even feel anything when he would be at Lasch and see Sandusky there — perhaps with another boy in tow? Did he think about how he was letting it happen?
I doubt it. Like any coach, he probably compartmentalized it. Shoved it into some corner in his mind and didn’t think about it. How else do you deal with it? With seeing a monster like Sandusky every day and not doing anything?
Mike DeCourcy is one of the best national college basketball reporter/columnist out there. I don’t agree with all of his stances (esp. w. regards to kids being able to go from high school to the NBA), but he is always willing to engage and discuss. He was also a Pittsburgh newspaper guy who covered Penn State.
As appalling as their decisions appear to reasonable people, transparency was antithetical to Penn State’s approach over Paterno’s final decades. Secrecy was almost a sacrament.
With the proper credentials, a visitor at least can walk through Buckingham Palace. Paterno’s program kept the doors sealed shut.
I spent nine seasons covering Joe Paterno’s Penn State football program for The Pittsburgh Press, from 1984 through 1992. The Nittany Lions played twice for the national championship in that period and won the second time. During my first several seasons on the beat, I met some of the finest young men I can imagine. During my later years, I got to know none of the players as Paterno gradually turned what had been a guarded program entirely inward.
Paterno wanted complete control over the messages emanating from his program and went well out of his way to deflect any outside scrutiny of how it operated, whether from the media covering the Nittany Lions or from elsewhere on campus, as detailed in leaked emails written by Vicky Triponey, then PSU vice president of student affairs.
It has been noted that at least related to the way Penn State has managed to cover this up for so long, was because Pennsylvania’s open record laws specifically exclude four universities in the state. That disgraced ex-PSU President Graham Spanier very publicly battled to keep it that way back in 2007. Pitt is also one of those exempt schools and completely backed Spanier and Penn State. As did Temple and Lincoln.
Pitt must not only drop any opposition to being part of Pennsylvania’s open record laws, it needs to support the change.
Finally, a State College local, PSU alum and writer speaks of the so-called “grand experiment.”
This was my fundamental mistake. This was our mistake, as a community. The Grand Experiment began as a sales pitch, as a way for Paterno to elevate the standards of the university he loved by using football as the lure. And then at some point, the lure outweighed the catch, and the sales pitch drove motivations, and we were too myopic to see it. At some point, the little white lies that Paterno hid behind — that he would retire after five more years, that Bowling Green was, in fact, a formidable opponent, that the culture of football was in no way segregated from the culture of the university at large — ballooned into this, into a lie so unthinkable that it takes your breath away.
So much PSU arrogance has stemmed from their faith in the Grand Experiment — at least when it was convenient. That PSU was special, and they believed in doing it the right way. And when something like the 2007 incident where a horde of their football players went attacking people at an apartment party, well, that was the sort of thing that happened everywhere so stop making it such a big deal. They would repeat to anyone their mantra of “success with honor.” Over the last 14 years they have had some moments of success, but honor is something they cannot claim.
What stories stand out to you, and why?
I shared this with Chas on Twitter, but apparently not only could the NCAA kill the football team; but the DoE could kill the university as a whole.
“While many are waiting for the NCAA to step in and issue some sort of death penalty against Penn State for its lack of institutional control following the release of the Freeh report, which detailed a university-wide cover-up of sexual abuse by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, the harshest penalties could be coming from the Department of Education (DOE).”
and
“The issue at hand is Penn State’s compliance (or lack thereof) with the Clery Act. The Clery Act requires that any public or private university that receives federal financial aid publicly report any crime on or near campus. […] . But if the DOE were to come down on Penn State, it could remove the university’s accreditation and prohibit students from obtaining Pell Grants and federal student loans. In essence, it would cripple Penn State’s ability to be a viable institution.”
The interesting thing to note about the Clery Act and PSU is that “The federal government enacted the Clery Act in 1990 and Penn State adopted it in 1991 by designating a member of the university police to be the act’s coordinator. However, according to the Freeh report, an independent investigation of the Penn State scandal by former FBI investigator Louis Freeh, Penn State did not train the officer to enforce the act until 2007”
The fact that it took PSU a year to adopt the law isn’t the questionable part. Many organizations take time to read the law, talk to lawyers, find out what exactly they have to do and stuff like that. But the fact that it took them SEVENTEEN years to train the person in charge is troublesome.
Also from the article “As of November 2011 — 21 years after being signed into law — Penn State’s Clery Act policy was still in draft form and had not been implemented.”
TWENTY-ONE years later..and the policy was STILL in draft form…
Pedo State deserves EVERYTHING it can get. Joe Paterno, in my eyes, is as guilty as Jerry Sandusky.
The sports writers on tv say they broke no ncaa rules except the control issue and they dont think they will be hit on that.
It is not Wall Street that runs the this country it is the politicans writing or eliminating statutes enacted to protect ourselves from ourselves.
Call it Wall Street, multi-national corporations or the top 1%, but it is not democracy it is an an oligargy and the fatted cow will not kill won of it’s calves.
They played by the rules they play by and this sorted affair will be forgotten by kickoff in September.
It’s a long report, it seems so meticulous, thorough and without bias, and yet there seems to be something missing.
A hero. How can there be an epic story without a hero, without at least one good guy? In the cast of hundreds in Louis Freeh’s report on the child-sex-abuse scandal at Penn State, how is it possible that everyone is a villain?
Please don’t say PSU is too big to be sanctioned. Please. The NCAA has never ever seen anything like this. Neither has the Feds. This is uncharted waters. No one thought the above would fail. But the above are no longer with us. I think the University will survive. But the football program is going to take some hits. There is too much pressure not to. And with the constant cadence of impending civil suits, there will be enough constant media scrutiny that the NCAA can’t just run away and hide and hope people forget like they have with Miami and Ohio State.
(But you don’t mind getting a little sick anyway?)
Ol’ Fraudie apparently does a “hand spring out of [his] bed in the morning,” he’s so happy to be there, and presumably out of the Burgh. At least the word “octane” is nowhere to be found.
OK, back to the Evil Ones.
One of those 3 will sing at the right time. Timing is everything and I expect Curly to be the one. He was truly subordinate to the other 3 and while his conduct was also despicable, he still has a life in front of him. Spanier & Schulz are done!
“Both Norvell and Randolph coached under Graham at Tulsa and Pitt.
Norvell offered some insight as to what to expect from the Sun Devil offense.
“We’re going to be a downhill, hit-them-in-the-mouth kind of team,” Norvell said. “Our offensive linemen are going to be in three-point stances.”
So it looks like they took Tino’s advice: Pro-style is the way to go!
rival only has TG with 5 recruits so far this year not the 22 this man talks abought dick rod has 22 this year not TG.
unlee rival is wrong but rival has pitt with 13 so rival seams on top of things.
They can not be permitted to keep on trucking, Ron cook makes me want to puke
Don’t think for a minute that he didn’t consider what this would do to his sainthood like stature.
I always believed that he put himself above his players (no names on the unis),the University (you can’t fire me, I’ll police the football team), the competition (the 2 for 1 deal)and helpless little children.
The “Penn State Way” the Hubris, what a joke.
What is the appropriate punishment for the University? Don’t tell me Ron Cook that the bad PR is enough. If it is true that Spanier did not tell his boss, the Chairman of the Board about the dilemna, then JoePA was in fact his defacto boss. The lawyers and PR firms are getting rich.
This is going to be the most sensational court case since OJ.
here would like to keep it from resuming. maybe this is a time to express empathy and feel holier than thou for a few years.
i want the series to resume.
htp
R I V A L R Y
Shut them down for the 2013 season. Let them show some contrition, some pain. Otherwise, they can never go forward.
And if Steve Pederson is interested in maintaining his $2M gig, ‘We Are’ RESCHEDULING.
There’s no evidence one way or another, as this is an unprecedented situation. Let’s see it play out.
PSU clearly violated NCAA Constitution Article 6 (institutional control), particularly Section 4.2 (relating to responsibility for representatives of the organization of which Sandusky would qualify in his post-retirement emeritus role with PSU) as well as by-laws 10.1 (relating to ethical obligations) and 11.1 (relating to conduct of athletic personnel). If the NCAA wants to nail them, which they will have no choice but to do, then they will nail them- and the sky is the limit.
I would love it if the sports writers are wrong.
Freeh didn’t connect all the dots because he concentrated solely on two issues presented by the penn state task force which kept the scope away from football. The NCAA will be forced to look closer at the operations and organization. The NCAA surely must understand this. Shouldn’t they?
I would tap the brakes on condemning PSU for weakly following the Clery act. I was at Pitt 2006-10, lived in 4 different residence halls and worked closely with ResLife personnel through my organization; I don’t recall hearing anything about the Clery Act or mandatory reporters at least by that name. Before anyone goes correcting me, sure it’s tucked away in here (link to safety.pitt.edu) and sure, urban campuses are always more vigilant than rural/suburban types, but I think awareness and compliance are general problems for the Department of Education, not PSU-specific.
Will they use the scrutiny/publicity make an example out of PSU? Perhaps, but I suspect the board of trustees will adopt most of the Freeh report’s recommendations before the DoE gets their ducks in a row for that.
Pitt / Penn State football games have always been important games for both schools. However, unless Penn State administrator’s show some contrition, the rivalry is over as far as I’m concerned.
To quote Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco) … “there must be consequences”
If nothing else … the NCAA can at least ban “We are …” and “Penn State Proud”
http://m.yahoo.com/w/ygo-frontpage/lp/story/us/2422572/coke.bp%3B_ylt=AjoulURxSCGScDqENfkjtmax.tw4%3B_ylu=X3oDMTFzbGhqY2p1BGNwb3MDMQRjc2VjA21vYmlsZS10ZARpbnRsA3VzBHBrZwNpZC0yNDIyNTcyBHBvcwMxBHNsawNpbWFnZQ–?ref_w=frontdoors&view=today&.intl=us&.lang=en&.tsrc=yahoo
The “block Pitt” does look very collegiate.
So, if I had to pick between color change, or “Pitt script”, I’d actually probably go with the color change.
Allready 3 or 4 teams with the exact same gold helmets and on their uniforms in the ACC.
Yes, looks like ND or Navy, doesn’t stand out at all.
Everything adds up to a change. New conference, new marketing, the old would gobble them up and the young are always looking for something new. Make a lot of fans happy.
That’s why I doubt Steve will do anything. Plus, he’d have to admit he made a mistake.
It’s so simple, and the marketing campaign and sales of merchandise could be fantastic.
You would have to be a real bonehead, to not do something for entering into the new conference. (unless you have a uniform that you’ve had for 30 or 40 years and is the standard, which got ruined about 15 years ago).
Anyhow, common sense and the early money says, that we will most likely do something.
I am excited, should others get excited?????
NO!!!
If they do something, you can almost guarantee, something about it will not be right, it will be “off” somehow.
The blue will be darker, or the gold “goldier”. They’ll have a picture of the cathedral on the helmet, or a picture of the dirty o on the helmet.
The stripes will be diagonal or go sideways around the calves.
It’s so simple. Go back to the Pitt script and royal blue and mustard.
You don’t need to pay a marketing firm 200k to figure this out.
Maybe steve will go to maroon, so we can look just like BC and FSU???
If they would do a change, and get it right, I will donate $1000.00 to a Pitt Blather tailgate, at a game we all agree on.
I’m gonna go ahead and go get the new washer and dryer set next week anyhow!!!
This doesn’t consume me. Pitt Blather just a good place to blow smoke about it once in awhile.
However, all kidding aside, I’d love for Chas, you, and anyone else to call me out on the grand.
They really do have a nice, clean, collegiate look to them now. I actually like our uniforms.
Like you, just made Pitt really stand out.
No biggie.
Not much to complain about Pitt athletics right now.
Go ahead Steve, cap the sundae off with the cherry on top!!!!
**Chas says he knows Pitt Ath Dept. people read this**????????????
like ive said, pitt is having a retro script uni for one game this year. i believe its the louisville game but i could be mistaken
Maybe someone at the Pitt News can start clamoring for the change upon entry to the ACC? I think if thousands of students start advocating a change, that Steve P might listen.
And as mentioned, a change of colors would be a marketing bonanza! There are many older yinzers (myself included) that saw TD and Marino play who would buy merchandise with the new colors. Yes, you can buy a retro jersey now, but it would be different since it would connect someone to the current team, not one from a couple of decades ago.
