Somehow I just think this will be the situation that finally ends his career:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7203559/penn-state-nittany-lions-scandal-stuns-community

Even without any direct implications, I think this will just be too much for him and it's way past time.

I started going to college football games before he became the head coach and I've never understood why he is so revered unless it's just longevity. In his early career, Penn State was known for avoiding a good bowl game matchup just to help their chances. Bear Bryant and Alabama did the same thing, however. I'm sure he is a decent coach and may be a very nice man in person but he's not deserving of the Saint Joe title but a long shot.

End times imminent? According to the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-said-to-be-planning-paternos-exit.html?_r=1&hp), yes.

Hate seeing JoPa go out this way, but he himself had a chance to make a difference and decided not to. To me, it looks like a case where hubris and ego got in the way of his moral obligation; a "win at all costs" mentality. In this case, unfortunately, the children bore the burden of his selfishness. And to think he won't even get a slap on the wrist. I wonder if any of the children's families would have grounds to sue, should they wish to make their own stories public.

He reported it to his superior as soon as he found out.

He did report it to his superior, but also knew it was being covered up around him... for YEARS!!! He could have, knowing what he knew, gone around his superior to report it immediately to law enforcement officials. He is guilty by association in this, I'm afraid.

Jim Traber says that Penn St will be sued and that it could bankrupt the entire Penn State University causing the entire university to be shut down.

Maybe they can borrow some money from the Catholic Church Alter Boy fund :Smiley259

Jim Traber says that Penn St will be sued and that it could bankrupt the entire Penn State University causing the entire university to be shut down.

Well, that sounds like the type of stupid thing that Traber would say.

Jo Pa should be fired for this. After his superiors did nothing he should have taken it to authorities. Kids were getting molested! Geeze!

He did report it to his superior, but also knew it was being covered up around him... for YEARS!!! He could have, knowing what he knew, gone around his superior to report it immediately to law enforcement officials. He is guilty by association in this, I'm afraid.


Yeah... I just hate to see JoePa go out like this. Doesn't matter if he kept quiet for the sake of the school or the guy, either way it was wrong.

Well, that sounds like the type of stupid thing that Traber would say.

Traber isn’t thinking. PSU probably has some type of insurance and or state laws that protect / limit the amount of damages that they could be sued for. Traber did not seem to be considering these as possibilities.
The state of Pennsylvania is not going to let a state university (PSU) be shut down or financially harmed in a huge way.... to the point of being shut down.

Maybe they can borrow some money from the Catholic Church Alter Boy fund :Smiley259

Borrow? Why not just ask the Catholic Church Alter Boy funds to sponsor them. Or Dick's Sporting Goods. We'll let them decide. :Smiley199

The whole story is very disturbing. So many places where things did or didn't get done and kids were hurt as a result.

What's disturbing is seeing all the Penn State students sticking up for him, chanting on his lawn, and trying to justify that what he did wasn't being complicit.

I've always been a big Paterno fan. Always. But there has to come a time when your sport fan self is taken over by your adult self, and everyone involved in the program is guilty of covering it up. Paterno may have done what he needed to do legally to not be held accountable, but he failed the moral test in every way, shape and form.

I guess this all comes down to Paterno being told about a young man being abused in the Penn State showers and passing that information on to the athletic director. Sandusky was retired at the time, so Joe Pa didn't have direct authority over him; he was given an office and access to athletic facilities as part of his retirement factor.

That happened in 2002 and yet Sandusky continued on at the school, his football camps and nonprofit for kids.

How the athletic director and school allowed him to continue on like this is very hard to understand and justify. Charges should have been brought and the graduate assistant who saw the one incident should have testified.

Paterno is saying: "He was retired, not a part of my football program any more and I told administration." That's a fair argument but lots of people are wondering why he didn't do more to make sure this guy was prosecuted and kept away from young kids.

I just read the grand jury report and it has a lot more information, especially around this incident in 2002.

The main point of contention is in the accounts of the graduate assistant and Paterno, the athletic director and the university president. The GA says he told Paterno and then later the president and another university official that he was quite sure that Sandusky was having intercourse with the 10 year-old (!) boy in the Penn State showers. But they all claim he just told them that Sundusky was just "horsing around" so they merely told him not to take young boys into their showers any more and then told the leader of the nonprofit Sandusky helped start.

What no one did, however, was report the incident to the proper authorities (child and human services) or anyone else.

By not doing so, they violated state law not to mention common sense and decency.


I ran a nonprofit for at-risk youth and was required to attend training on exactly what had to be reported and how to do so. Even in the case of therapy by a licensed clinician, you are mandated to report if you think a child has been sexually or physically abused. There are very clear guidelines on this and I'm quite sure that Paterno and anybody who worked at Penn State or any other university were well informed about these policies as part of compliance required by the state.

So, Joe Pa should have reported the matter to the proper authorities, not just his boss. And the AD and university president should have reported it as well.

They all claim they were led to believe it was no big deal, but that's not what the GA said and why would he lie? And why would they hold all types of meetings and call the nonprofit if they thought it was just horsing around?

It also seems there was another incident they all knew about in 1998 when Sandusky was still coaching. That did get reported to the university police but it never went further.


So, all these grown men in positions of power knew of inappropriate physical contact with a grown man and 10 year-old boy in a Penn State shower and none of them did anything to report it or keep him away from the many young kids he worked with through the nonprofit and football camps???

I think they are all going to be fired, and that's probably the right thing to do.

I just read the grand jury report and it has a lot more information, especially around this incident in 2002.

The main point of contention is in the accounts of the graduate assistant and Paterno, the athletic director and the university president. The GA says he told Paterno and then later the president and another university official that he was quite sure that Sandusky was having intercourse with the 10 year-old (!) boy in the Penn State showers. But they all claim he just told them that Sundusky was just "horsing around" so they merely told him not to take young boys into their showers any more and then told the leader of the nonprofit Sandusky helped start.

What no one did, however, was report the incident to the proper authorities (child and human services) or anyone else.

By not doing so, they violated state law not to mention common sense and decency.


I ran a nonprofit for at-risk youth and was required to attend training on exactly what had to be reported and how to do so. Even in the case of therapy by a licensed clinician, you are mandated to report if you think a child has been sexually or physically abused. There are very clear guidelines on this and I'm quite sure that Paterno and anybody who worked at Penn State or any other university were well informed about these policies as part of compliance required by the state.

So, Joe Pa should have reported the matter to the proper authorities, not just his boss. And the AD and university president should have reported it as well.

They all claim they were led to believe it was no big deal, but that's not what the GA said and why would he lie? And why would they hold all types of meetings and call the nonprofit if they thought it was just horsing around?

It also seems there was another incident they all knew about in 1998 when Sandusky was still coaching. That did get reported to the university police but it never went further.


So, all these grown men in positions of power knew of inappropriate physical contact with a grown man and 10 year-old boy in a Penn State shower and none of them did anything to report it or keep him away from the many young kids he worked with through the nonprofit and football camps???

I think they are all going to be fired, and that's probably the right thing to do.

Why did the 22 year old man(GA) who saw the incident not report it to the police instead of calling his father? Even more troubling is why did this man not come to the aid of the child immediately? While Jo Pa is not blameless, I have more issue with the spineless GA.

Maybe they can borrow some money from the Catholic Church Alter Boy fund :Smiley259
http://reformation.com/CSA/allabuse.html

I hope everything about Paterno's image is tarnished. He knew about boys being raped in his locker room and did not report to the police. He reported to his "boss", knowing that it would have a much better chance of being swept under the rug. His spur of the moment interview outside his house today was a joke. He was acting like it was a pep rally, telling the fans how much he loved them. This guy has not had any sense of reality in 15 years.

I hope everything about Paterno's image is tarnished. He knew about boys being raped in his locker room and did not report to the police. He reported to his "boss", knowing that it would have a much better chance of being swept under the rug. His spur of the moment interview outside his house today was a joke. He was acting like it was a pep rally, telling the fans how much he loved them. This guy has not had any sense of reality in 15 years.

I can feel the anger from your post. It comes off as harsh at first but when you use the phrase "boys being raped in his locker room" I suddenly got cold hearted and angry...

I don't know if paterno believed something nefarious was hapepening. He knew somebody CLAIMED they saw Sandusky engaged in illicit acts. As far as I know paterno had no first hand knowledge. The person who witnessed the crime is the one who should have reported it to the police. As far as I know paterno was not in a position to investigate these allegations so he passed the info to someone who was.

I think people are being way too harsh on paterno. *JMHO*

Regarding the GA, he obviously was so shocked by what he saw he wasn't sure what to do. He did say he was certain Sandusky saw him, so I doubt he kept carrying on.

When I ran my nonprofit, the volunteers were instructed to tell a supervisor if they thought something should be reported.

Regarding the GA, he obviously was so shocked by what he saw he wasn't sure what to do. He did say he was certain Sandusky saw him, so I doubt he kept carrying on.

When I ran my nonprofit, the volunteers were instructed to tell a supervisor if they thought something should be reported.

But not so shocked as to call his father instead of the Police. Sorry, but the GA was a 22 year old MAN, and a former player. My take is he was protecting his own self interest and not the interest of the child. There is no excuse for him not intervening on the spot, saving the child and calling the cops instead of his dad and then the coach. Cowardice.

Don't kid yourself if you think someone else had more power at the school than Paterno did back in the late 90's. He was probably one of the most popular people in the entire state. I think JoPa is just as responsible as the GA. He knew of terrible felonies being commited by a friend, and failed to say anything to the autorities. If a teacher is required to report suspicion of child abuse of a student, I am not sure why a football coach isnt.

Everyone should have reported it to the police. Paterno doesn't get off the hook morally because he told his superior then sat on it. Was he in a position to investigate it himself? No, but he was in a position to call the police, once it became painfully obvious that nothing was done, he was in the position to push for it. He had power there, he chose to let it slide for his program.

Paterno had all the opportunities in the world to do something, and this coming from someone who was a huge fan of his, he failed morally on every level. He covered his own butt. That's why the outrage against him isn't going too far, if a college coach is supposed to be some moral leader for the players, he failed.

But not so shocked as to call his father instead of the Police. Sorry, but the GA was a 22 year old MAN, and a former player. My take is he was protecting his own self interest and not the interest of the child. There is no excuse for him not intervening on the spot, saving the child and calling the cops instead of his dad and then the coach. Cowardice.

According to the grand jury report the GA was 28 at the time. There is absolutely no excuse for a 28 year old man witnessing what he claimed he saw not reporting it to the police immediately. He was the sole witness (other than the child and accused) so it was solely his responsibility to report it to law enforcement.

Why did the 22 year old man(GA) who saw the incident not report it to the police instead of calling his father? Even more troubling is why did this man not come to the aid of the child immediately? While Jo Pa is not blameless, I have more issue with the spineless GA.

You seriously have more of an issue with a 22 year old GA rather than an 80 plus year old Head Coach that owns Penn State, WOW!

You seriously have more of an issue with a 22 year old GA rather than an 80 plus year old Head Coach that owns Penn State, WOW!

Yeah, you bet I have more issue with the man who witnessed the act versus the guy who got the story second hand. Who was in the position to directly intervene and whose testimony would get this guy convicted, the eye witness or the one who got a second hand story? The GA, a former pro football player, was in a position to take Sandusky down and come to the aid of the child. I am not going to judge accountability on the basis of name recognition.

This is not to excuse any wrong doing……
I’m going to guess that Sandusky had firsthand knowledge of things that would have been serious NCAA violations and that most of the key people at Penn St knew it and because of this they were willing to look the other way and hope that nothing came of this.
They probably made promises of advancement to the graduate assistant if he kept quiet.
Eventually they are probably going to find out there were wide spread NCAA violations.

Penn State is apparently giving Paterno the gift of grace by allowing him to retire at the end of the season. It's cowardice, just as his prior acts are cowardice. I don't care how old you are, how long you've been an authority figure, and what program you are from, if you are in a position of power, and you see nothing being done to rectify what you know to be an allegation of RAPE against a minor, it is your moral obligation to see that the RIGHT people are informed. That includes going around the backs of your superiors.

It sickens me that people are rallying around JoPa. HE was the authority figure here. He claims contrition, but there is not enough contrition the world to sit on this kind of information and watch for years as nothing is done about it.

Penn State is apparently giving Paterno the gift of grace by allowing him to retire at the end of the season. It's cowardice, just as his prior acts are cowardice. I don't care how old you are, how long you've been an authority figure, and what program you are from, if you are in a position of power, and you see nothing being done to rectify what you know to be an allegation of RAPE against a duty, it is your moral obligation to see that the RIGHT people are informed. That includes going around the backs of your superiors.

It sickens me that people are rallying around JoPa. HE was the authority figure here. He claims contrition, but there is not enough contrition the world to sit on this kind of information and watch for years as nothing is done about it.

The retirement is the likely result but according to this article the Board of Trustees are still considering options which could mean leaving immediately.

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/Joe-Paterno-to-retire-as-Penn-State-head-coach-110911

Nasty situation all around. JoePa definitely screwed up majorly here.

At the end of the day it is sad to know that once JoePa isn't coaching anymore, he'll probably pass away with in a year.

What is REALLY sad about this whole situation is that adults didn't protect innocent children.

Yeah, you bet I have more issue with the man who witnessed the act versus the guy who got the story second hand. Who was in the position to directly intervene and whose testimony would get this guy convicted, the eye witness or the one who got a second hand story? The GA, a former pro football player, was in a position to take Sandusky down and come to the aid of the child. I am not going to judge accountability on the basis of name recognition.

What can I say other the frickin unbelievable!!, a 22 year old over the most powerful man on the University Campus.

Paterno had to know that nothing was done about Sandusky because he still had an office near the football facilities and was constantly seen on campus as recently as a week ago. Plus, you know the two were good friends because Sandusky was Paterno's defensive coordinator for a long time.

So, Paterno is told that Sandusky was seen raping a 10 year-old boy in the football showers, he tells his superiors and as far as he knows, nothing happens to Sandusky. And that's it? Paterno never questions why nothing more was done, all the while Sandusky is still holding football camps for kids and is heavily involved in a nonprofit for youth?

Paterno isn't just some middle-manager who reported to more powerful men. He IS Penn State and has more power than anyone on campus and yet he does nothing? Merely tells someone in their administration and then is completely okay with them taking no action? Allowing this man continued access to lots of young boys??

That is what is so hard to understand here. The two administrators had a legal obligation to report the incident which they didn't do, then lied about it under oath. So, they will be prosecuted accordingly.

But Joe Pa clearly had a higher obligation here, especially given his position of power and influence and leader of young men. It's really hard to understand what he was thinking... Why, for example, did he not at least find out what happened to this boy and if he was still being abused by Sandusky? Wouldn't that be most people's first concern?? But rather, he just told his boss and never gave it a second thought.

He definitely needs to go but I'm not sure if he should be allowed to finish the season. One article pointed out the arrogance on his behalf, that he has decided when he will leave and under what terms. That alone demonstrates the type of power and control he seems to possess, but where was that influence when it should have been used to help this kid and the scores of others?

While it may be difficult to determine what [The CryBaby] at OSU or even Barry Switzer might have said, I place my faith in behavior modeling with Bob Stoops. And the athletic staff at whatever institution--in whatever conference--he chooses to be Bob Stoops.

Dang. Where is Andy Rooney when you need him?

Breaking news...................fired!!!!!!!

According to the grand jury report the GA was 28 at the time. There is absolutely no excuse for a 28 year old man witnessing what he claimed he saw not reporting it to the police immediately. He was the sole witness (other than the child and accused) so it was solely his responsibility to report it to law enforcement.

They both should have reported it but Paterno, in a leadership position, should have picked up the phone, himself if he found out it hadn't been reported by the administration. He certainly had the power at the school to twist their arm to do the right thing and they wouldn't have fired him if he ended up being the one who called the police. If he didn't ask, I have to think it was willful blindness. And I have a difficult time believing Paterno didn't have his suspicions after that. And I hate to say that. Or even think what crosses my mind about the whole thing.

Paterno had to know that nothing was done about Sandusky because he still had an office near the football facilities and was constantly seen on campus as recently as a week ago. Plus, you know the two were good friends because Sandusky was Paterno's defensive coordinator for a long time.

So, Paterno is told that Sandusky was seen raping a 10 year-old boy in the football showers, he tells his superiors and as far as he knows, nothing happens to Sandusky. And that's it? Paterno never questions why nothing more was done, all the while Sandusky is still holding football camps for kids and is heavily involved in a nonprofit for youth?

Paterno isn't just some middle-manager who reported to more powerful men. He IS Penn State and has more power than anyone on campus and yet he does nothing? Merely tells someone in their administration and then is completely okay with them taking no action? Allowing this man continued access to lots of young boys??

That is what is so hard to understand here. The two administrators had a legal obligation to report the incident which they didn't do, then lied about it under oath. So, they will be prosecuted accordingly.

But Joe Pa clearly had a higher obligation here, especially given his position of power and influence and leader of young men. It's really hard to understand what he was thinking... Why, for example, did he not at least find out what happened to this boy and if he was still being abused by Sandusky? Wouldn't that be most people's first concern?? But rather, he just told his boss and never gave it a second thought.



Well put. I was struggling with words and you supplied excellent ones.

Breaking news...................fired!!!!!!!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204358004577027923277309662.html?m od=WSJ_hp_MIDDLETopStories

It needed to be done. That he even considered not stepping down, immediately, suggests to me that his moral compass on the issue is off. And it makes be wonder where his moral compass was at the time, too.

This is part of Paterno's original resignation statement which I found very telling:

"That's why I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season. At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can."

Obviously the board decided that they didn't have more important matters to address and they were right.

Let's look at motives here...

Why would the GA lie about what he told Paterno? (crickets)

Why would Paterno lie about what he was told? Because it would save his football program from massive embarrassment and prevent a likely downturn in recruiting and such...

Paterno knew what happened and protected the football program and himself like a coward. Like was said, if he was really just told Samdusky was "horsing around" with a kid then nothing would have been done. They're lying and a lot of people really screwed up, including Paterno.

There was also another incident with Sandusky and a kid in 1998 while he was still coaching for Paterno that got reported to the Penn State police.

You have to know that Paterno knew about that and if Sandusky was brought to task on the 2002 incident, certainly the 1998 thing would have come out as well and that REALLY would have made Paterno and PSU look bad.


Again last night, Paterno claimed the GA merely told him the shower incident was "horsing around". Please. First of all, what the heck is a 60 year-old man doing in the shower with a 10 year-old boy?? Secondly, Paterno testified the GA was very upset when he came to visit him at his home and report the incident. Why would he drive over and be upset if the whole thing was a big nothing?

I think this was one of those situations where a high-profile person (Paterno) was way, way out on a limb but constantly holding himself and his program out as paragons of virtue; that they did things right and were somehow morally superior. I'm always suspicious of conspicuous virtue (often a cover for personal corruption) but in this case it was probably more that everything they wanted to be known for would have been compromised first in 1998 so that was largely covered up and then one lie led to another and another, as they often do.

It's sad all the way around. Mostly sad for the kids abused, the students, the football program and the years it will take the University to rebuild it's name, if it ever will. I agree 100% it should have been dealt with immediately by firing the D coach when it was first reported. There would have been a scandal but it would have blown over, this won't.

Jim Traber says that Penn St will be sued and that it could bankrupt the entire Penn State University causing the entire university to be shut down.

I spoke with a couple last night who worked at PSU for many years and there is a lot of concern that government research funding will completly dry up. They compared it to the defunding of Accorn. They said you can't even begin to imagine the power Joe Paterno had over every aspect of PSU. There is also a huge fear that the NCAA will come down very hard on Penn St. This is far worse than making too many phone calls or giving a player some money. Penn St will be lucky to have a football team by this time next year.

This takes lack of institutional control to a whole new level. It wasn't just Paterno getting fired, the president of the university got canned as well.

I spoke with a couple last night who worked at PSU for many years and there is a lot of concern that government research funding will completly dry up. They compared it to the defunding of Accorn. They said you can't even begin to imagine the power Joe Paterno had over every aspect of PSU. There is also a huge fear that the NCAA will come down very hard on Penn St. This is far worse than making too many phone calls or giving a player some money. Penn St will be lucky to have a football team by this time next year.

This takes lack of institutional control to a whole new level. It wasn't just Paterno getting fired, the president of the university got canned as well.
The more we find out the worse this looks.

But I have a hard time believing that the entire institution would ever be completely shut down as Traber suggested.
I’m pretty sure Trabers statement was just more hyper bold and hypocritical talk.

I would agree that “This takes lack of institutional control to a whole new level”

The more we find out the worse this looks.

But I have a hard time believing that the entire institution would ever be completely shut down as Traber suggested.
I’m pretty sure Trabers statement was just more hyper bold and hypocritical talk.

I would agree that “This takes lack of institutional control to a whole new level”

Apparently Penn St is a very politically connected University and there is concern that if local, state, federal politicians try to distance themselves from Penn St. going into an election year that it could decimate the university.

Will they shut down? No, but they could lose most of their research funding.

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/this-just-in/21153916/madden-sandusky-may-have-pimped-out-kids
If this^ turns out to be true I might change my mind about the possibility of PSU being shut down.




Pittsburgh radio personality Mark Madden -- who wrote a column in the Beaver County Times seven months ago detailing the child abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky and Penn State's lack of response -- joined the Dennis and Callahan show on Thursday and added another disturbing potential layer to this scandel.

"I can give you a rumor and I can give you something I think might happen," Madden said. "There's a rumor that there will be a more shocking development from the Second Mile Foundation -- and hold on, this is gross, I will use the only language I can -- that Jerry Sandusky and Second Mile were pimping out young boys to rich donors. That is being investigated by two prominent columnists even as I speak."

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/this-just-in/21153916/madden-sandusky-may-have-pimped-out-kids
If this^ turns out to be true I might change my mind about the possibility of PSU being shut down.

That's just sick. If that turns out true I'd be more shocked if PSU didn't get shut down (or atleast their football team).

I have a feeling that we only know the tip of the iceberg. I will be curious to know what the former athletic director, who has been busted for perjury, will say about Paterno. I do not think he will protect him anymore, especially facing prison.

Another thing about the incident in 1998...

At that time, Sandusky was only 55 and considered the heir apparent to replace Paterno. Suddenly in 1999 he just retires from football and no real explanation was given and no other school even approached this guy even though he supposedly the architect of Linebacker U.

It would certainly appear that he was pressured to step down by Paterno and PSU after this incident. Their way of sweeping it under the rug and trying to distance themselves from something they knew was really bad.

Yet, nothing is done in 2002 after an eye witness report from someone on their own staff? Probably because they knew this other incident would come up too (there was a campus police report) and at that time he was still employed by PSU and a member of Paterno's coaching staff.


This is all so far beyond any other scandal in college football, because those incidents were always about some money being paid a player or recruiting violations. Even the death penalty SMU thing was just about boosters giving college kids money.

But we are talking about a man raping a 10-year old boy in the showers of a major college football program, at least four high-powered university officials knowing about it, and nothing being done.

And after further thought I do find the Graduate Assistant very negligent as well. I didn't realize Sandusky was a friend of his father's, which is why he chose just to leave and do nothing and then call his dad. Obviously, he should have pulled himself together and tried to intercede and get that kid out of that situation -- but he just ran out the door.


This whole thing almost defies belief and it's pretty clear everyone involved were all much more concerned about protecting themselves, the football program and even Sandusky rather that a young rape victim.

I saw where Nebraska is wanting assurances for the safety of the team and the fans for Saturdays game.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7215871/nebraska-cornhuskers-regent-fears-player-fan-safety-penn-state-nittany-lions

I also didn't realize that of the 8 victims that testified to the grand jury, most of them were molested while Sandusky was a coach at Penn State and several of them were molested on the campus; in the football sauna and showers.

One of them went with him to a bowl game where he was molested in a hotel room then threatened to be sent home because he rejected Sandusky's advances.


This is clearly not just about the one thing in 2002 but that is the one time that authorities are 100% sure that Paterno and administrators knew about a molestation. So, while that incident is the focus of Paterno's ouster, there is much more to this that will come out with more investigation and ultimately a trial.

That Paterno's closest assistant was doing this sort of thing while working for him and even bringing these kids into the football facilities and on team trips is pretty condemning, especially given the sudden and suspicious retirement of Sandusky.

I know this may be way off base, but does anyone think that Paterno may have been involved?

Makes me wonder why in the hell Sandusky has still been on campus?? Why are all of these people who know what this monster is capable of okay with him still being around?

I know this may be way off base, but does anyone think that Paterno may have been involved?

Define "involved".

Barry Switzer's take:

http://newsok.com/penn-state-tragedy-barry-switzer-says-joe-paterno-had-to-go/article/3621872?custom_click=lead_story_title

I know some people will say that Barry is in no position to comment about being fired because of problems during his reign, but there is no comparison in the issues here.

Define "involved".

Any type of involvement. I mean this is such a sick and twisted thing that it's hard to say. Was he facilitating the "pimping" the linked article mentioned? Was he involved in what Sandusky is accused of? Was he just simply as naive about it as what's out now suggests? I got an alert from ESPN while driving home that he hired a criminal defense attorney. I just don't see how this could have gone on for that many years at such a clean program. It's just mind boggling how this has unfolded.

I don't believe for a minute that Paterno had any involvement. It's true, however, that he has hired a high powered attorney even though he hasn't been charged with anything.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Paterno-Hires-Prominent-Criminal-Defense-Attorney.html

I don't believe for a minute that Paterno had any involvement. It's true, however, that he has hired a high powered attorney even though he hasn't been charged with anything.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Paterno-Hires-Prominent-Criminal-Defense-Attorney.html

Well....Paterno was involved. That's one of the things that makes this so mind boggling. An assistant saw a ten year old boy being raped anally by a Senior Asst. (Sandusky)....does he attack Sandusky and try to free the child? No. Does he call 911? No. Does he tell Joe Paterno? YES, who tells the athletic director, who proceeds to cover-up. Paterno continued seeing Sandusky daily and on the sidelines. He sure didn't see him being hauled away in handcuffs! He never even saw him charged or tried and go to prison. He had a responsibility when he saw nobody doing anything to see that the police knew of the child rape in the Penn State locker room showers by HIS assistant coach.

So, yes, he was involved. He covered up a child rape and knew nothing was being done and went right along running the football program with a child rapist as his defensive coordinator. Damn right he better hire a criminal defense attorney.

In this case, LJBab, the law is clear. We don't need to change it before we can complain about it. You cannot know of a child rape and not report it. When you report it and see it covered up - you are a part of the conspiracy. Of the most vile kind. When Joe said last night, "I should have done more," that was the understatement of the year. He not only didn't do more - he let this child rapist walk the sidelines with him.

Well....Paterno was involved. That's one of the things that makes this so mind boggling. An assistant saw a ten year old boy being raped anally by a Senior Asst. (Sandusky)....does he attack Sandusky and try to free the child? No. Does he call 911? No. Does he tell Joe Paterno? YES, who tells the athletic director, who proceeds to cover-up. Paterno continued seeing Sandusky daily and on the sidelines. He sure didn't see him being hauled away in handcuffs! He never even saw him charged or tried and go to prison. He had a responsibility when he saw nobody doing anything to see that the police knew of the child rape in the Penn State locker room showers by HIS assistant coach.

So, yes, he was involved. He covered up a child rape and knew nothing was being done and went right along running the football program with a child rapist as his defensive coordinator. Damn right he better hire a criminal defense attorney.

In this case, LJBab, the law is clear. We don't need to change it before we can complain about it. You cannot know of a child rape and not report it. When you report it and see it covered up - you are a part of the conspiracy. Of the most vile kind. When Joe said last night, "I should have done more," that was the understatement of the year. He not only didn't do more - he let this child rapist walk the sidelines with him.

Mike, I'm not defending Paterno in the least. I've never been a fan of his. If you read the previous posts, someone was wondering if he was personally involved in some of the abuse and that was what I was responding to. I know you love to try to find fault with a post of mine but you're barking up the wrong tree here since I agree with what you're thinking and applaud his firing.