Joe Paterno might be one of the greatest coaches of all time. He may have been head coach at Penn State since 1966 and served as an assistant for 15 years before being promoted to head coach. He may have the most victories in FBS history at 409.
But none of this is going to save him from being forced out by a scandal involving one of his former assistant coaches. This one scandal is going to tarnish his otherwise honest and Hall of Fame career.
Joe Paterno is one of only three active coaches that have been inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame. He has always had a reputation for making academics a key emphasis for his football players. Paterno has always had a great reputation as a coach and as a generally good person.
That makes his situation so much worse. Technically, Joe Paterno didn’t do anything wrong. But at the same time, he didn’t do enough right. A head coach is supposed to surround himself with a staff that cannot just help coach young men, but also people that will represent the university positively. Unfortunately, Paterno made a bad choice when he hired assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
Jerry Sandusky had been an assistant coach at Penn State since 1969. He had a very good career at Penn State and is one of the most notable college football coaches to never hold an assistant coaching position. But after his retirement in 1999, boys started to come forward and accuse Sandusky of sexual abuse. These incidents took place between 1994 and 2009. He was finally arrested over these charges earlier this month.
Joe Paterno reported these shocking facts to Penn State athletics director Tim Curley immediately. It was Curley, along with Senior Vice President Gary Schultz, who didn’t give Sandusky any consequences for his actions. But the fact that this happened while Joe Paterno was head coach gives him just as much responsibility.
As a head coach it is very important that you know everything that goes on with your staff. It is crucial that you know when something illegal goes on, whether it’s a recruiting infraction or a more serious matter such as this. We expect the head coach to take responsibility for all the actions that happen by the other coaches on his or her staff.
Many have also criticized the way Joe Paterno handled the whole situation. He did report the incident to his superior, but he didn’t do anything after that. I suppose he thought that Tim Curley and Gary Schultz would have handled the situation correctly, but it was completely covered up instead. That’s not Paterno’s fault.
But what is his fault is his failure to report these allegations to the police as well. I think most people would turn a person over to the police if they knew he or she was a child molester. But Paterno failed to mention this to anyone outside of the university.
The whole situation is a mess that frankly Paterno didn’t cause. He reported the incident and seemingly did the right thing. But he didn’t do anything beyond that. He ignored his moral obligation to report a serious crime to the authorities or he figured someone else would report it.
It’s a shame that Paterno has to be forced by a scandal after an otherwise pretty honest career. He always wanted what was best for his players and his university. Now, I think he realizes that the best thing for everyone is for him to walk away.