Joe Paterno, 1926-2012

Now that former Penn State coach Joe Paterno passed away (1-22-2012), I want to add a few thoughts to the ones I've given right after the scandal at Penn State broke out in November of last year (link to ESPN coverage HERE). This involved sexual molestation charges against a former assistant coach who was still using Penn State facilities but had resigned several years earlier. A witness told Joe about it, who then told his boss, the athletic director. However, nothing happened for a long time, and when the details finally broke in the media, the public was furious. In the end, the University president, the athletic director and Joe Paterno were all fired from their jobs.

Many think Joe was treated badly by the University Board, citing all the good he had done, not only in winning football games, but contributing money and encouraging education. But others agreed with the Board's actions.

Paterno had offered to retire at the end of the season. At the time, I felt Paterno should be fired, but after thinking about it, perhaps the board should have come to him. They might have said, retire immediately, not at the end of the season, and we won't fire you. The transition would not have been perfect, but it might have acknowledged all the good Joe had done in the past. No one would have forgotten why Joe left when he did.

Paterno himself had said about the scandal that he wished he had done more. In his last interview, he said he didn't know what to do about the situation. I believe that, and hindsight, as they say, is 20-20. Life can be complicated, and often we try to get away with things by ignoring them. Sometimes that works (we don't get in immediate trouble, that is), and sometimes it doesn't. Unfortunately, other people may be getting hurt by our inaction. I am thinking beyond the case at Penn State. Don't many of us ignore hunger in other countries and even our own? What about earthquake victims who still don't have homes? We might say it is too overwhelming and we can't fix everything. Even when we give, it is still not enough. Yet how much do we accumulate for ourselves that we don't really need?

The main point is that people can be very highly regarded, and even for good reason. They may raise a great deal of funds for good causes, and influence young people for good. Yet they are not perfect. No person on Earth, no matter how great his or her acts, has been perfect except One. Joe couldn't earn his way to heaven, nor can I.

What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out. On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith. Romans 3:27 (NABRE).

We have been redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ so that if we believe in Him, we may enter His kingdom. That puts us on the same field, but we're not just playing a game.

Changing Story

I wrote a recent post, among others, which described some of the Penn State scandal that is being discussed far & wide. At that time, Mike McQueary, an assistant coach who said he saw Jerry Sandusky sexually molest a young boy, had not said, publicly or to a Grand Jury, that he contacted police after he saw it. Many people assumed he did not contact police, but now he says he did. Police are denying they have any reports of it.

It's easy to jump to conclusions when a Grand Jury report is presented to the public with such explosive implications. Many have called for McQueary's firing, and I agree. McQueary now says he acted in the right way at the time and reported the issue to police and Joe Paterno. For Paterno's part, it was upon him to investigate whether the accusations were true or false. We can imagine how difficult that would be for Joe after working with Sandusky all that time, but Paterno was a leader and needed to do what leaders must do. But as for McQueary, was he bound to do more?

If he did indeed do those things he now says he did, either the Grand Jury report is lacking completeness or the police were the culprits. It will probably take time, an unfolding of events, a legal process, for truth, or as close as we can get to truth, to come out. It is human to react emotionally in the first comprehension of a terrible disclosure, as I and others did. But we eventually must overcome the emotions to give others a hearing.

If McQueary was a worker in some less-visible job, it would be easier for him to keep it until the necessary time went by. Even then, he may have trouble with fellow workers. But unfortunately he is in a very visible place, one which may be unnerving to the students and other who work with him even if he is legally innocent. But that is not all. Being legally innocent still doesn't explain why he didn't follow up on why Sandusky wasn't being arrested, when nothing seemed to be happening. Maybe the police and Paterno weren't responding, if that is what was going on. Yet he still had the news media and police of higher jurisdictions with whom to appeal.

Though my emotions are more level and I realize he was in a terrible situation, I think that unless McQueary continued to seek police investigation in a way we don't know about, he should resign as coach of Penn State football or be let go by the administrators. It is not to say he can't repent of his failings to the Lord, because we all have to do that, and work on where his life may turn to do good. But we all must take sin very seriously. Life is not a game.

The Victims

I've had a few posts where I wrote about the Penn State scandal. I graduated from there and am very saddened by the whole sordid affair. However, though I've expressed ideas about guilt and sin, I need to also talk about the victims. I happen to have met two adult persons who were molested by family members in childhood. They are not related to me or each other, and I don't know them well. But I know enough to realize they are still dealing with their trauma. One struggles with very severe psychological symptoms which come and go. The other acted out in anti-authoritarian ways in early life, and though coming to a more mature way of handling problems, still acutely feels the personal violation.

An assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, is alleged to have sexually accosted a minor on the premises of Penn State. Another coach alleges to have seen him and reported it to Joe Paterno. Paterno reported it to another superior, and up the line. But throughout, supposedly no one called the police or any other regulatory agency.

A lawyer for one of the alleged victims of retired assistant coach Jerry Sandusky said they were worried about a backlash, since Joe Paterno was fired over the controversy. For one thing, Penn State students rioted after the announcement that he was fired after a 46-year career as head coach of the football team there. Probably some bloggers and others backed Paterno, against the University's decision to let him go, to go on with his job or at least finish out the season.

Though I'm talking in ideal terms here, victims of sexual abuse should not have to worry about further victimization. Society and the people in power need to take a stand for them, even if others are not sensitive enough to realize the abused take the priority over prestige, money and the ever-encompasing sports culture. Governors and trustees must see the victims' worth even if they themselves have been de-sensitized to it. I think the trustees did the right thing in terminating Joe Paterno and the University President. They should also have fired Mike McQueary, another assistant coach and the man who allegedly saw Sandusky in the act. (He says he saw it. Why would McQueary say he saw it if he didn't? But if for some twisted reason he lied about seeing it, that would mean he lied to a Grand Jury in which case he should still be fired.)

We have a long way to go to know what to best do for children and adult victims of abuse, or even to find out who they are. Many don't want to reveal their situation for various reasons. And abusers obviously lie to cover their deeds and even if we want to know who they are, we are not all detectives. We could probably all benefit from lessons on how to spot them, because not all assistant coaches, priests or boy or girl scout leaders are abusers. Let us all hope, though, that if we see someone sexually molested with our own eyes, we will get out our phones, call 911 and make sure the right thing is done.