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"Fight on State" In wake of scandal, power struggle spread from Penn State campus to state capital Updated: April 4, 2012, 9:11 AM ET By Don Van Natta Jr.
ESPN The Magazine
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...ower-struggle-spread-penn-state-state-capital
A long article on the political manouvering of the scandal has some odd new bits with a different perspective that seems to be coming from the Paterno family side of the story:
"Corbett's office was already piqued about Penn State's knowledge of Sandusky's behavior during the 1998 investigation. McQueary's testimony about that night in 2002 before the grand jury now offered reasons to question university administrators. And, on Dec. 21, 2010, subpoenas were delivered to the office of Penn State general counsel Cynthia Baldwin seeking the grand jury appearances of Paterno, CFO and university police supervisor Schultz and AD Curley. Baldwin told Paterno of his subpoena nearly two weeks after she had received it and offered to accompany him to the grand jury, where she would be representing Curley and Schultz. Paterno declined the offer, telling her he'd get his own lawyer, sources say. Then Baldwin, who declined to comment for this story through Lanny Davis, a spokesman for Penn State's board of trustees, offered to write Paterno talking points for his testimony. The coach told her he would not need them."
and
"It was time. The Penn State football team had finished the 2004 season with a record of 4-7. The previous year, the Nittany Lions had gone 3-9. People had begun saying out loud what they had long been whispering: The game has passed Paterno by. The leaders of Penn State agreed that the coach, then 78, should retire.
Paterno would flirt with retirement every year but always return for another season.
Paterno had been thinking the same thing. And he had invited Spanier, Penn State chief financial officer Gary Schultz, athletic director Tim Curley and trustee Steve Garban to his house to discuss the possibility, sources say. But on the Sunday before Thanksgiving in 2004, as the men sat at Paterno's kitchen table nibbling on cookies, he instead announced he wasn't ready to go.
Referring to handwritten notes, Paterno told the men that his team had a run of blown calls and hard-luck injuries. He said it might be hard to believe, but next year's team was only a couple of impact players from a national championship. He told them he deserved the benefit of the doubt. "We are close," he said.
The men just looked at one another. Leaving had been Paterno's idea. "Hey, fellas," Paterno said, his voice rising, "I've raised more than $1 billion for this university -- in this kitchen. I'm not going anywhere. We'll get better."
Sure enough, the Nittany Lions enjoyed a resurgent 2005 season, finishing with a record of 11-1. As the accolades accumulated for the old coach's comeback, Paterno could not help telling reporters how Spanier and others had tried to force him out, while sitting at his kitchen table. "I said, 'Relax. Get off my backside,'" Paterno told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
For the university's leaders, the incident in the kitchen was a powerful reminder of Paterno's staying power. Every year after, he would flirt with retirement. Sometimes, he'd draw up a list of possible successors. (Urban Meyer topped it in 2011.) But after each season, Paterno changed his mind. The trustees resented Paterno's insistence that he'd decide on his successor. "It's not his decision," one said last summer. By then, many of them had lost patience with the old coach and could not wait for him to go."
ESPN The Magazine
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...ower-struggle-spread-penn-state-state-capital
A long article on the political manouvering of the scandal has some odd new bits with a different perspective that seems to be coming from the Paterno family side of the story:
"Corbett's office was already piqued about Penn State's knowledge of Sandusky's behavior during the 1998 investigation. McQueary's testimony about that night in 2002 before the grand jury now offered reasons to question university administrators. And, on Dec. 21, 2010, subpoenas were delivered to the office of Penn State general counsel Cynthia Baldwin seeking the grand jury appearances of Paterno, CFO and university police supervisor Schultz and AD Curley. Baldwin told Paterno of his subpoena nearly two weeks after she had received it and offered to accompany him to the grand jury, where she would be representing Curley and Schultz. Paterno declined the offer, telling her he'd get his own lawyer, sources say. Then Baldwin, who declined to comment for this story through Lanny Davis, a spokesman for Penn State's board of trustees, offered to write Paterno talking points for his testimony. The coach told her he would not need them."
and
"It was time. The Penn State football team had finished the 2004 season with a record of 4-7. The previous year, the Nittany Lions had gone 3-9. People had begun saying out loud what they had long been whispering: The game has passed Paterno by. The leaders of Penn State agreed that the coach, then 78, should retire.
Paterno would flirt with retirement every year but always return for another season.
Paterno had been thinking the same thing. And he had invited Spanier, Penn State chief financial officer Gary Schultz, athletic director Tim Curley and trustee Steve Garban to his house to discuss the possibility, sources say. But on the Sunday before Thanksgiving in 2004, as the men sat at Paterno's kitchen table nibbling on cookies, he instead announced he wasn't ready to go.
Referring to handwritten notes, Paterno told the men that his team had a run of blown calls and hard-luck injuries. He said it might be hard to believe, but next year's team was only a couple of impact players from a national championship. He told them he deserved the benefit of the doubt. "We are close," he said.
The men just looked at one another. Leaving had been Paterno's idea. "Hey, fellas," Paterno said, his voice rising, "I've raised more than $1 billion for this university -- in this kitchen. I'm not going anywhere. We'll get better."
Sure enough, the Nittany Lions enjoyed a resurgent 2005 season, finishing with a record of 11-1. As the accolades accumulated for the old coach's comeback, Paterno could not help telling reporters how Spanier and others had tried to force him out, while sitting at his kitchen table. "I said, 'Relax. Get off my backside,'" Paterno told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
For the university's leaders, the incident in the kitchen was a powerful reminder of Paterno's staying power. Every year after, he would flirt with retirement. Sometimes, he'd draw up a list of possible successors. (Urban Meyer topped it in 2011.) But after each season, Paterno changed his mind. The trustees resented Paterno's insistence that he'd decide on his successor. "It's not his decision," one said last summer. By then, many of them had lost patience with the old coach and could not wait for him to go."
