<p>As a one-time Penn Stater, I’ll offer what I’ve said before while Paterno was alive.</p>
<p>Paterno and the football program were not saintly.<br>
Better than many but certainly not “grand.”</p>
<p>No where near as bad as the SMUs and MIAMIs (Fl) of this world but there was never a doubt about what the priority was in (at the time) Rec Hall.</p>
<p>There was much more to Paterno than football–</p>
<p>"Joe Paterno loved the classics. He quoted Shakespeare to his team, devoured the poems of Virgil and donated his money to help save Penn State’s classics department, even endowing a scholarship in the name of his high school Latin teacher, the Rev. Thomas Bermingham. [He also donated millions to the library.]</p>
<p>What Paterno did on the football field may be unmatched. He won 409 games in his 46 seasons as a head coach, led 5 undefeated teams and 23 times guided Penn State to a top-10 finish. He did so in his own uncompromising style, demanding that his players go to class and achieving consistently high graduation rates long before the N.C.A.A. essentially forced universities to make sure their athletes were being led toward receiving their degrees."</p>
<p><a href=“Joe Paterno Leaves a Complicated Legacy - The New York Times”>Joe Paterno Leaves a Complicated Legacy - The New York Times;
<p>(His obituary asked that any donations in his name be made to Special Olympics and 'Thon. For many years he has also been the honorary coach of a local group of marathoners that raise money for the uninsured in Centre County. His willingness to spend time and money supporting worthy causes outside of sports (and even Penn State) is another reason I consider him grand.)</p>
<p>RIP Joe PA!!</p>
<p>God Bless Joe Pa, to the greatest most winningest coach (409 wins). You are and will always be the heart and soul of Penn State…We are…Penn State</p>
<p>Are you guys kidding me? He only “stumbled”? He was “grand”? For God’s sake, the man covered up for a serial child rapist. Being a good football coach is not a better indicator of character than covering up for a child molester.</p>
<p>You missed the point, Haynad. As my mother would say, the word grand has “shades of meaning”.</p>
<p>Haynad,</p>
<p>Unfortunately, you are clearly another example of someone who thinks they know better than everyone else, despite what the facts actually say. I suggest you read the transcript from Joe’s last interview, as well as the grand jury report.</p>
<p>It seems pretty clear that Joe regrets he had not done more. What he did do, what exactly what was required of him, based on his specfic role in all this…merely a messenger. He was passed information, and then passed it on to someone who he thought could handle it better than he could.</p>
<p>In the end, the only thing Joe is guilty of is trusting the wrong people…THOSE people chose to “cover it up”. Joe passed along the information to his superiors, who were charged with handling it. The way THEY handled it was clearly misguided by greed and dishonesty. But it is crazy to negate a lifetime of integrity for one, albiet tragic, error in judgement, by a man who even in death, shows he has more integrity than the people who took away his reason for living.</p>
<p>Ten years from now, no one will care about the hate filled comments you and so many others spew over the internet. So go ahead, hide behind your computer. I doubt you would have the guts to actually say anything in public to a penn stater. And if, by chance you did make that mistake, be prepared to be put in your place…back under the rock where you came from.</p>
<p>@warrior1183</p>
<p>We don’t care that Paterno did all that he was legally required to do. It doesn’t matter that he feels bad about it. The fact of the matter is, he helped cover up the sexual abuse of children by not informing the proper authorities when he saw that his superiors would not.</p>
<p>You say comments like these are hate filled. I argue that we make these comments not out of hate for Paterno, but rather concern for the safety of others. No one man, no matter how influential or well-liked, is more important than the well being of those who have been sexually assaulted.</p>
<p>And you are wrong. I would say this to anyone, Penn Stater or not, who would dare to suggest that Paterno didn’t do anything wrong. Because you know what? I believe that keeping others safe from Sandusky-esque people is that important.</p>
<p>McCreary said he did not provide details of the shower incident to Paterno, out of respect for the old man. Paterno not only reported it to his boss, but also to the person who oversees the University Police Dept. Paterno did not have the authority to ban anyone from the campus. </p>
<p>From what I have read, Paterno also was not told of the earlier incident on the campus from the 1990s with Sandusky.</p>
<p>peace for an enabler of child rape? no thanks. on top of that, he knew Sandusky ran Second Mile.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That interview has been soundly criticised by the public for being apologist, insincere and biased.</p>
<p>^^^
she’s baaaaaccckkkk…</p>
<p>:rolleyes:</p>
<p>1moremom, I disagree with your assessment that it was cowardly. The reason they handled the firing as they did was for two reasons. The first is that Paterno kicked them out of the house when they wanted him to resign a few years back. The second is he said he would step down at the end of the season without consulting the trustees. Had he spoken with the trustees before they fired him, perhaps it would have ended differently. Basically, Paterno set himself up to be fired as he was.</p>
<p>^^^
<<she’s baaaaaccckkkk…="">></she’s></p>
<p>I put our friend on ignore. It has done wonderful things for my inner peace.</p>
<p>geo1113, I think his years of service to Penn State and his incredibly generous financial support of the school outweigh those two things. I was not a big JoePa fan; I thought he should retire years ago. Still, I think he deserved better treatment. (And I have recently read that, in hindsight, many of the board members feel the same.)</p>
<p>There is a lot of good to be said about Joe Paterno, but deifying him as many people have done does him no favors, either, he was a man, no more, no less, and as such was not perfect. He did do a lot of good things, he gave 2 million to Penn State to expand the library and he did encourage his players and other students to learn, which if not perfect (no big time college football program is, too much money, too much influence), and there was a lot there that seems admirable (I say seems, because I didn’t know him, and it is hard as an outsider to separate myth from reality). And yes, it is sad that things ended this way, it is actually kind of bizarre, that he died only a couple of months after things fell apart. </p>
<p>I think the board did the right thing, even if the way they did it might not have been perfect (and we don’t have the full story, folks, lot of this is ‘he said, they said’), the board wasn’t just looking at Joe Paterno, they were setting a standard of accountability, that even someone as important to Penn State as Joe Paterno has to be held accountable for actions not in the best interest of the university. Especially in light of the church abuse scandal, where those who were involved in a real coverup and especially those church leaders who even to this day are still found to have covered up priestly abuse cases and left priests in parish, are not punished by the church despite violating clear rules, it is important to have accountability. </p>
<p>The reason Joe Paterno took a hit with this whole thing is while legally non culpable, to say he did his duty belies the kind of power Paterno had at Penn State to make sure ‘the right thing’ was done. If you read about him and his story, his involvement in Penn State was not just to the football team, he was involved in shaping the university and its policies and so forth, he was quite powerful (not surprisingly), and that is where he failed. Ex players tell stories that Paterno rarely let anything slip by him, that he knew if for example they cut a class or similar trifling things, he would find out. Whatever McCluskey told Paterno, he told him he had seen something wrong happen in the gym (recently he said Paterno basically stopped him from giving him the graphic details, not that McCluskey didn’t want to tell him…) that involved Sandusky and a kid, and while Paterno reported it he apparently never followed through to ask what happened, and given his role at Penn State, that is huge. If Paterno asked what had happened and found out that the head of the school decided to ban Sandusky from campus as punishment, he had the kind of power to force them to do what they should have done, report it to the authorities, but he never did this. This wasn’t a janitor or teacher, Paterno could have threatened to go to the board and if they refused to act, to go to the press or the authorities, but he never did that. Paterno had no fear of being fired in that case, the administration wouldn’t have had a leg to stand on, and he failed, pure and simple. </p>
<p>Does that mean he was an evil person or wanted to cover up a crime? No, he wasn’t, he was a decent person from everything I can tell who had a lapse, unfortunately a pretty big one. One of the things I can’t understand is a parent is how a father and grandfather, hearing how a child potentially had had something horrible to him, didn’t react as a parent, put his own kids or grandkids in the picture, and not act.</p>
<p><<^^^
she’s baaaaaccckkkk… >></p>
<p>LOL!!! :)</p>
<p><<i put="" our="" friend="" on="" ignore.="" it="" has="" done="" wonderful="" things="" for="" my="" inner="" peace.="">></i></p><i put="" our="" friend="" on="" ignore.="" it="" has="" done="" wonderful="" things="" for="" my="" inner="" peace.="">
<p>slipjig - How did you do that? Inquiring minds…</p>
</i>
<p>Grcxx3-
On the upper left side of the page go to:</p>
<p>My Control Panel
Settings
Edit Ignore List</p>
<p>I like this feature.</p>
<p>In some ways, I think it’s better that he expired after the scandal rose from beneath the surface. Imagine having no voice against the carnivorous media who may well make it a goal to tarnish his image for the material benefit of more viewers.</p>
<p>Brilliant! Thanks slipjig!</p>