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Police: Paterno Did Not Do Enough

#21
Remember too folks that Paterno did not witness the assault, it was reported to him by someone else. So there was the possibility that the report was untrue, and that possibility still exists.

If I found myself in the same situation, I most likely would report what I had been *told* to our risk management office, and let them pursue the investigation. I'm not sure how comfortable I would be filing a police report based on what someone else told me they saw.

-Mike
 
#22
Joe Pa would have had some substantial egg on his face if he had decided to take matters into his hands and declare war on the guy if it was later found that the graduate assistant made the whole thing up. You could argue that Joe Pa knew the graduate assistant and could have made a decision based on the graduate assistants's credibility, but as has been pointed out repeatedly, Joe Pa did NOT witness the event.

Sad, Sad state of affairs. No pun intended.
 
#23
MJ5150 said:
Remember too folks that Paterno did not witness the assault, it was reported to him by someone else. So there was the possibility that the report was untrue, and that possibility still exists.

If I found myself in the same situation, I most likely would report what I had been *told* to our risk management office, and let them pursue the investigation. I'm not sure how comfortable I would be filing a police report based on what someone else told me they saw.

-Mike
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Suspected abuse of a child should ALWAYS be reported.
 
#25
MJ5150 said:
Remember too folks that Paterno did not witness the assault, it was reported to him by someone else. So there was the possibility that the report was untrue, and that possibility still exists.

If I found myself in the same situation, I most likely would report what I had been *told* to our risk management office, and let them pursue the investigation. I'm not sure how comfortable I would be filing a police report based on what someone else told me they saw.

-Mike
Click to expand...

That's a fair point.
 
#26
MJ5150 said:
Remember too folks that Paterno did not witness the assault, it was reported to him by someone else. So there was the possibility that the report was untrue, and that possibility still exists.

If I found myself in the same situation, I most likely would report what I had been *told* to our risk management office, and let them pursue the investigation. I'm not sure how comfortable I would be filing a police report based on what someone else told me they saw.

-Mike
Click to expand...

That's a fair point.
 
#27
A week ago, when he won #409, my Facebook status encouraged Joe to retire at the end of this season. I still hope that he is allowed to do that. There has been a rush to judgement, and trial-by-media, in the court of public opinion. The most damning thing, thus far, is Joe seemingly allowing Sandusky to workout on campus, which does seem like a deriliction of duty, or moral responsibility, at the very least.

I have been one who has respected Paterno since the late 1970's, before PSU joined the Big Ten. As a Michigan fan, I was excited at the prospect of a Bo vs. Joe matchup. It never happened. This season, I had hoped to see Joe vs Brady Hoke in the Big Ten Championship Game, and such a matchup between the leaders on the conference's Coach of the Year race seemed entirely possible, until this past weekend. Hoke will be the runaway winner of the award, now, and it could be years before Penn State football recovers from this.
 
#29
MJ5150 said:
Remember too folks that Paterno did not witness the assault, it was reported to him by someone else. So there was the possibility that the report was untrue, and that possibility still exists.

If I found myself in the same situation, I most likely would report what I had been *told* to our risk management office, and let them pursue the investigation. I'm not sure how comfortable I would be filing a police report based on what someone else told me they saw.

-Mike
Click to expand...

It was bad enough they banned him from bringing kids onto campus... yet they still let him hang around campus.
 
#32
MJ5150 said:
Well hey, there are plenty of people ready for Paterno to step down. So it looks like they'll all be happy.

-Mike
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I'm not happy at all to see this happen. Prior to the last few days, Joe Paterno was coach that I would have happily sent my son to play for if I had been blessed with a son. I still think he is a great man who has done a great deal of good in his career, but this situation with the child appears to be a really bad lapse in judgement. Given that the Board of Trustees at PSU is moving against him, those with inside information must feel the same way also.
 
#33
Dr. Cheese said:
I'm not happy at all to see this happen. Prior to the last few days, Joe Paterno was coach that I would have happily sent my son to play for if I had been blessed with a son. I still think he is a great man who has done a great deal of good in his career, but this situation with the child appears to be a really bad lapse in judgement. Given that the Board of Trustees at PSU is moving against him, those with inside information must feel the same way also.
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Or they've been wanting to get rid of him for a while and are using this as their opportunity to force it through... I'm very skeptical that the 1998 case was the first one, and I'll admit I'm skeptical that Joe didn't know anything at all about it before the incident we all know about. Jerry is in his what late 60s himself?? Maybe older? 1998 would put him in his 50s when the first incident occurred - at least in his 50s... No way! He started doing this a LONG time ago, and somebody knew or should have known, anyway.
 
#34
Dr. Cheese said:
I'm not happy at all to see this happen. Prior to the last few days, Joe Paterno was coach that I would have happily sent my son to play for if I had been blessed with a son. I still think he is a great man who has done a great deal of good in his career, but this situation with the child appears to be a really bad lapse in judgement. Given that the Board of Trustees at PSU is moving against him, those with inside information must feel the same way also.
Click to expand...


Somewhat off topic. I don't know much about Paterno and don't follow college football but in doing a little reading about the man I'm absolutely amazed at the power a sports coach wielded at Penn State.

I understand that college sports brings in tons of money but something's wrong with this picture. And if this situation, albeit to lesser extent, is common I'm not sure that that says much good about universities and their priorities.
 
#35
Gaius46 said:
Somewhat off topic. I don't know much about Paterno and don't follow college football but in doing a little reading about the man I'm absolutely amazed at the power a sports coach wielded at Penn State.

I understand that college sports brings in tons of money but something's wrong with this picture. And if this situation, albeit to lesser extent, is common I'm not sure that that says much good about universities and their priorities.
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I know what you mean. As much as I love football, I am glad I do not work at a school with football or really big time athletics. Dealing with knuckleheads who have no clue about school is a real pain!
 
#36
Dr. Cheese said:
I know what you mean. As much as I love football, I am glad I do not work at a school with football or really big time athletics. Dealing with knuckleheads who have no clue about school is a real pain!
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NYT article said:
He became the head coach in 1966, and he has been widely credited with helping spearhead the Penn State football program and the rest of the university from a local enterprise into a national brand. Along the way, Beaver Stadium grew to 108,000 seats from 29,000 and Penn State’s endowment grew from virtually nothing to more than $1 billion.
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Big time college sports has problems. And I hate these cover ups of child abuse. I can't understand the mentality. And I've had issues with the jock culture.

But putting Paterno under the label of "knuckleheads who have no clue about school" isn't fair. There are many, many benefits to school sports, big time or not.

Some lessons learned on the playing field help more in life than the ones learned in class. Of course, some people never learn these lessons.
 
#37
nutdog said:
Big time college sports has problems. And I hate these cover ups of child abuse. I can't understand the mentality. And I've had issues with the jock culture.

But putting Paterno under the label of "knuckleheads who have no clue about school" isn't fair. There are many, many benefits to school sports, big time or not.

Some lessons learned on the playing field help more in life than the ones learned in class. Of course, some people never learn these lessons.
Click to expand...

Did you notice the earlier post where I said that if I had a son, he would have been a coach I would have considered sending my son to play for if he had D1 talent?

Personally, I have had to deal with knuckleheads who had no clue what school was for. I did not Paterno encouraged that sort of thing.
 
#40
Dr. Cheese said:
Did you notice the earlier post where I said that if I had a son, he would have been a coach I would have considered sending my son to play for if he had D1 talent?

Personally, I have had to deal with knuckleheads who had no clue what school was for. I did not Paterno encouraged that sort of thing.
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I continually check in on threads of interest. I don't re-read and savor every post each time. You may find this hard to believe, but sometimes I don't read every post.:hiding:

But the post I quoted was in response to another post about Paterno's power and university priorities. It appeared to me you were lumping him in with the knuckleheads.

It's possible I was also thinking of some posts in the $2000 for athletes thread that were going down the usual "college athletics has nothing to do with education" route.

So don't take it personally.:)

Goatee220 said:
My main question in this whole thing is - Why didn't the graduate assistant who witnessed this whole thing simply go to the nearest phone and call the police?
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My question is why he didn't go in the shower and help the kid.
 

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