Paterno

I'm sure a lot of people are having trouble coming up with how they feel about Joe Paterno right now.  A man who dedicated his whole life to molding young men into upstanding citizens that do the right thing...tragically seemed to fail at the end in doing so himself.

Reconciling those facts is not easy.

Unless you remind yourself that Paterno was a man and not a legend, not a storybook figure, not a myth.

He was a human being, and he was fallible.

As am I.

As are you.

When looking at Paterno, it's important to see the entire scope of his career leading up to the tragic events.

Until 1979 there was no ESPN or 24 hour sports network.  While there were certainly sports fans and journalists, it was not the booming industry we see today with the amount of celebrity sport journalists or columnists.  Professional Football was still in its infancy, ditto for basketball.  The only real sport that seemed like a glamorous game at the time would have been baseball.  Essentially spectator sports were at such infancy that it seemed somewhat far-fetched to believe that it would become anything close to what it is today.

At Universities across the country students came to school to get an education and with any luck get a private sector job.  It was NOT to get a chance at becoming a professional football player.  While Universities certainly encouraged the events and benefited, I very much doubt that they made it nearly the priority that is today.

 
Colleges now rake in millions of dollars from their programs and help provide for the all the other sports.  Alumni that become the middle and upper class pay for season tickets, parking spaces, and become donors to the University that allow it to flourish, and in return, they almost expect a great football team to watch and come back to.  (Perhaps unjustly, the school is what helped mold you, and while you may have had a great time watching football, or may have enjoyed walking into players in class or parties or however you interacted with the team and coach, it made up a small portion of where you actually spent your time)

That contrast is enormous.

And that is what makes Paterno different from EVERYONE.


I believe that Joe Paterno did not change with time.


He constantly preached about academics coming first.  Not second.  It wasn't because it was the politically correct thing to do, because in the 1960's and 70's there was no such thing as politically correct.  He did this because it was what he believed in.  He did it because he felt that was right.

It then came to be what every Penn Stater believed in. Penn State would be the school that didn't have 'dumb' jocks.  We would be the school that had players that could both challenge themselves with the rigors of the classroom as well as the physical drain of athletics.  Penn State seemed to stand for valuing education OVER athletics despite the fact we are EXCELLENT in athletics.

We can be the best of both worlds.

This perfection was most likely never fully achieved; it is an extremely difficult thing to ask of our youth.

But Paterno asked for it none the less.  

And that is what helped build State College, Penn State and the millions of alumni all over this country.

He wanted to mold men to be the very best they could be.  That they would never give up, that they would push themselves to become better.  And to do it, not because they needed to beat another team, but because it would make them better people, and set a high standard for others to shoot for.

I believe that was really the only thing he wanted to do. 

He didn't do it for the money or celebrity.  He lived simply and modestly for a head coach that influences one of the most popular teams in America.  His players would for the most part go on to lead great lives outside of football if they did not find a life in it.  

He did this year after year without getting caught up in the business of football.  He kept things simple.  Simple uniform, back shoes, simple helmet. Penn State was the complete opposite of Oregon, even though they both have Nike contracts. 


As insular as Coach Paterno may have wanted to be, he could not help the rise of Football as a major economic force.  Forcing his position of Head Football coach to the same degree of a CEO of a corporation.  The economic importance this society puts on a Coach at a University such as Texas, USC, Stanford, Ohio State or a Michigan, is incredible, with salaries typically between $750,000 and $5,000,000.  This makes your schools head coach probably one of the most important people principled on salary alone, just like a CEO or owner in private sector jobs.
 
Another problem was that Football and the University began to grow, and grow rapidly because of the success of the football program.  The rise in television deals, advertising rights, soda contracts, clothing contracts, heck probably a gym equipment contract, they are all brought because of the rise of football and to an extent ALL of spectator sports.

The money around Paterno piled up, as did the expectations.  Expectations to win.  Expectations to keep the program at it's current status and not plummet.  So that a University could reap the benefits of contract deals with brands such as Nike and Pepsi.

But Paterno continued to just keep his message, keep his routine.  Academics would continue to be first.  He would not bow to the pressures of maintaining these contracts at the expense of the schools or his own integrity.

As the team remained successful Paterno would be showered with more praise from alumni, and Penn State would be rewarded with more donations and the University continued to grow while Paterno remained vigilant that he was only a football coach that would try to do the best he could for the community.

He did not want to be the star that everyone else wanted him to be.

He often deflected compliments to his players, rarely taking credit for wins.  Taking the blame for losses.

And THIS is the Paterno everyone in State College and everyone that has ever met him are familiar with.

And it is because of that image that I have a tough time accepting theories that Joe acted in defense of anything such as sexual abuse.  That he was complicit, or didn't care.  I will need more evidence and testimony before I can jump on that ship.

But that is not the picture the media had painted.


The image that the media attempted to illustrate after the Grand Jury report of the alleged crimes of Jerry Sandusky flies in complete contrast to the one that I had become accustomed to.

This, as I understand it is the crux of the media's vilification of Paterno.


He had 'Certain' knowledge of sexual misconduct, and only told his superiors.  

I contest this.

Mike McQueary's testimony as the only eye witness is paramount.  Read it carefully.

I contend that Paterno was not 'Certain' of the crime.  At least not in all aspects.



Important excerpts of Testimony here 

In his testimony, McQueary tells Paterno something is wrong, it is extremely sexual in nature, but by his own admission he used rough details out of respect for Paterno's sense of decency.

Paterno, follows up with Curly and Shultz, his superiors.  Paterno did not bear witness to these acts NOR is it alleged in any way by the persecution that he knew about the acts going on prior or after. 

 McQueary is told by Curly that the matter has been handled and that Sandusky had been told to stay away.

McQueary then testifies that he saw Sandusky persisting to be around the football facilities, despite his testimony to both Paterno and Curly.

Now it is up to us to try and fill in the blanks as best we can and judge the story on it's merits.


What happened from there could be a multitude of things but given the current evidence I do not believe you can come to a conclusion about Paterno

In the future there will be more talks, more evidence either clearing those accused, or damning them.  But as of now, this is all the evidence the public has.

We can speculate how much Paterno knew, but at this time we cannot assume anything. It is impractical and wrong to assume we know Paterno's motives, and given his incredible record (as a philanthropist and citizen, NOT as a coach) it would seem unlikely that he acted with any lack of moral character, but more likely was not understanding of what McQueary had told him.    Perhaps he has interest in protecting his program or job, maybe in some crazy conspiracy theory he was complicit with Sandusky.... but if so why did he bother reporting to both Shultz and Curly at all?  And why give a Grand Jury a sworn testimony that he did just that?

At any rate, Paterno did take this information to men he trusted would do the right thing with it when he told them.  After all...in his own mind, he's just a football coach.  He is not the Penn State Police.  He is not the Athletic Director, not the President, not a CEO, not an owner.  He is the coach.

Let's make this scenario again, but this time, lets not use the figures in the news. Lets leave out the scale of the university, the celebrity of the coach and just look at the situation as humanly as possible and not get caught up in who and where this happened.


 A man walks into his place of work, after hours when everyone is most likely at home.  His work place happens to have a shower and locker room that he passes.  He witnesses, what he believes to be extreme, perverse, predatory acts by a man, one who many know in the community and is also thought well of at this time within the community.  He is the only witness.  But he is sure of what he saw.

He tells his boss.  His boss is an old man, with old sensibilities and he tells them a rough outline of what he saw.  He in essence loses some of the detail in affect to not upset the elderly gentleman's sense of decency.

The man tells his superiors, clearly concerned.  He is then told roughly five days later by his superiors that the matter had been looked into and taken care of.  Those above the boss also tell the original eye witness that the matter had been looked into and taken care of.

Now if both the original witness, and the first contact (the boss) report to their superiors that it's a police matter and it needs to be looked into...AND THEN THE SUPERIORS SAY THAT THEY DID THAT AND NOTHING MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE...what happens then?

What do you do if your the old boss?

The witness?

I contend that they would not know instinctively what to do from that point on.  If that old man, who did not bear witness brought the situation to his superiors and they told him that it was nothing, I believe that man would be more likely to believe his superiors.

I understand the media firestorm.  It was too juicy not to write it.  One of the most well respected Universities in America with an almost unblemished record of excellence...torn down by the biggest sex abuse scandal the country had ever seen.  It oozes sales.  Advertising.  Exclusive interviews.  They have a hit.  Sure fire.

If it unfolds the way they THINK it will.

What happens if it doesn't?

What happens if it unfolded the way I suggested?  It's an extremely plausible situation.  One where Paterno should never had to even fear for his job.  One where an innocent man, was fired over a phone after 50 years of service.  Was then quickly diagnosed with lung cancer.  And passes away before he can see his name cleared?

I understand how the media is trained to be watchdogs of large institutions and government.

I understand that they have a job and sometimes they have to work around only the pieces of information that they have available.

But they failed in reporting the facts.  They failed by reporting things before they took the time to understand them. 

They failed to give a context to the situation instead getting caught up with the hysteria of the graphic nature of the charges, the scandal at a large prestigious University, and a legendary celebrity whose main claim to fame was his "Success with honor" credo. 

But they wouldn't be alone.  Because the public did too.  And through it all, we were all too slow to figure out our mistakes. 

For we don't live in a world of patience.

We don't live in a world where we think about our actions or what is or is not possible.

We live on the edge of ignorance, believing that we all know best immediately after a story breaks.

We live like we can never be wrong.


But we can.

We're human.