Joe Paterno may be on his way out

[kytwell 179]

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, responding to the scandal that has overtaken his university and his program, said in a statement released Sunday that he acted appropriately with the information he had in 2002 regarding child sexual abuse allegations against his former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.

"If true, the nature and amount of charges made are very shocking to me and all Penn Staters," Paterno said. "While I did what I was supposed to with the one charge brought to my attention, like anyone else involved I can't help but be deeply saddened these matters are alleged to have occurred."

Sandusky, who retired from coaching in 1999 after 32 years on Paterno's staff, was arrested Saturday on 40 charges that include felony sex crimes against children. Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and university vice president Gary Schultz have been charged with felony perjury in their grand jury testimony in the case, as well as failure to report to law enforcement what they knew about Sandusky's behavior.

Joe Paterno releases statement

If true, the nature and amount of charges made are very shocking to me and all Penn Staters. While I did what I was supposed to with the one charge brought to my attention, like anyone else involved I can't help but be deeply saddened these matters are alleged to have occurred.

Sue and I have devoted our lives to helping young people reach their potential. The fact that someone we thought we knew might have harmed young people to this extent is deeply troubling.

If this is true we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things, and we grieve for the victims and their families. They are in our prayers.

As my grand jury testimony stated, I was informed in 2002 by an assistant coach that he had witnessed an incident in the shower of our locker room facility. It was obvious that the witness was distraught over what he saw, but he at no time related to me the very specific actions contained in the Grand Jury report.

Regardless, it was clear that the witness saw something inappropriate involving Mr. Sandusky. As Coach Sandusky was retired from our coaching staff at that time, I referred the matter to university administrators. I understand that people are upset and angry, but let's be fair and let the legal process unfold.

In the meantime I would ask all Penn Staters to continue to trust in what that name represents, continue to pursue their lives every day with high ideals and not let these events shake their beliefs nor who they are.

Paterno wasn't charged, and the grand jury report didn't implicate him in wrongdoing. His son Scott, an attorney who helped his father draft the statement, said in a phone interview Sunday evening that his father didn't know the severity of the alleged crimes until he read the grand jury's findings Saturday.

"When he read the presentment and called me, he could barely speak," Scott Paterno said.

"It was like a punch in the gut."

When asked about the sex-abuse charges outside his home in Pennsylvania on Sunday, Sandusky told ABC News he was advised by his attorney not to talk.

According to the statement released Saturday by Pennsylvania attorney general Linda Kelly, the grand jury found that in March 2002, a then-graduate assistant (Mike McQueary, a former Nittany Lions quarterback who is now a fulltime assistant), witnessed Sandusky sexually assaulting an underage boy in the showers in the Lasch Football Building. According to Kelly, the graduate assistant went to Paterno's home "to explain what he had seen."

But Paterno said in his statement that McQueary had not been specific with him.

"As my grand jury testimony stated," Joe Paterno said in the statement, "I was informed in 2002 by an assistant coach that he had witnessed an incident in the shower of our locker room facility. It was obvious that the witness was distraught over what he saw, but he at no time related to me the very specific actions contained in the Grand Jury report. Regardless, it was clear that the witness saw something inappropriate involving Mr. Sandusky. As Coach Sandusky was retired from our coaching staff at that time, I referred the matter to university administrators."

Late Sunday night, Curley requested to be placed on administrative leave so he could devote the time needed to defend himself against perjury and other charges, university president Graham Spanier said. Gary Schultz, vice president for finance and business, will step down and go back into retirement, Spanier said. He declined to comment to reporters after the meeting.

University spokesman Bill Mahon said resignations of Paterno and Spanier weren't discussed at the meeting.

The developments came after the Penn State board met in executive session. About half the board members were present while others joined by phone. Board members, including university vice president Damon Sims, walked out and declined to comment to reporters.

A source told ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg that the board has a scheduled meeting for this coming Friday.

Sandusky retired with tenure, and, as such, came under the supervision of Schultz. Paterno referred the matter to Curley, his superior.

"Unfortunately," Scott Paterno said, "once that happened, there was really nothing more Joe felt he could do because he did not witness the event. You can't call the police and say, 'Somebody tells me they saw somebody else do something.' That's hearsay. Police don't take reports in that manner. Frankly, from the way he understood the process, he passed the information on to the appropriate university official and they said they were taking care of it. That's really all he could do."

The attorney general also discussed a 1998 police report involving Sandusky and inappropriate behavior with children. No charges were brought. Sandusky retired the next year to devote his time to The Second Mile, a charity he founded to help children. Sandusky also raised many foster children.

The two events were unrelated, Scott Paterno said, because his father knew nothing about the police report. A recent request to read it was denied by the university. Sandusky retired with great fanfare.

"Does anybody really think," Scott Paterno said, "that if (the university) thought he was a child rapist, they would have given him a farewell tour?"

Nevertheless, hindsight has left Joe Paterno and his wife Sue in anguish.

"Sue and I have devoted our lives to helping young people reach their potential," Joe Paterno said in his statement. "The fact that someone we thought we knew might have harmed young people to this extent is deeply troubling. If this is true we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things, and we grieve for the victims and their families. They are in our prayers."

Paterno first met Curley, a 57-year-old native of State College, when the future athletic director was in his teens. His indictment, Scott Paterno said, has left his father "shocked and saddened" as well.

"This has been as hard on Joe as anything I've ever seen him endure in the sense of, trying to come to grips with, 'How did this happen?'" Scott Paterno said. "... When he was first told this (in 2002), he was 75. This was so far from what he could possibly conceive of. You come back to him now, he's 84. It's so outside of what he can even imagine.

"This guy grew up in a Norman Rockwell painting and wanted to live in one in State College," Scott Paterno said about his father. "The sad reality is, even in Norman Rockwell paintings, there's the back side of the painting. It's just a very dark, ugly thing that happened around us that we didn't see."

Ivan Maisel is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7200340/joe-paterno-penn-state-nittany-lions-says-true-were-all-fooled

[patient2010 93]

WOW this will be interesting to see how it all plays out

[Darnell 8,478]

[Joe Paterno may be on his way out ] OH - I DO HOPE SO !

[kytwell 179]

[Joe Paterno may be on his way out ] OH - I DO HOPE SO !

Well as a PSU fan, I'd like to see him go too. But I'd prefer that his career, not have this ugly black mark on it. He has done an excellent job preparing athletes for life off the field, but he has failed to prepare himself for it.

[Damian&Kelly 16]

As a Pennsylvanian, It's very strange to see everyone almost hanging their heads in shame, around here at least. I know most people around here are huge PSU fans, I can't say I am or I'm not.. not really a college football fan. But it's sad to see Joepa go this way, after all the good he's done. I think he'll be used as a scapegoat of sorts, to cover the top guys who been trying to cover it from the beginning.

[kytwell 179]

And the plot thickens

The Jerry Sandusky case has just gotten much more interesting. In 1998, Ray Gricar was the

Centre County District Attorney. According to the Sandusky Grand Jury report, in 1998 Gricar decided not to prosecute then-Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky after evidence that Sandusky had molested a young boy was brought to his attention.

Seven years later, then-District Attorney Ray Gricar went missing. His car was later found abandoned, and his laptop was found in the Susquehanna River, without a hard drive and damaged beyond repair. Police reported that before he went missing, he had researched “how to destroy a hard drive” on his home computer.

While still early in the Sandusky trial, and a leap to assume that the two incidents are connected, Gricar’s reasoning not to prosecute Sandusky will never be known. There is no proof that Gricar had heard of the 2002 shower incident, and whether Sandusky had gone missing because of the Sandusky allegations will probably never be known. However, it does add an interesting twist in the recent allegations, and more information of Gricar’s disappearance may surface in the coming months as the case moves forward.

http://www.faniq.com/blog/DA-Ray-Gricar-chose-not-to-prosecute-Sandusky-then-went-missing-Blog-41870

[kytwell 179]

Bye Joe Pa

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Penn State football coach Joe Paterno will retire at the end of the season, his long and illustrious career brought down because he failed to do all he could about an allegation of child sex abuse against a former assistant.

"This is a tragedy," Paterno said in a statement Wednesday. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."

Paterno has been besieged by criticism since former defensive coordinator and one-time heir apparent Jerry Sandusky was charged over the weekend with molesting eight young boys between 1994 and 2009. Athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz have been charged with failing to notify authorities after an eyewitness reported a 2002 assault.

Paterno decided to retire at age 84, in his 46th season with the Nittany Lions. He won 409 games, a record for major college football, but now, the grandfatherly coach known as "Joe Pa," who had painstakingly burnished a reputation for winning "the right way," leaves the only school he's ever coached in disgrace.

"I am absolutely devastated by the developments in this case," he said. "I grieve for the children and their families, and I pray for their comfort and relief."

But Paterno might not be able to fully control his exit strategy; the school's board of trustees is still considering its options and could force Paterno to leave immediately.

"I have come to work every day for the last 61 years with one clear goal in mind: To serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care. I have the same goal today," Paterno said.

"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."

Paterno hasn't been accused of legal wrongdoing. But he has been assailed, in what the state police commissioner called a lapse of "moral responsibility," for not doing more to stop Sandusky, whose attorney maintains his client is innocent.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45186257/ns/sports-college_football/

[Dave-n-Oksana 49]

Bye Joe Pa

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Penn State football coach Joe Paterno will retire at the end of the season, his long and illustrious career brought down because he failed to do all he could about an allegation of child sex abuse against a former assistant.

"This is a tragedy," Paterno said in a statement Wednesday. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."

Paterno has been besieged by criticism since former defensive coordinator and one-time heir apparent Jerry Sandusky was charged over the weekend with molesting eight young boys between 1994 and 2009. Athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz have been charged with failing to notify authorities after an eyewitness reported a 2002 assault.

Paterno decided to retire at age 84, in his 46th season with the Nittany Lions. He won 409 games, a record for major college football, but now, the grandfatherly coach known as "Joe Pa," who had painstakingly burnished a reputation for winning "the right way," leaves the only school he's ever coached in disgrace.

"I am absolutely devastated by the developments in this case," he said. "I grieve for the children and their families, and I pray for their comfort and relief."

But Paterno might not be able to fully control his exit strategy; the school's board of trustees is still considering its options and could force Paterno to leave immediately.

"I have come to work every day for the last 61 years with one clear goal in mind: To serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care. I have the same goal today," Paterno said.

"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."

Paterno hasn't been accused of legal wrongdoing. But he has been assailed, in what the state police commissioner called a lapse of "moral responsibility," for not doing more to stop Sandusky, whose attorney maintains his client is innocent.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45186257/ns/sports-college_football/

This is sad in so many ways. In this day and age, people are so afraid of being sued that knee-jerk reactionaries force a football legend to retire from the job he loves. They say that he did not do enough. That he should of notified the police. What about the person who witnessed the alleged assault? Why is he not being vilified?

I am not saying that Sandusky is innocent, but in this country a person is supposed to be presumed innocent UNTIL proven guilty. And until a verdict of guilty or innocent is rendered, Coach Paterno did exactly what policy required. It would be different circumstances if HE actually witnessed the assault, since he did not (and there hasn't been any evidence that he did witness any attack) he should be allowed to keep his job.

[kytwell 179]

Well he didn't get a chance to retire.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- In hindsight, Joe Paterno is absolutely devastated. Those were his words on Wednesday -- "absolutely devastated." And that was a start. It was a lot better than his actions Tuesday, when he was absolutely pleased to bask in the adulation of the Penn State students in his lawn.

If he had to do it all over again, Joe Paterno would have done more. Those also were his words Wednesday -- "I wish I had done more." And that was a start. It was a lot more than he felt he should do in 2002, when he was told of an apparent sexual assault committed by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on a young boy within his football building. In 2002, Paterno didn't do very much. He literally did the legal minimum. He told his supervisor, and then he went on with his life.

As did Jerry Sandusky.

Nine years later, the count of Sandusky's alleged victims has reached nine. There are reports that it could hit 20 or more. Joe Paterno didn't do that, no. But he didn't stop it either. That's why he says "I wish I had done more." And that's why he's "absolutely devastated."

And that's why he couldn't coach this Saturday. Or next Saturday. Or ever again.

Penn State's Board of Trustees didn't need hindsight to know that, either. Joe Paterno simply couldn't coach this team one more time, even if it would be one last time. This is Penn State's home finale, and Paterno announced Wednesday morning that he is retiring at the end of the season. That was good, but not nearly good enough.

Paterno, cheered by more than 100,000 people on Saturday? Idolized for three more hours? Upheld as a hero, as a paragon of virtue, as everything that is right about Penn State?

That couldn't happen, because Paterno is none of those things. Not anymore.

Joe Paterno was part of a cowardly system that looked the other way for nine years as an alleged pedophile was roaming State College. More than that -- Sandusky was using the Penn State football offices as one of his home bases.

And so Joe Paterno is done, four games before the end of his 46th season at Penn State. A few days ago, that didn't seem possible. Paterno had called the shots here for decades. He had been untouchable, refusing to retire when he reached age 65, then 70, then 75, even as his program was scuffling along in mediocrity as he turned 78. He was untouchable, and that seemed to extend even to these horrific circumstances when his supervisor, athletics director Tim Curley, and vice president Gary Schultz were indicted on charges of not acting on that alleged assault in 2002 ... but Paterno was not.

Untouchable, even now. Even after this. That's how it looked until Wednesday morning, when Paterno announced that he was resigning after this season. But even in making that announcement -- when he noted that he was "absolutely devastated" and that "I wish I had done more" -- Paterno tried to call the shots. He tried to tell the Penn State Board of Trustees to leave him alone, to let him exit on his terms.

Paterno said, "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."

You catch the key line in there?

The Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status.

Because Paterno had already made that decision, see. He has always made the decisions regarding his football program, which might just explain why his "bosses" didn't report Jerry Sandusky's alleged sexual assault in 2002 to police: If Paterno isn't reporting it to police, why would anyone else? It's his program, and Sandusky was his longtime assistant, and the alleged assault happened in his building. Paterno calls the shots. Subliminally, he called that one in 2002.

Which means someone else had to call this one, now. The Board of Trustees had been dared by Paterno to try -- just try -- to keep him from coaching on Saturday. The Board of Trustees called that bluff, informing Paterno that he has served Penn State well for 61 years, but that his one ethical lapse, perhaps his only ethical lapse, was of such a grievous nature that he could not be allowed to lead this football team even once more.

In State College, Penn State students have strongly supported Paterno this week, missing the irony that the roughly 10-year-old kid in that alleged incident in 2002 would be a college student today. Maybe a Penn State student. Maybe that kid is a Penn State student. Nobody knows who he is, and if that's the way he wants it, I hope we never find out. His identity is his business, not ours.

Penn State students have spent the last few days marching all over campus -- to Paterno's house, to the stadium, even to the campus nerve center, a beautiful building called Old Main. They have marched in support of Paterno. They believe he should coach this Saturday, and as long as he wants to coach. That's their position.

In less biased and more mature circles, the position seems to have been different. The position elsewhere, outside of State College, seemed strongly in the other camp: Paterno should not coach Saturday, just as receivers coach Mike McQueary should not coach on Saturday, and PSU president Graham Spanier should not (and apparently will not) still be the school president on Saturday, and the "on leave" AD, Tim Curley, should not still have the make-believe option of returning to his office ever again. Anyone who knew about the allegations against Jerry Sandusky in 2002 -- a list that started with McQueary, who told Paterno, who told Curley -- cannot represent the school. Not in an official capacity.

Not ever again.

But on Wednesday morning, Paterno threw out this challenge:

The Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status.

And now the Board has thrown out its own challenge -- nay, its final word -- to Joe Paterno. Call it a firing, call it a resignation, call it a retirement. Call it whatever you want.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/16054762/untouchable-no-more-paterno-out-at-penn-state

[TBoneTX 45,309]

The one word that best describes the entire situation is "ignominious," sigh man.

[Darnell 8,478]

Bye Joe.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

This is sad in so many ways. In this day and age, people are so afraid of being sued that knee-jerk reactionaries force a football legend to retire from the job he loves. They say that he did not do enough. That he should of notified the police. What about the person who witnessed the alleged assault? Why is he not being vilified?

I am not saying that Sandusky is innocent, but in this country a person is supposed to be presumed innocent UNTIL proven guilty. And until a verdict of guilty or innocent is rendered, Coach Paterno did exactly what policy required. It would be different circumstances if HE actually witnessed the assault, since he did not (and there hasn't been any evidence that he did witness any attack) he should be allowed to keep his job.

that's exactly the problem.

Penn State has gone STUPID now.

Joe gets fired, but the guy who told him gets to stay? The guy who should have gone to the police, to the board, etc.. I mean cmon, talk about hypocrisy. They are sacrificing Joe though because of who he is.

They will pay for it dearly too. I guarantee you that he will get millions in a severence package as I'm not sure exactly what his contract states, but #1 there's no morals clause in it, and #2 it basically allowed him to coach until he wanted to stop coaching. Penn state might have made a PR move (that stunk) but they will pay in the end.

[Damian&Kelly 16]

Now that Joe's gone, everyone should go, they shouldn't play football again until everyone that should be out is out. They sacrificed Joepa to save their own backs, who says the board of trustees are innocent?

[kytwell 179]

More disgusting allegations, when or where will it end.

Just when you thought the Penn State child sex-abuse scandal couldn't possibly get any worse, we may have just scratched the surface. Joe Paterno being fired could be just the start of arguably the biggest downfall in the history of college athletics.

Pittsburgh radio personality Mark Madden, who penned a column for the Beaver County Times back in April of this year named "Sandusky a State secret," a column which foreshadowed the recent scandal which has absolutely gutted those of us in the Penn State family, was a guest on the Dennis & Callahan Morning Show on WEEI sports talk radio out of Boston on Thursday morning. During his appearance, Madden, who has been mostly right regarding this issue from the very start, dropped what can only be called a bombshell, an announcement which could mean far more than the end of Joe Paterno's career.

Madden stated that two "prominent columnists" are currently investigating a rumor that Jerry Sandusky's Second Mile Foundation, a non-profit organization aimed to serve underprivileged youths, was "pimping out young boys to rich (Penn State) donors." Madden went on to say that Jerry Sandusky was told by those running the show at Penn State football that Sandusky had to retire after allegations made in 1998 that the defensive coordinator was guilty of "improper conduct with an underage male." Sandusky, thought by some to be Joe Paterno's successor at the time, abruptly and somewhat shockingly retired from coaching in 1999.

It actually gets worse. Madden went on to say "When Sandusky quit, everybody knew; not just at Penn State. It was a very poorly kept secret around college football, in general. That is why he never coached in college football again and retired at the relatively young age of 55, young for a coach." Madden also called the Second Mile Foundation "the perfect cover" for Sandusky's scheme.

I want to be absolutely clear about a few things. These reports, as of the writing of this piece, are coming only from Mark Madden, and they are currently only rumors and speculation. With that said, Mark Madden has been mostly correct about a grand jury investigation which was sealed until very recently. I'm not suggesting that I 100 percent believe Madden to be correct. I'm certainly not ignoring a word he's saying regarding the Sandusky case at this point.

Late Wednesday evening after Joe Paterno was fired by Penn State, an "in the know" individual told me that this story was going to get uglier, and that there were, at the very least, "dozens of more victims." My absolute worst fear regarding the issue is what Mark Madden spoke on Thursday morning. It's been widely reported that the US Department of Education is currently investigating Penn State. Are they going to find that Jerry Sandusky was running a multimillion-dollar criminal organization, one which resulted in dozens, possibly hundreds (or even more), of youths being sexually abused? Will they find that higher-ups at Penn State, including now former football coach Joe Paterno, covered-up Sandusky's heinous crimes? All I know this morning is that, after the worst week of my Penn State life, I don't know if anything would shock me.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ycn-10407023

[kytwell 179]

Now that Joe's gone, everyone should go, they shouldn't play football again until everyone that should be out is out. They sacrificed Joepa to save their own backs, who says the board of trustees are innocent?

That's a good question. I wonder if any of the victims in the original GJ report were paid off? If I was a parent of one, I'd been raising holy hell if they didn't move forward and prosecute. What more do you need than an eyewitness and the kids testimony? I'd had went to my local newspaper, talk radio, national news, somewhere, anywhere and everywhere.