There’s no doubt that on the football field, Penn State head coach Joe Paterno is legendary.
Since taking over the Nittany Lions as head coach back in 1966, he’s won 2 national championships (1982, 1986), three Big Ten Championships (1994, 2005, 2008) as well as a bunch of other awards and acknowledgements in college football.
However after allegations arose this weekend regarding former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky molesting and raping young boys during his time with the Nittany Lions it’s clear that Paterno needs to step down.
As it stands right now, Sandusky is being charged with over 40 counts of Child Molestation including a grand jury investigation that alleges Sandusky molested eight boys between 1994 and 2009. Sandusky retired from his defensive coordinator position with the Nittany Lions back in 1999. However even during his retirement he was still bringing young boys to the Penn State practice facilities as part of his charity The Second Mile which helped impoverished boys.
One of the more troubling events that took place at the Nittany Lions’ practice facility happened in 2002 when a graduate assistant caught Sandusky engaging in a sexual act with young boy who appeared to be ten years old. The graduate assistant notified head coach Joe Paterno who in turn notified athletic director Timothy Curley. As a result of this Curley banned Sandusky from bringing boys from his charity to the Penn State athletic facilities.
Here is where Paterno may not be legally in the wrong, but is morally in the wrong and should step down.
Paterno should’ve immediately gone to the authorities and reported the incident after the Penn State administration chose to turn a blind eye to it and sweep it under the rug. Yet Paterno did absolutely nothing and allowed Sandusky to go about his business for the better part of a decade.
“If true, the nature and amount of charges made are very shocking to me and all Penn Staters. While I did what I was supposed to with the one charge brought to my attention, like anyone else involved, I can’t help but be deeply saddened these matters are alleged to have occurred,” Paterno said in a statement.
Timothy Curley and Gary Schultz, the university’s senior vice president for finance and business are each charged with one count of perjury and one count of failure to report the suspected abuse. Curley has taken a leave of absence from his position with the University to dwell into the upcoming legal matters while Schultz has stepped down. The next move Penn State must make is giving Paterno the ultimatum to either step down or be fired IMMEDIATELY. This is the ONLY way Penn State can begin to repair it’s tarnished image.
Furthermore, this is a matter that MUST be investigated by the NCAA. This isn’t a matter where players received cash benefits from a booster or a coach failing to report players getting free tattoos, this is a case where a former NCAA coach was knowingly engaging in sexual acts with young boys on University property. Penn State needs to be punished for this not only from a legal standpoint but an athletic standpoint as well.
Ref: CNN.com,