WHAT???
It is almost too weird to contemplate. Penn State has fired both its president and football coach Joe Paterno over their failure to take necessary measures to protect young boys who they knew were targets of what appears, and appeared to be, a serial child molester, Jerry Sandusky. Paterno was fired yesterday specifically to eliminate the pall that would be cast over all Penn State activities, including this Saturday’s game, if he were to continue as coach, and to make sure that the university didn’t project a “business as usual” attitude by allowing its community to blithely cheer Paterno’s team as if a child molesting scandal could be brushed aside for a weekend of fun and games.
And yet Penn State plans to have Mike McQueary coach the team on Saturday, rendering all of this incoherent. McQueary was the one who witnessed the act of sexual assault that triggered the whole scandal. He reported it to Paterno, but 1) didn”t stop it when he had the chance, and 2) did nothing to make certain that Sandusky’s criminal conduct was being properly handled afterwards. His presence as coach on Saturday all but eliminates whatever message Penn State intended to send by firing Paterno. The bottom line will be that the team will still be coached by an individual who didn’t do everything he could and should have done to protect young boys from a predator.
There are some theories about why this is happening, none of which make any sense. McQueary himself should want to be as far away from the spotlight as possible this week. If Penn State wanted to send the right message, it would cancel the game, forfeit it, and make a clear statement that it now acknowledges that football isn’t the most important thing in the world, contrary to what it has been teaching its students for half a century.
If it isn’t going to do that, it should at least find somebody who had no role in helping Jerry Sandusky molest little boys coach the team, presuming that Penn State has anybody that fits that description.
Why isn’t it?
I think it is increasingly likely that the entire Penn State culture is ethically rudderless and without a functioning compass. The scandal suggest this, Paterno’s clueless statements suggest it, the student reaction screms of it, and having McQueary coach the team clinches it. this culture is broken, and has been for a long time.
Ethics Alarms 
I have some reservations and not fully formed opinions on this case in general, but this part of it seems cut & dry. If Paterno is out because of his role in not bringing the allegations to the police, McQueary should be out as well.
Yup.
I second that.
If I were a player, though depending on my situation, I’d likely sit myself out the rest of the season. (I think situations where the school is giving you a scholarship to play, and the school doesn’t cancel the game, you would still have to show up and play.)
This I don’t understand! How they can let ANYONE involved stand on the sidelines! I like sports, especially football but this makes me sick. I don’t see how the school can let Mr. McQueary coach on Saturday! I don’t see how Mr. McQueary can allow himself to be even on the school grounds after this! I ‘d be physically sick! In fact, I am, thinking about it! Sports aren’t worth it. Nothing is worth this crime! It sucks! Penn State will be blemished no matter what during my lifetime!
I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s likely that Mr. Paterno was more of a billboard than a coach the last few years. The mobs are clueless! As more of the story is coming out there is a heck of lot more to blame than just Joe. Sounds like the atmosphere at Penn St. was very corrupt in the name of a stupid game!
And, as the mobs show, it has taught the next generation to be insensitive, value-less fools. Nice job, Joe. Good work, Penn State.
McQueary needs to stay at home and search his soul for the reason he did not physically intervene on behalf of the child he witnessed being raped nor call the police. He’s receiving death threats from the idiots that sanctify Paterno. If he has or will have children of his own he has much to think about; too much to coach a game. He does not need to be at a game that does not need to be played.
Penn State finally fired some of the people that chose to ignore what they knew to be a serious problem. More will be fired. It is a step in the right direction but there is still a long way to go. Saturday’s game makes too much money for the school to do the right thing (sit this game out). An argument can be made the players had no part in what has happened and should not be punished. An argument can be made the students and alumni won’t be able to handle a Saturday without football and will riot. The main reason they will play is the money. The money is the underlying problem, the reason the entire Sandusky incident was dealt with the way it was from start until now.
Paterno needs to stop talking out loud until he can quit feeling sorry for himself and stop belittling the victims. The more he says the more obvious it is he feels he is the victim and this blindsided him, poor JoPa. He had no problem keeping his mouth shut before he had to retire and be fired.
Hopefully more people will realize when you see or have knowledge of a child being raped you immediately do what you can to rectify the situation and call the police- not call your Dad or talk to your superiors first. He’s got to live with that ignorant mistake the rest of his life… walking away from a 10 year old being raped. AWFUL.
I saw and heard someone on MSNBC tonight suggesting that (if any more scheduled games actually get played) a portion of the gate be set aside for donation to some organization that truly nurtures abused children (as opposed to an organization that is set up for the primary benefit of one evidently “highly successful” sexual predator). My first reaction to that suggestion was skepticism that any reserve-able funds would be available for anything besides attorneys’ fees and damages due to rioting.
You got that right.
Plus it is too facile by half. A naked PR move, and proof of the underlying attitude that money cures everything.
In re: Penn State’s “broken culture,” here’s another example. http://www.trainingrules.com/. Definitely broken.
Because of death threats to McQueary, he will not be coaching. Helluva way to stop him.
Stay Classy, Penn State!
If it weren’t making light of a serious matter, I’d comment that all of these people just seem to be getting rewarded for what they do best: Standing on the sidelines.
Oh, heck. I’ll comment anyway.
It’s all money. Ethics, morality, criminality be damned. And damn Penn State, too. With any luck they’ll be forced to stop giving athletic scholarships because of all the money they’ll spend paying damages to the huge group of young people abused over the years. I hope they all come forward. And really, the demonstration of students in support of abused children strikes me as cynical at best: you don’t go to Penn State and without understanding fully the power of athletics there. Go to one of the thousands of colleges and universities that don’t force your to paint your face into ugly clown images in support of “the team.” Get a liberal arts education, for God’s sake, if that’s what you want.
Remind you at all of the Roman Catholic Church? This is another instance of when protection of the INSTITUTION takes precedence over its supposed MISSION.
Both are heinous. Both reflect my total distrust for most organized religion, and the BIG colleges and universities. Why does Harvard charge $50,000 a year to students when its endowment is larger than the 9th biggest nation in the world? Money, power, reputation — that’s all. William Penn and John Harvard are rolling over in their graves.