Monday, November 14, 2011
Three Lessons from the Penn State/Sandusky Affair
Posted by Frank Murtaugh on Mon, Nov 14, 2011 at 9:11 AM
And now there’s the Sandusky Affair. Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse involving boys, charges that cover a 15-year period (1994-2009) in which higher ups — most notably iconic Nittany Lion football coach Joe Paterno — apparently looked the other way as a monster stalked his prey. This story should stagger us for years to come. (As my colleague Jackson Baker points out, we must allow the legal system to do its thing. But there’s a lot of smoke with 40 charges.)
As heartbreaking and tragic as Magic’s announcement felt in 1991, we knew the athlete himself was the primary victim of his own decisions and behavior. As horrific as the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman were, there were "only" two victims. Now with the truth emerging about Sandusky and his predatory ways, the victims under this latest headline could be counted in the dozens, if not hundreds. (When a grand jury report mentions eight victims, you can rest assured the number is a fraction of the total.)
With due respect to the athletic achievements of Magic and O.J., they are not in the category of Joe Paterno. In digesting Paterno’s firing last Wednesday after 46 years as the head coach at Penn State, I could come up with only two other college coaches (both basketball) I consider of similar renown when we measure their achievements in the arena and in the larger, more important, picture we know as life: UCLA’s John Wooden and North Carolina’s Dean Smith. Forget Paterno’s 409 wins and two national championships. This is a man whose program graduated as many as 89 percent of its players. (In baseball terms, this is a big-league player hitting .450.) A Penn State library was built with funds raised entirely by Paterno and his wife. Joe Paterno is, by most every measure, a decent man. An exceptional man, even.
But Joe Paterno had at least one blind spot, at least one breakdown in judgment. Who knows when Paterno first got wind that his longtime assistant may have been acting inappropriately with children? Perhaps it was 1999, when Sandusky retired at the still-young coaching age of 55. Perhaps it was in 2002 when, according to the grand jury, a graduate-assistant approached him having seen Sandusky raping a child inside Penn State’s football facility. Whenever Paterno became aware, he should have called the police. Had that call been made, we wouldn’t have a story of such magnitude today (and the Sandusky victim count would be much smaller).
With the demise of a man who belonged on a college sports Mount Rushmore, I see three lessons we should carry into a future made less certain by the reminder that there are, indeed, monsters among us:
• There are authority figures ... and there’s the police. The grad student who witnessed a crime (on a horrific scale) reported what he’d seen to a man (Paterno) he considered an authority. Paterno then reported what he’d heard to another authority (a Penn State vice president). And so the word traveled and, presumably, was minimized with each telling. Forget good-Samaritan laws that obligate us to report crimes we witness. Let’s remember the moral obligation we have, particularly to victimized children. Predators rely on silence and fear ... and a blind eye from authority.
• Exclusive power is dangerous. Paterno achieved a status in and around Penn State that, frankly, isn’t natural. It’s the stuff we read and hear about when tyrants are taken down overseas. (To be sure, Paterno’s elevated stature was gained through benevolent actions.) In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “The rule of the boss is the negation of democracy.” When looking back on Paterno’s fall, we’ll see that the rule of the boss was, in this case, the negation of justice. However much power a person is seen to hold, there must be someone brave enough to tell him (or her) when a decision is wrong. “Coach, you really need to go to the police with this.”
• Sports are a privilege, and supplementary. Penn State did the right thing in firing both Paterno and president Graham Spanier. The student rally in support of Paterno last Wednesday night was unsettling. (As was the football game played Saturday. Should have been cancelled.) We too often describe our favorite athletes and coaches as heroes. They're not. The young men who came forward to finally bring Jerry Sandusky to justice ... they are heroes.
Comments (6)
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I agree that the game shouldn't have been played. Heck, even Nebraska's coach thought it shouldn't have been played. http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/… Which, of course, begs the question: why did he play it? Would anyone have blamed him if he hadn't. He might have even been deified, and not crucified, for having the courage to put his money where his mouth was. I doubt even the NCAA would/could have come down on him for that.
Speaking of which, the NCAA's silence is deafening. What's it waiting for, and what's it likely to do once it stops avoiding the issue? My suggestion: stripping PSU of its bowl victories since at least 2000 and suspending the football program for at least 5 years. I'd suggest a banishment from the NCAA, but that'll never happen.
Why should the players and/or fans be penalized for the sins of the coaches and administration?
"Why should the players and/or fans be penalized for the sins of the coaches and administration?"
The entire existence of the NCAA enforcement division is based on the precept that the "sins of the coaches and administration" should be paid for by the program. Coach guilty of recruiting violations? Probation, bowl ban, loss of scholarships, etc. The question here is were there any NCAA violations for which that body would have purview? Maybe not in this case, but there were ones far worse.
Coach Paterno and the entire administration had a decision to make in 1998. Do the right thing or force Coach Sandusky to resign. They chose resignation for the good of the football program. In other words, they sacrificed Sandusky and that first known child for football. When Sandusky formed his charity for “At Risk Youths” read “unlimited number of easy targets” they choose to look the other way for the good of the football program and sacrificed an untold number of children on the altar of football. When he was caught showering with a child, they choose to look the other way for the good of the football program and added another sacrifice to the football gods. During this time, Coach Paterno, the all-knowing deity of Penn State who enjoyed the fruits from his worshipers until of course it was time to sacrifice him, the man who caught Sandusky red handed and the rest of the administration on the altar of football. If everything you saw Saturday felt empty and dirty that is because it was. It was a sham and a distraction to keep us from realizing the truth, Penn State in particularly and the Big Ten generally is not the moral compass that guides the NCAA, it is in fact as heartless, soulless, greedy, disgusting, corrupt, perverted and deviant as any shady pimp selling his whores to the highest bidder. Coach Sandusky can be forgiven of his sins by the God above and maybe by a few mortals below. Penn State can be forgiven and truly gain our respect for putting standards, morals and integrity above money is if they put their god to death. Shut down the football program; make things right with those who have been abused and focus on being a real leader in the NCAA. Until then, they will gather at Beaver Stadium on Saturday game day in the fall, worship a false god and cast dispersions on the SEC for not having a graduating rate of 87%.
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