Paterno Revisited
OK, it is now time to revisit my thoughts about Joe Paterno.
First, I still think he got a raw deal from the PSU Board of Directors.
As I said earlier, they owed it to him to allow him to tell them, in private, his side of the story before they fired him.  They never did that and there is still no record of his words or thoughts on this sad episode.  He once did say..."I could have done more".  But, that is all.

That being said, I am saddened by what appears to have been his actions.  Dreadful, to say the least.  It appears that he was front and center in the cover up.  In fact, there was one report that the AD, President and VP had all agreed to go to the authorities.  But, Paterno vetoed the idea.  He had that much power.  How could he have taken that action?  We will never know.  Even if the others eventually tell what they heard.
We will never have the opportunity to hear, first hand, from him.
In retrospect, is that good or bad?  Do we really need to see him confess about his poor actions?  On the other hand, shouldn't we hear from him on what was on his mind?  Alas, neither will happen.

So, where do we go from here?
Where should Paterno stand in Penn State history? In fact, in college football history?
There can be bo doubt that Paterno brought Penn State from obscurity to national attention.  When he came, they were an obscure agricultural school buried in Central Pennsylvania.  Today they are a proud member of one of the most prestigious university conferences in the US.  The Big Ten is no Ivy, but it does have some of the best faculty and research staffs in the country.
I seriously doubt that Penn State, both in sports and in academia, would be where it is today without Joe Paterno.  Football brought money and money brings academic prominence.  I am sure the fund raising success of the past President, was due, in some large part, to the pride of the alumni in the success of the football team. 

And, he does have the most victories of any coach ever (See below for a revision here).  I acknowledge that some of these victories of late were over second rate schools.  But, he did serve the first few years (10 maybe) as Assistant Coach.  While others were accumulating victories at small colleges.  So, his victory record is still noteworthy.  He built the team...and rebuilt it several times.  He truly deserves his place in the College Football Hall of Fame.

But, What about now?
For the immediate future, I think the President has taken the correct course.
The statue was a continuing reminder of the past, shameful, episode.  It would always remind people of Paterno's unfortunate action, and the sorrow it caused.  Nobody needed to see the statue on the way to next season's opening game.  Surely, the press would have been there to show the world our shame.

They were also correct to keep the Paterno name on the library.  He, and his wife, gave of their own funds to grow that library.  Other donors get their names on buildings they sponsor.  So should the Paterno family.

I strongly feel that football got in the way of prudence in this case.  Even the honorable Joe Paterno seemed to let it get in the way of good judgement.  We will never know if Paterno was protecting a long time Assistant Coach.  Or was protecting his while program.  But, in either case, it was reprehensible.   He got caught up in the frenzy of big time college football.

So, to prevent, or at least reduce the chance of that happenig again at Penn State, it is time to bite the bullet and get out of big time football.  I know it will kill the golden funding cow.  But, it may save the whole herd, in fact, the whole farm.......the University, from another episode like this.  Never should one sport, or even one academic program. be allowed to wield as much power as Paterno's football program did.  As I said before, it was the football program that led to Penn  State's academic prominence.  Now it is time for that academic program to stand on its own two feet.  That would be the final tribute to Joe Paterno at Penn State.

Bottom line
Paterno got a bad deal from the Board
Paterno acted poorly, very poorly.
Paterno is historic to PSU and football overall.
PSU should get out of big time football as a tribute to Joe Paterno.

NCAA Decisions
Since I originally posted this, the NCAA has come out with their sanctions.  Here are my thoughts about those:
1) $60 Million Fine - Very good action.  The PSU afministration acted awfully and this fine is fully justified.  By setting up a money stream to fight this in the future, this action will help prevent it from happening again.
2) Lost Scholorships - Very good action.  This will force Penn State to downplay foortball for a while.  Maybe forever.  Although I do think it will be a long while, if ever, that a football coach will wield the power Paterno once had.  This will prevent that from happening again.
3) Vacated Wins - Here I am of two differentv minds.
On the one side, I feel Paterno's actions were reprehensinle and he should be severely punished.
But,,,
On the other side.  He is dead now.  He went to his grave believing he was the winningest coach in college football history.  This action cannot take that belief away from him.  So, what punishment to him is this?  None.  It is punishment to his family.  Who had nothing to do with his action.  So, why punish them?  And
Vacating wins is justified when the win s were gained illegally.  Like when bribes were involved or when ineligible players were involved.  None of this is applicable here.  So, why vacate these wins?  They were fully and fairly achieved.
I am truly torn here.  But, think, marginally, that this was not the right action for the NCAA to have taken to punish Paterno.  I do not what else they could have done.  But, this did not punish the man...Only his legacy.  And, that legacy is already severly tarmished.
4) Bowl Game Ban - Again, mixed feelings.
On the one hand, this ban will further hurt the football program and reduce its impact on PSU overall.  Surely that is good.  But...
On the other hand, it only punishes the present team and its coach.  Neither had anything to do with this event.  So, why puinsh them?
In this case, I come out strongly against this action.. Especially for 4 years.

One Final Thought
Like many, I wonder how such an honorable man like Joe Paterno have participated, maybe even led, such a reprehensible cover up.  I have on one viable theory.
So, hold your hats......Sandusky knew something very serious about Joe or the program, that Paterno did not want let out.  If he pressed Sandusky, maybe Sandusky would let it out...  And the horoably Joe Paterno might have been seen not to be so honorable after all.  It was 20 years ago, when Paterno was still building his legend.   Think about it....