“You don’t understand Penn State! This has nothing to do with football” Is an angry response I heard to my 2011 blog post, Sins of Omission, Paterno & Penn State.
This child abuse scandal has everything to do with football and you do not have to be a Penn State student or alumni to understand it.
By now, the country has heard of the NCAA sanctions Penn State received and the fall out from investigations resulting from school leadership failing to respond to child abuse resulting from coach, Jerry Sandusky.
Understandably, many Penn State students, fans, and alumni are upset at yet another blow to the school’s and the football program’s reputation. Basically, the school’s team will not be able to really come back to full strength till 2020. To add to their lament, the school took down Joe Paterno‘s statute because the school felt it became it became “a source of division and an obstacle to healing in our university and beyond”.
It is clear from the Freeh report, there was a weak system of accountability for Penn State football. Administrators, school officials, trustees, and coaches feared to bring anything forward that would tarnish the football program. A former administrator, responsible for student discipline experienced this system of suppression for negative attention for Penn State football. CNN recounted Vicky Triponey’s employment at Penn State:
She was told she was too aggressive, too confrontational, that she wasn’t fitting in with “the Penn State way.” Paterno ridiculed her on a radio show as “that lady in Old Main” who couldn’t possibly know how to handle students because “she didn’t have kids.”
When Triponey tried to discipline football students for violating school policy, but she was met with anger:
By then it was clear she no longer enjoyed Spanier’s [the former Penn State president] support. He began making noises about whether she really embraced ‘the Penn State way.’ Spanier came to her home and sat in her living room after Paterno lost his temper at the meeting about the players involved in the brawl. She said he told her, “Well, Vicky, you are one of a handful of people, four or five people, who have seen the dark side of Joe Paterno. We’re going to have to do something about it.”
Joe Paterno was excellent coach, incredibility generous by donating millions to the school, and was very principled in his approach to life. He built a well-respected empire of football success. However, that football success came with a cost. It cost dozens of children’s privacy and safety. Jerry Sandusky was caught abusing at least one child on Penn State’s campus and football facility by staff. The abuse was discussed by Paterno, the administration, the school president, and staff. They all wanted to protect the image of the football program over the protection of children. They had the responsibility not solely to the image of the football program but to the safety and well-being of children.
There are those who want to make this about a coach’s career. They cry foul over the blemishing of Paterno’s image – JoePa. When a man builds such a big and successful football empire that no one wants to touch it, it is obvious that football was priority number one. This is a case where people sought to protect success over morality. A culture of protection around football was created from the president of the school all the way down to the janitor. They didn’t want to see “Paterno’s dark side”. Yet, Paterno’s family is baffled: “How Sandusky was able to get away with his crimes for so long has yet to be fully understood.”
Our society needs to stop thinking about football, stocks, bonds, bowl games, and political careers. Those are all first world problems or concerns. We should be caring about morality and for one another in a way that protects and seeks the welfare of others. As a former NCAA athlete, I know a lot of people are upset with the hyper focus upon Penn State football. It is unfortunate that Paterno is no longer the winningest coach in college football and dreams of NFL careers may or may not happen. However, there are more important things than whether someone will be drafted #8 or #58.
In the end, the Penn State scandal was about how children got hurt and how no one want to do the right thing because the image of Penn State football was top dog. Why are the NCAA sanctions so harsh? It sends the message that there is more to life than winning in college football.
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