So Why Exactly Did Joe Paterno Get Fired?

by Philadelphia Ponos 17 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  leavingwt

  "The idea that anyone - from Joe Paterno, who told a grand jury that his assistant had witnessed "something of a sexual nature" between one of his coaches and a child to his jock-sniffing apologists to the idiot students who rioted because a football season was disrupted - thinks something is more important than the crimes committed and covered up a chain of university administrators and coaches is repulsive beyond belief."

  http://reason.com/blog/2011/11/14/penn-state-joe-paterno-andthe-profit-mot
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  simon17

  I don't think you understand how powerful Joe Paterno is. In Central PA, he is the most important and powerful figure period. Not just most powerful in the football team. NOt just most powerful in the school. But the whole region. I mean, a few years ago, the PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY and the BOARD OF TRUSTEES came to his house and said they thought it was time for him to retire and move on. And Joe said "no." He has all the power there.

  If he was lax about reporting this or gave indications that it should be ignored, then it would be. Yes, technically, he has superiors. But in reality, he does not.

  Also, the facts are obvious that Joe Paterno must have known about previous allegations of sexual misconduct many years before this incident. Sandusky got removed as coach because of it. Look at the timeline. Look what former coaches say about Joe Paterno. They say he was all powerful and that "Joe knows... EVERYTHING." It is incomprehensible he knew as little as he is letting on.

  The cover up was ghastly, and it got its power from the only man who had that sort of power: Joe Paterno.
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  sir82

  They have no actual evidence of a molestation

  So if I understand it correctly, you believe football coaches are better able to determine if there is evidence of child rape than the police?
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  undercover

  They have no actual evidence of a molestation

  Sandusky's guilt or innocence is not the damning factor here... It's the inaction of an entire chain of people who did not report the allegations to the proper authorities so that it could be investigated.

  edited to add: Paterno did report to his bosses, but did nothing else. In the eyes of moral people, this is unacceptable. If you heard of a crime against a child being committed on your turf, then you would think that you would want to get this investigated and solved. Paterno told his boss and then went on with his business of coaching. Didn't he ever wonder what came of it? Didn't he ever wonder that if one child was abused, was this guy abusing others? Didn't he ever wonder what happened to the one child. Is he still being abused?

  This scandal has exposed, well, maybe not exposed, we all knew it before, but is now stressing how powerful sports and sports people are to big schools. They operate with impunity and we the fans and alumni wink and look away. We're all guilty to a degree. We worship our favorite schools and spend money on tickets and clothes and donations, expecting winners, damn all else. We all want to be ignorant of the darker secrets and sins of our heros, but when it comes to light we have to be outraged...and act. We can't just think it's a one time thing and hope it goes away. Thee current system of big time college sports may need to be overhauled.
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  james_woods

  The University fired Paterno as a damage control effort to try to rid itself of this scandal. He was implicated because he knew of the scandal and contributed to the coverup of the scandal. This coverup very likely put dozens of victims at risk because the pervert was not prosecuted when the issue was discovered.

  In the latest developments:

  TEN more victims have come forward claiming abuse by Sandusky.

  The university has admitted that it is still paying Sandusky a $60,000 per year pension.

  The judge who gave Sandusky a trivially low bail amount (and no monitoring) is revealed to have ties to his stalking ground charity organization. She refuses to make any comments about this.

  Sandusky himself admits to nude showers and "horseplay" with boys, but claims nothing of a sexual nature ever took place.

  The NCAA is hiding under their desks - I guess it is a cardinal sin with them for boosters to pay for star football players, but it is not an issue if a coach is guilty of child molestation.
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  james_woods

  This scandal has exposed, well, maybe not exposed, we all knew it before, but is now stressing how powerful sports and sports people are to big schools. They operate with impunity and we the fans and alumni wink and look away. We're all guilty to a degree. We worship our favorite schools and spend money on tickets and clothes and donations, expecting winners, damn all else. We all want to be ignorant of the darker secrets and sins of our heros, but when it comes to light we have to be outraged...and act. We can't just think it's a one time thing and hope it goes away. Thee current system of big time college sports may need to be overhauled.

  Exactly correct - and let us not forget that Paterno was being paid more than any teaching professor who was a Nobel laureate.
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  darth frosty

  Joe pa was god in that state.

  to prove 2 years after this incident when his 'bosses' came and tried to get him to retire he basically told them to fuck off and his 'bosses' did just that.

  also he knew of allegations of this guy diddling lil boys from back in 98?!?
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  The Outlier