Penn State Sandusky-Report of the Special Investigative Counsel

[IzzyBlanche]

snipped for focus




Well, the report refers in the timeline on page 24, "Schultz leads a transaction to sell a parcel of University property to The Second Mile for $168,500-- the same as the University's 1999 acquisition cost.

Hmm.

Sorry to bump my own post...but Reader? Notice the similarities in amounts?

 

[Reader]

Sorry to bump my own post...but Reader? Notice the similarities in amounts?

Thanks, yes I did notice....so does it look like they were giving him the money to buy the land? IDK, it seems like the 2nd Mile with all its own millions would have enough to take care of that...I think this was personal money for JS....

 

[J. J. in Phila]

However, the report says that JP said JS was welcome to continue coaching as long as he was head coach. (Unless the news reports I read are wrong. I'm slowly reading the report first-hand, and I haven't reached that part yet.)

So why would PSU administrators be throwing JS a carrot to encourage early retirement for monetary reasons, while JP apparently was willing to provide him employment for as long as he desired it, with no apparent cost concern?

"Willing" and "preferred" are two different things. There were non-sexual questions about Sandusky's involvement with TSM prior to the Victim 6 incident.

There was also Jay Paterno. He was brought in, and any vacancies near the top (and Sandusky was right below that) could help advance his career.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Thanks, yes I did notice....so does it look like they were giving him the money to buy the land? IDK, it seems like the 2nd Mile with all its own millions would have enough to take care of that...I think this was personal money for JS....

IDK. I just know I think true coincidences are rare.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

I'm well aware that these things happen at some places, but that doesn't answer my question about Sandusky. Since "Top university officials said they had never known Penn State "to provide this type of payment to a retiring employee."

What was that payment for?

I think that asked and answered.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

"Willing" and "preferred" are two different things. There were non-sexual questions about Sandusky's involvement with TSM prior to the Victim 6 incident.

Thank you. But that doesn't answer my question of why, according to your theoretical scenario, PSU administrators wanted to dump Sandusky to save $--but Paterno didn't seem to have any such monetary concerns.

I'll take it a step further. In your scenario administrators are eager to bump Sally out because she's been there so long she makes way more than Mary, whom they could bring in off the street to make far less.

The idea that this is the logic when it comes to football, or any other big-time college sport, is just silly.

No one is going to try to get rid of Sally, the mastermind behind the defense of wildly successful "Linebacker U," because she makes half a million a year, so they can save money by hiring assistant coaching intern Mary who has no record to speak of.

If anything, they will happily pay Sally virtually anything more she asks, as long as her work continues to make a significant contribution to Linebacker U's winning seasons.

 

[Reader]

Penn State is now faced with a horrible reality check

http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2012/07/post_198.html

LOS ANGELES— “Failed to protect a child predator from harming children for over a decade.”

This is Joe Paterno. This is Penn State.

“A striking lack of empathy for child-abuse victims.”

This is the one of the most revered leaders in the history of American sports. This is the school that blindly followed him.............

“In order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at the university repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse,” the report said, adding that this inaction actually endorsed the serial child molester and “provided Sandusky with the very currency that enabled him to attract his victims.”

Read it and weep. Read it and heed. This is what happens when a university sports program becomes bigger than the university. This is what happens when a coach becomes more important than the ideals and values he is hired to coach. This is what happens when we are so blinded by the pursuit of fame and glory that we stop looking closely at the leaders charged with taking us there.............

The winningest Division 1 college football coach in history didn’t symbolize the best of sports leadership, but the worst.

The program he built on the motto of “Success With Honor” was really about “Success With Horror.”............

Even at the expense of the most common tenets of human decency, one of the greatest football coaches in history was intent on protecting his football team until his last pitiful breath. Shame on us if we’re not watching and learning.

In other Penn State news this week, it was announced that the university had collected $208.7 million in donations during the recently completed school year, the second-most in school history.

According to university spokesman David LeTorre, the donations “send a loud and distinct message.”

Sadly, they do.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Thank you. But that doesn't answer my question of why, according to your theoretical scenario, PSU administrators wanted to dump Sandusky to save $--but Paterno didn't seem to have any such monetary concerns.

Paterno is a coach; Curley was an administrator. They have different goals, hence Curley's concern about money.

No one is going to try to get rid of Sally, the mastermind behind the defense of wildly successful "Linebacker U," because she makes half a million a year, so they can save money by hiring assistant coaching intern Mary who has no record to speak of.

No, but that would explain the money. Paterno wasn't going to retire immediately, so why not bring in someone who might be his replacement or advance the replacement through the ranks.

From an administrative standpoint, I'm not seeing this as strange in the least.

 

[Reader]

I think that asked and answered.

I'm glad you''re satisfied with that answer, I'm not, it just was about the arithmetic....what was it about Sandusky that they even agreed to give him a bonus to leave when this had never been done before? It's very fishy to me.....

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Paterno is a coach; Curley was an administrator. They have different goals, hence Curley's concern about money.

Pshaw. I won't even address the numerous indicators that Curley, and all the other so-called high-ranking PSU officials, were JP's minions rather than the opposite. Nor the absurd idea that Curley's goal would be to save money at the possible expense of JP's goal of his football team's success.

OK, I guess I did address those things.

But anyway.

Name me one instance, just one, in the history of the world in which a college administrator wanted to get rid of a winning coach to save money on his/her salary.

The money brought in by a winning team would pay for that salary multiple times over. Which is why winning coaches make obscene salaries.

No, but that would explain the money. Paterno wasn't going to retire immediately, so why not bring in someone who might be his replacement or advance the replacement through the ranks.

From an administrative standpoint, I'm not seeing this as strange in the least.

Pshaw. A winning coach will retain his employment (and salary) whether or not he's a candidate for head coach, as long as the team continues to win.

 

[costalpilot]

Actually, 1997 (the last season before the 1998 incident), they were 9 and 3, a very good year. 2000 was a losing season, but only 5 to 7, and it was their first losing season in 12 years.

I'm also not seeing how a former assistant coach being a child molester would hurt recruiting. This whole scandal hasn't been that damaging.

JJ with all due respect, plenty of observors who follow college football are seeing hiw this would have decimated the football program. in fact, even the observors who think that the NCAA should not get involved, beccause it has been a legal question, even ALL of them see how this would have negatively affected the football program.

and Freeh said, in his report today, that the reason the "leaders" covered this up was to protect the" football program from bad publicity."

you may keep saying you dont see how it could have affected the program all you want, and you probably will.

knowledgable football commentators nationwide DO see. They ALL see. and I'm beginning to change my mind about the NCAA. i am beginning to not be able to see how they can possibly look the other way and pretend they don't see.

I still wouldnt risk a guess as to what they might do, but they are going to have to weather a tremendous amount of negative publicity to not see how this abuse benefited the nittany lion football program. and I wonder if even they will be able to do it.

 

[costalpilot]

but JJ isnt seeing it. and that is precisely why the football program at penn state has to be hammered.

they dont get it, even now.


shut it down. maybe then they will see.

NCAA Sanctions Won't Be Necessary; Penn State Is Already Dead (Bleacher Report)

Penn State deserves death penalty for Sandusky cover-up (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

If Penn State is serious, shut down football now (USA Today)

Penn State deserves death penalty for football, prison for officials (Chicago Sun-Times)

Penn State should shut down football program (Boston Globe)

Penn State should get death penalty (Fox Sports)

Penn State should get the death penalty (NBC Sports)

Jerry Sandusky should cost Penn State football, too (Nashville Tennessean)

Penn State deserves death penalty (Orlando Sentinel)

 

[BrownRice]

Paterno's legacy may now be damaged beyond repair

http://centurylink.net/news/read.php?rip_id=<D9VVKBBO0@news.ap.org>&ps=1013&page=1

[...]

"There's no way out of this to make it a good story. It's a shame," Benson said. "But we're being selfish saying it's a shame. It's a shame for these kids. Penn State will recover, these kids won't."............

BBM
One of the truest statements made regarding this.

 

[BrownRice]

http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2012/07/post_199.html

Seriously, I'm going to scream. I need to stop reading local news comments. People are STILL supporting JP. I just don't get it. Unbelievable.

 

[BrownRice]

I started reading back through Sara Ganim's early reporting (Back in 3/01) and love this lady. I think they should remove JP's statue and replace it with her!

 

[DevilsPlayThing]

So Penn State hired a company to compile and release this Report. Talk about self sabotage.

 

[BigCat]

I have no idea why ESPN paraded Matt Millen out continually yesterday to discuss the Freeh report. Penn Staters are simply incapable of discussing Paterno objectively. Millen might be the worse, considering he played for Paterno and Sandusky was his position coach.

In the below article a writer from the NY Daily News calls him out.

Matt Millen’s biased defense of Joe Paterno on ESPN indefensible

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i...-indefensible-article-1.1113568#ixzz20V6RZw5U

Not only was Millen running interference for the late Mr. Paterno, he was playing viewers for morons. Paterno, according to the report, went ostrich while Sandusky was raping little boys. And Spanier didn’t blow his nose without getting Paterno’s permission.

For years, the college football establishment, which includes the media, has confidently reported that Paterno ran the show at Penn State. Allowing Sandusky to run wild, ruining lives of kids and families, must have been considered a small price to keep Paterno’s sainted image,and the university’s, intact.

Millen knows Spanier was Paterno’s personal bobblehead doll. To suggest to millions of viewers that Spanier could have stood up to Paterno at any point was disingenuous — and that’s being kind.

Millen, straight-faced, contended Paterno was running a “pristine program.” Maybe from the outside looking in. Yet the Freeh report concludes Paterno first knew about Sandusky’s deviance in 1998, which would certainly strip Paterno’s program of the “pristine” status Millen anointed it with.

“My opinion is he (Paterno) made a mistake. “… I’m going to believe the (Freeh) report. He (Paterno) made a mistake and it was compounded and it was over a course of time,” Millen said. “ What means something to me is what he (Paterno) stood for. And what he was. And the character part and the character side of what he was. And what he stood for was significant.

“It (the report) shows he was fallible,” Millen continued. “He made a mistake for whatever his reasons are. Is it spoiled? It’s absolutely spoiled but there is still a lot of good there.”


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i...-indefensible-article-1.1113568#ixzz20V5rwSs2

And why do Penn Staters, and the Paterno family, need to keep telling us that Joe Pa was not perfect.

WE never thought he was perfect!

It's sad it took the worst sports scandal in US history to happen at their university before they came to that realization.

 

[Tipstaff]

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this morning (7/13/12)

Freeh Report is suitable template for civil suits, experts say
Penn State inquiry establishes 'culture of self-preservation'
July 13, 2012 12:26 am




By Moriah Balingit / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In no uncertain terms, Louis Freeh's team connected the dots between the horrific pattern of child sexual abuse perpetrated by one man, Jerry Sandusky, and a culture of self-preservation pervasive in the highest levels at Penn State University, attorneys for the victims said Thursday.

That, they said, may aid those victims seeking justice through civil litigation, some of whom have already indicated they will sue the university.

To read the complete article go to....
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories...civil-suits-experts-say-644552/#ixzz20VMCJKty

 

[J. J. in Phila]

JJ with all due respect, plenty of observors who follow college football are seeing hiw this would have decimated the football program. in fact, even the observors who think that the NCAA should not get involved, beccause it has been a legal question, even ALL of them see how this would have negatively affected the football program.

Who? Something far worse and far more involving the football program happened, and the program was not decimated. 1998 more involved the football program, and there is no indicated in the Freeh report that the Big Four interfered. I'd expect them interfere in 1998; that one of the things I actually was looking at.

Remember, the Big Four knew about 1998, even Paterno. If they were worried about that, why not pressure the police, and the DA to bury it. We don't see that pressure.

I still wouldnt risk a guess as to what they might do, but they are going to have to weather a tremendous amount of negative publicity to not see how this abuse benefited the nittany lion football program. and I wonder if even they will be able to do it.

In 2001, this is a former coach, so that doesn't involve the football program. If they reported it, properly, what happens, regarding the NCAA.

1. McQueary, a coach assistant, sees abuse, and reports to his superior, Paterno. That happened.

2. Paterno gets the report and reports it to Curley. That happened.

3. Curley reports it to Schultz and Spanier (which happened, though possibly through Schultz). That happened.

4. They report it to DPW. That is what didn't happen.

The commentators are talking about the problem of not reporting the 2001 incident. There is no problem if they report it.

The damage to the football program was not done by Sandusky being a pervert. It was done by the Big Four by not reporting it. The problem, involving the football program, and Penn State in general, isn't that Sandusky abused a child in 2001. It was that the Big Four didn't report that abuse.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Report on abuse scandal tarnishes Paterno legacy
By MARC LEVY and MICHAEL RUBINKAM, AP
4 hours ago

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — A blistering report that claims Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials concealed what they knew about Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children may prove to be an indelible stain on the beloved coach's 61-year tenure at the school where he preached ``success with honor.''

Paterno's supporters are legion, though, and some insist the late coach got a raw deal from former FBI Director Louis Freeh, whose 267-page report on the Sandusky scandal Thursday asserted that Paterno and senior Penn State officials made a decision to protect Sandusky to avoid damaging the image of the school and its powerful football program.

Penn State's internal investigation into one of the worst scandals in sports history is unlikely to settle the debate about Paterno's culpability - even as it showed him to be more deeply involved in the university's response to 1998 and 2001 abuse complaints about Sandusky than previously thought...

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/sports-cfb/20120713/US-Penn.State-Abuse/?cid=hero_media