After much soul searching, I come down thinking that Joe Paterno got an unfair deal.
That is not to say that I am unsympathic to the kids whose lives were irrevocably injured. Nor, am I saying that Paterno was faultless in his action.
But, what I am saying is that the Penn State Board of Directors treated him poorly.
Here is a man who has given his whole professional life, and ¾ of his whole total life, to this university. Almost single handedly, he has taken this university from virtual obscurity in Central Pennsylvania, to national and international recognition for both sports and integrity. He has brought two national championships to the university, along with one Heisman Trophy winner. There has never been any hint of scandal in his program. He has turned down handsome financial packages and has donated much of his less than market value salary back to the university to subsidize the library. Not, the football stadium, but the library.
And what did the Board do? They threw him to the wolves by unilaterally firing him before the full story had been told. To save face to the country.
All the supposed evil doings are still just charges. Nobody has been convicted. And Paterno himself has not been legally charged with anything.
We, at least I, do not know exactly what the young Student Assistant actually told Paterno about the incident he saw. We only have here say.
Yes, even any breath of ill doing like this bears investigation. I like to think that if I were Paterno, I would have confronted Sandusky with the charge myself and asked him his side of the story. If Sandusky admitted it, I would have gone, with him to the police and settled the matter directly. And, if Sandusky denied the charges, I would still have taken the matter up with the authorities both to clear Sandusky and to clear the whole football program. So far, it looks like Paterno did not do that.
Instead, he simply passed the matter upstairs to his supervisor. That supervisor, supposedly much more familiar with these kinds of things seems to have thought there was not enough evidence to take it to the police. If he thought that, should Paterno have thought he knew better?
Ok, so Paterno took the easy way out. Not a good choice that even he has admitted that he regretted. But, to over rule his supervisors and go over their heads directly to the authorities? When these supervisors thought differently. Wouldn’t that have been insubordination? To go directly to the authorities without discussing it with your boss, would have been going beyond his authority. To go to the authorities, after, going to his boss, after his boss has decided NOT to go to the authorities, would have been insubordination. What was he to do once he decided not to confront Sandusky from the start?
But, lets look at the Board action.
Paterno lives in State College, just minutes from the location of the Board meeting. I think they owed it to him to invite him before the Board to defend his action. To tell them exactly what the Student Assistant told him…To tell them why he did not why he did not confront Sandusky. To tell them what he thought about his supervisors’ decision not to go to the authorities….
They did not do that. Instead, they covered their asses and fired him in the “Best interests of the University”. What about the interests of a loyal employee?
And then after firing him, they did not have the decency to sent their Chairman to tell Paterno of their decision face to face. Instead, they sent a message for him to call them. Him to call THEM. He did, and they fired him over the phone. Then they went on to the media and embarrassed him by firing him publically.
I fully recognize that the Board was in a difficult position. It would have looked bad to the world for Paterno to lead his team out of the locker room on Saturday to a multi million-person audience on national TV as a representative of the university.
Instead, they should have simply suspended him for that one game. (BTW…That idea was first suggested to me by my daughter, Sara) Thereby allowing some breathing room for things to settle out. To find out exactly what the Student Assistant actually told Paterno. To find out exactly what Paterno considered doing. To give him a chance to tell them his side of the whole sordid story. Instead of that approach, they simply threw him to the wolves.
He deserved better.
If the Board is really primarily interested in the integrity of the University, maybe they should give up big time football altogether. One team after another these days is getting caught up in some scandal. Maybe this is the worst. But, without Paterno, some other scandal would almost surely have surfaced by now. Cheating, drinking, bribing…You name it. Without Paterno’s integrity in the future, it is all too probable that one of these will eventually surface at Penn State. But, who wants to bet that the Board will forgo the big bucks that football brings in? If they really want to set the proper “moral” image for the University, they will. That would be their final tribute to Joe Paterno. If we cannot have Joe, we do not want big time football altogether.
I also think about what his son, Jay, should do. As Assistant Coach for Quarterbacks, he is still employed by the team. If he goes out with the team on Saturday, is he siding with the University and abandoning his father? If he resigns, is he giving up his own career? I do not see how he can go out on that field on Saturday and still look his father in the eye. But, that is his decision.
What about the team players themselves? It appears that the majority of the student body overall is siding with Paterno. Probably some, if not most, of the players, also side with Paterno. Where do they owe their loyalty? To the Coach who recruited them? Or to the University that gave them their education? Not an easy choice.
Finally, what about the new “Interim” Head Coach? Tom Bradley has been with the team for years. Frequently “named” as Paterno’s logical successor. Now, he is in the hot seat. What a way to get the job. Can he fire up the team for Saturday’s game? What does he say to them? Win one for the Gipper? Who is the Gipper? Joe Paterno, the disgraced Coach? The Chair of the PSU Board? Tom Bradley himself? Maybe they should win one for Alan Weinstein…….Or maybe, they should just forfeit the game and the Big 10 crown. Hell if I know what’s best for Penn State.
All I know…think…..is that Joe Paterno got a raw deal.
