Anyone else notice that the president of the university being fired garnered no reaction but the freaking FOOTBALL COACH caused a huge stir in the room? Just shows how messed up the Penn State culture was.
The students of Penn State are totally forgetting about these poor, innocent children who weren't protected by a man that they admired. Sexual abuse is such a serious matter, and at the end of the day, he should have done more to make sure that this disgusting behavior did not continue when someone spoke to him initially. I know what it's like to love your teacher, but this kind of selfishness is simply astounding.
After this whole scandal is dealt with and if Penn State is still standing, they might want to totally redo their Communications program. It's pretty obvious these "student reporters" don't have a clue about journalism or real life in general. Really sad. With that said, John Surma did a fine job fielding these pathetic questions.
I am not saying Paterno is GUILTY of criminal charges...I am just saying he showed poor ethics that is required from a head coach which is a good reason of firing him
What an insulting audience and questions. Paterno was wrong. What's wrong with these people? Don't they read and know what happened on their campus, in their locker rooms in their gyms? Crazies.
It is absolutely appropriate that people comment about the misdeeds of Paterno, Spanier, etc. When Jesus said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone", he wasn't questioning their right to denounce the actions of the woman caught in adultery, but rather the punishment of stoning her to death. Jesus acknowledges that the woman has done wrong by telling her to "go and sin no more." Calling Paterno and the others to account for their actions is legitimate discourse.
He told Shultz who is the head of campus police. Shultz did not report it to the police though. Now you can argue that "The Head of Campus Police" was just a title and dealt more with economics than enforcing the law, but I don't feel like we can blame someone for telling "The Head of Campus Police" and expecting the police to get involved.
@komscriv Joe covered his ass legally, but he failed morally. Instead of going to the proper authorities after his superiors didn't, Joe decided to play the quiet game along with them. Now that it's all come out, he's basically saying: "look, I told my boss, it's not my fault!" That is wrong, because it did fall to him and any of those that knew to contact the authorities. Not a single one stepped up. More kids were abused. And Sandusky himself was spotted at Penn U in '07. With a boy.
People who defend Joe Paterno as a coach are right. The man was a great coach and a legacy. Nothing will change his coaching career. Joe Paterno as a man and his character however is ruined and rightfully so. Anyone who has extensive knowledge of a child molestation ring and aids in trying to cover it up has no values or morals. Paterno put the football program as a higher priority than the safety of young boys. Deplorable, and Paterno deserves being fired if not more.
Wow. Some of the most unprofessional journalism I've ever seen. I've can at least understand being a homer, but this crossed the threshold of ridiculousness.
I understand how some PSU students and alums want to defend their school and Paterno.It's a natural reaction, but in time, their views may change.As a Catholic, I'm still ashamed of how the Church handled the priest sex scandal. Like at PSU, some in the Church put the institution ahead of innocent children. Anyone who puts their hands on kids inappropriately should be in jail.However some Catholics tried to defend the Church out of loyalty.To me, that's defending the indefensible.
McQueary was a 28 year old, 6'4" 240 lb. quarterback who would not help a ten year old, being raped in the locker room shower by a 50 year old man. It is the believability of his testimony as to what he saw and how he reported this that is at issue. There were enough issues that Paterno should have known better and kept Sandusky away from that campus.
I wish the board just came straight out and say why did they fire Joe. They tip-toed around the whole subject and contradicted themselves 7 ways to Sunday. Of course that was expected, they did not even have the balls to go to Joe's house and tell him in person. It is not like they didn't know where he lived, he has been living in the same house for over 50 years.
Listen to the angry reporters asking these questions ..most are upset about the coaches firing..the crazy hyper reporters.. They all knew that they were witnessing the fall of the iron curtain...
You notice people will only use the term "best interests" in a sobering environment such as this... it was also the term that Coast Guard spokesman Richard Larabee used to announce that there would not likely be survivors of the EgyptAir crash back in 1999.
@angryamerican There was also Victim 8, witnessed by the janitor, all he did was tell his co-workers, NONE of them reported anything. The Mother of Victim 6, approached Sandusky, but did not follow through as much as she should have. The Child Protection Agency had looked into Sandusky in 98 and 02. There are just TOO many people that failed these victims to be putting all the focus and blame on Joe.
I've had my say. That bastard was fired, rightly so, and I believe that the victims will have their justice, if not in a criminal court, then certainly in a civil court. I feel sad for them and their suffering, but I hope that if something good can come out of this, is that people realize that there is more to life than football programs and legacies, that moral responsibility extends beyond legal requirements, and that protecting the most vulnerable in our society is what counts.
It's sad that some continue to try and deflect blame from Paterno. It's clear that he enabled a child rapist in order to protect a football program. He was the most powerful person at PSU, and of the four named by Freeh, (Paterno, Spanier, Curley, Schultz) Paterno deserves the most blame. PSU and its fans need to come to terms with the fact that Paterno did a despicable thing in covering up this mess.
I don't know Sadusky or Paterno, but knew who Joe was since in gradeschool in the 60's. I was molested @ 10 by my best friend's 14 y/o brother & it's negatively affected my life since. I'd protect any boy from what I went thru with my life, because a pedophile & one who'd protect a pedophile deserves jail & a whole lot more. I wanna cry over what was done to me, but I'm too strong in defensiveness over what happened to me.If I wasn't strong I'd go crazy.Dad's it's time to kick pedophile ass!
It should be a total change in leadership if you are going to fire Joe. The guy who reported it and never followed up needs fired as well. Not fair to put this all on Joe!
@scotteddins I agree. I feel for the victims and their families, and for all those good people at Penn State that had nothing to do with this and that will have to carry this terrible stigma for a long time.
Im a Penn State fan and JoeLoser should of did more than just tell the cops. He owned that state and the town one call from the cops and Sandusky would of went to prison hurting less kids than did. Joe ruined his career no one else did it for him
@stgm I get you are saying that he did things wrong and I believe that is the case too, but are you saying that if he made a relationship with a student 25 years ago before all of this happened that doesn't count?? Was he trying to be a fake nice person or was he really a genuinely nice person who handled a situation in a wrong way in the last 14 years of his life?
@komscriv The campus police is tied to the university. Not only is there a conflict of interest there, but a campus police force is NOT the appropriate entity to investigate child sex abuse. That responsibility falls to the State authorities, child welfare services, etc. And those were the authorities that were not contacted. From '02 to '11. That's how many extra YEARS Sandusky had to go on preying on kids. That's how many years Joe knew and kept quiet.
@komscriv The only thing that can be proven or disproven are facts, and from what we know now, Paterno appears to have fulfilled his legal obligation. As to whether he fulfilled his moral obligation, that is a matter of opinon based on facts, and is subjective. Some may believe that he did enough morally by telling Curley, others believe Paterno should've done more. I believe he could have and should have done more.
@Shubael1809 There's a place for both sports and the arts in education. While this was a very tragic episode, sports can be a very valuable way to learn about teamwork, discipline, etc. Sometimes sports does have too much value placed on it by fans and society in general, but it can be helpful to the players involved. As a fan of sports and the arts, placing more emphasis on the arts would be a good thing. However, there's a place for both of them.
why arent you protest agaisnt the fact that the president of the school has been fired???why aren t you protesting about the fact that the athletics directors were let go???if they fired those people they know that a cover up were done.....you dont....
Can anyone identify the turd who starts speaking at 19:17? He was making exasperated comments near the mic during the whole press conference. Clearly too emotionally invested, it sounds like just a grossly poor job of journalism.
This is a sad day for all..most especially the victims. I in no way mean to belittle their suffering or be oblivious to all of the people who failed these children but I dont quite understand why so much has fallen on Joe Paterno when in fact he did not commit these devilish acts. WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT SANDUSKY????!!!!!!!
I like coming back to these old comments because we see how dead on balls accurate some of them were, like this one. Paterno didn't even know Sandusky was a pedophile.
Lets also not forget that God bless these ALLEGED victims but that the bottom line is that the claims are ALLEGED so therefore u cannot say beyond a shadow of a doubt that this or that did indeed happen when there is no solid evidence to support that. As of right now it's a "he said, she said" type of thing until the claims are proven true or vehemently dismissed.
Yes, a change of leadership was needed, and Surma and Garban are no longer members of this Board. Neither are many of the other people you see in this video. Note also that Surma admits openly (roughly 2:00 or so) that the Board failed to exercise due diligence.
@Hiluxtaco And the publicity did nothing but blow up the situation in a fashion that drew attention to a man ( WHO DID EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO AND HAS BEEN FIRED AFTER EVERYTHING HES DONE FOR THE SCHOOL) and away from the actual problem.
First off, it's obvious that not only journalists were allowed in there tonight. Secondly, you can knock the questions and the questioners, but do any of you work for the media? I doubt it. Thirdly, the man openly contradicted himself more than once. "...we don't have all the facts..." and then just a couple of minutes later, "...based on all the facts..." On top of that, his attitude was beyond arrogant. The decision was made, and he didn't give a damn who disagreed with it. Based on hi
@a6eBezerkur You don't need to go to court to get fired. I got fired from a job before...and we didn't go to court. We're not saying his guilty of criminal charge but he deserves to be fired for having poor ethics
@kmtb1991 I agree that Penn State is an exellent school overall. I'm a resident of PA, and I have friends who went to PSU, and I've been to State College several times. It's a beautiful place, and it's sad that the actions of a few have brought such disrepute to an otherwise great school. My feelings are the same about the Catholic Church. Overall, it's a beautiful religion that has been dealt a serious blow by a small minority. Hopefully,changes will take place to restore the good name of both.
@komscriv He was fired for reasons both fact-based and opinion-based. The facts in the grand jury presentment show he was aware of Sandusky's behavior. I believe the final straw was when Paterno told the board in his retirement statement to "not spend a single minute discussing my status.They have far more important matters to discuss." Telling them to mind their own business, when the football program is their business, seemed as if Paterno felt he ran the university. That is the B of T's job.
Don't fight with this horrible woman. She has been harping on this subject since JoePa was fired and probably will be til shes in the cold ground. Shes a horrible human who puts her love of football above everything else, including the law and the welfare of children.She said in one video that "red flags went up" because of Freeh doing the report. Now she's quoting it like it's the Bible! She, like many others doesn't care about anything as long as her foorball team wins the big game.
if the real victims were so concerned why do they wait till now to come out? because of the press. also how is mcqueery not fired when he is the person that saw it himself and only told joe pa that sandusky was being innapropriate. how the fuck does that make Joe Pa responsible when he told the athletic directior. so disrespectful to not let him coach one more game when he is such a good person who has done sooo much for penn st as a whole, not even the football team
@komscriv Joe claims that he was told they were "horsing around." McQueary was a lowly grad assitant at that time, the lowest position on Joe's staff. The mightiest and the lowest in a meeting. Are you seriously going to sit there and say that McQueary didn't tell Joe the truth? And if so, then why was Sandusky barred from the team's facilities? You don't bar someone if you don't suspect something serious going on.
@smoothkidd272k6 He knew about it, and he didn't do the moral thing by calling the police. The same could be said for others. He's just lucky they didn't prosecute him...
dude calm down i know the situation was very wrong and sandasky should go to prision but the facts are joe did not know that was happening. his assiant told him that that sandasky was messing around with him in the shower not raping him if he would have known that he would have done something about it if you want to blame someone blame mike mcqurrey the the assiant coach he saw the whole thing but yet he not fired I ask you where is the justice in that. joe is a good man. go psu
@holdupdown he never reported it to the authoritys.he told his boss and never followed up. he new nothing ever happened with it hell jerry had a office on campus so you know he saw him with other kids and said nothing
Never heard of this Paterno individual until this hoopla. It appears he's some sort of preposterous hero to grown men who recreationally enjoy watching other men run around in the mud with an ovoid ball brawing and touching one another's asses. This is more good solid evidence that we must remove organized sports from our schools and replace that void with something of real value; the concentation of extracurricular activity in theater and the arts from Kindergarten to college graduation.
@Chaldene18 Paterno should have asked if he had called the police. When he said no, then HE should have picked up the phone and called them. And not just sat on his ass, errrrrr, I mean "passed it up the chain of command.." They ALL deserved to be fired!
Joe admitted he KNEW what happen and just told the school officals. What the hell are you talking about? do i have to point you to 5 differents links from the Washigton newspaper,espn,foxsports,yahoo,msn,NBC from JOE's own words what he knew? the guy admit the truth. your just blinded to the truth or dont wanna hear it. Not everything is about football and PSU's football glory. Kids lives were ruin forever let your closeminded go and see the truth *from a PSU fan*
these paterno haters always look stupid when they cite writen reports without ever reading them and then explaining to people what was in said report as if they did. good job hot shot, with that type of reporting you could with out a doubt work at fox news.
@komscriv It is not a false accusation. The man knew about the rape. He told his bosses. They didn't do shit. He didn't do shit until several years later when the grand jury came sniffing around. What is so difficult to understand about that? How can you Paterno fanboys blind yourselves to the point of negligence? How can you continue to support a man whose inaction led to the sexual abuse of children? In a way, you are doing a huge disservice to the victims and their families.
@komscriv I understand where your coming from.....from an standpoint that concerns Paterno's employment with the university, he did all he could to a certain extent. McQueary should of seperated the two in the shower and just plain called the police, and once Paterno found out about it he should of too....along with every other person who found out about it.......that's the moral precept he broke, and that's why he was fired. It's all just so very sad.....
@Hiluxtaco but joe didnt know about this right??? so why in the HELL did he have to get fired for someone else action. its like puting the wrong man in the death chamber....OH WAIT THAT SHIT HAPPENED ALREADY!!!!!
Joe did the exact right thing in following the Penn Law in reporting a rumor. Joe correctly followed the correct procedure, especially being a public figure at a large institution, to report the incident to his supervisor and back away. The law is in place for a reason, as the police get numerous calls defaming someone's character. Everyone including Joe has to go through the chain of command.
"We do not yet know all the facts and there are many details that have yet to be worked out"..then why the hell did you not think twice to firing JoePa??..this is a disgrace..this whole situation
and please dont respond to me. I just think its hysterical that you continue to harp on this subject over and over again and have been doing so for MONTHS. You like many PSU fans will never be swayed. You will still think Joe is the best thing ever and nobody will change that opinion. I think you should just do what the students do when something doesn't go their way....RIOT! Just go and start trashing State college! That seems like the thing a "top academic institution" teaches its students.
