Unprecedented Penalties to be Issued to Penn State Tomorrow

[Axon]

I've long respected Joe Paterno. His athletes actually attended class and graduated. He contributed a lot to the academic side of the University. He represented what college sports was supposed to be about, unlike 99% of college coaches. How he could overlook child abuse out of loyalty to a friend and assistant defies explanation. Has anyone ever descended from Sainthood to scum so quickly? What a massive and unnecessary disappointment.

I agree. My only explanation is that he was so assured of his powers that he ignored the issue, or he simply did not believe what he was being told.

I realize there were some emails sent about but it was clear they were not sent by Paterno. Assuming they are true, he absolutely did know about it. The whole thing is insane.

[NelsonMuntz]

I've long respected Joe Paterno. His athletes actually attended class and graduated. He contributed a lot to the academic side of the University. He represented what college sports was supposed to be about, unlike 99% of college coaches. How he could overlook child abuse out of loyalty to a friend and assistant defies explanation. Has anyone ever descended from Sainthood to scum so quickly? What a massive and unnecessary disappointment.

Maynerd, what this whole sordid incident exposed was the fact that the squeaky clean image of Paterno's program was largely a myth. From 2002 - 2008, 46 Penn State football players faced 163 criminal charges: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/n...ory?id=3504915

This in and of itself is bad, but what made it worse is the fact that Paterno ensured that players got special treatment when they did run afoul of the law. The football program became bigger than the University and in some instances, the law in general. Here is a good article that delves a little more into this issue: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1109244.html

Vicky Triponey, who resigned her post as the university's standards and conduct officer in 2007, confirmed that she sent a 2005 email to then-president Graham Spanier and others in which she expressed her concerns about how Penn State handled discipline cases involving football players. The Wall Street Journal published excerpts from the email on Tuesday.
Paterno "is insistent he knows best how to discipline his players ... and their status as a student when they commit violations of our standards should NOT be our concern ... and I think he was saying we should treat football players different from other students in this regard," Triponey wrote in the Aug. 12, 2005, email.

"Coach Paterno would rather we NOT inform the public when a football player is found responsible for committing a serious violation of the law and/or our student code," she wrote, "despite any moral or legal obligation to do so."

In short, he was not the "St. Joe" many fancied him to be.

[Big_E]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/...hip-penn-state

State Farm is pulling its ads from Penn State football broadcasts, while General Motors is reconsidering its sponsorship deal and Wall Street is threatening to downgrade the school's credit rating, suggesting the price of the sexual abuse scandal could go well beyond the $60 million fine and other penalties imposed by the NCAA.


Bloomington, Ill.-based State Farm said it had been reviewing its connection to Penn State since the arrest of retired assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky last November. The insurance company said it will pull ads from broadcasts of Nittany Lion home homes but continue to advertise during Penn State's away games.


"We will not directly support Penn State football this year," State Farm spokesman Dave Phillips said Tuesday. "We just feel it was the best decision."


With Penn State's once-sterling reputation in tatters, the university could face an exodus of sponsors unwilling to have their brands linked to scandal, said Kevin Adler, founder of Chicago-based Engage Marketing Inc.


Adler said he would advise current sponsors to pull out of their deals with Penn State, adding that most contracts have morality clauses giving advertisers an out.


"I think the public perception is pretty clear and definitive at this point. That brand is damaged beyond the point of short-term repair. It is the sponsorship partner's obligation first and foremost to look after the health of their own brand," Adler said. "None of the sponsors owe Penn State anything."