Random Details Joe Paterno's Silence In Face Of Abuse Led To His Stunning Fall From Grac (12 items)

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  (#1) Paterno Was So Beloved, People Threatened The Assistant Coach Who Reported The Scandal

  Mike McQueary was one of Penn State's football assistant coaches and the one who witnessed what appeared to be "an extreme sexual act" taking place between Sandusky and a very young boy in the Penn State locker rooms. McQueary was the first person to report this to Paterno, in 2001. This was the incident that Paterno then — as he was legally required to do — reported to Tim Curley, the Penn State Athletic Director. 

  McQueary became the star witness in the criminal case against Sandusky, and testified multiple times about his initial conversation with Paterno regarding the incident. However, throughout the trial and subsequent investigations, Paterno supporters and those involved with Penn State pressured and even threatened McQueary. Similar to how the prosecution shied away from attacking Paterno, McQueary seemed to dance around any fault being put on the coach.

  This made posthumous findings all the more troubling; it became clear that there was courtroom strategy and unwavering pressure on McQueary regarding just what he should say about Paterno.
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  (#2) Paterno Claimed He'd Never Heard Of A Man Being Sexually Assaulted

  As the scandal escalated and people started to question Paterno about why he didn't do more than simply notify Athletic Director Tim Curley, he attempted to paint himself as an old man who truly didn't understand what he had been told by McQueary. Although McQueary himself admitted that he wasn't as graphically descriptive when informing the aging coach as he was when he gave other testimonies, Paterno later stated he wasn't sure if it would have made a difference.

  He said, "You know, he didn’t want to get specific... And to be frank with you I don’t know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man." In another account, Paterno allegedly asked his son Scott what sodomy was. 
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  (#3) The NCAA Revoked All Wins By Penn State Dating Back To 1998, Leaving Paterno With A Tarnished Record

  As part of its punishment against Penn State for the Sandusky scandal, the NCAA announced it would be redacting all of the football program's wins dating back to 1998, the first year a formal complaint was filed against Sandusky.

  Before this, Paterno held the Division I record for the most victories as a college football coach, coming in with 409 wins. However, after this penalty by the NCAA, his official ranking dropped to 12th. 
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  (#4) Paterno Wasn't Allowed To Resign And Instead Was Fired Over The Phone, Despite Having Tenure

  Paterno's retirement had already been planned for the end of the 2011-12 season. In the midst of the media circus surrounding the case once the scandal broke, Paterno tried to give a press conference to defend himself. His family and legal team advised he retire early in light of the scandal; he finally caved, but when he tried, he was told that was not an option. Instead, Penn State sent an assistant athletic director to the Paterno house with a slip of paper with a phone number on it. Paterno called the number, and was met with the blunt news: "The board of trustees have terminated you effective immediately."

  His wife called back, enraged, while his supporters on campus flew into a riot. They even overturned a television truck. As supporters rallied outside his house, Paterno stepped outside and offered some brief words to the crowd. He told them he loved them, thanked them, and asked them to pray for the victims. Paterno had been employed at Penn State since 1950.
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  (#5) Paterno Was Notified Of Assault Involving Sandusky As Far Back As 1976

  Paterno died from lung cancer in 2012, shortly after the hysteria of the case had culminated. Although Paterno denied knowledge of any prior events involving Sandusky until his death, civil settlements between victims and Penn State say otherwise.

  Two victims said they reported their abuse directly to Paterno in the 1970s. One man claimed he had approached Paterno with an abuse allegation against Sandusky, to which Paterno replied, "I have a football season to worry about." Additionally, other assistant coaches in the 1980s voiced concerns about Sandusky to Paterno, but nothing was done. 
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  (#6) Paterno Waited Two Days To Report The Incident And Had Conflicting Stories As To Why

  When McQueary went to Paterno in 2001 to tell him of actions he witnessed in the Penn State locker rooms, it was on a weekend. Paterno was legally required to report the incident to his higher-ups, and he did. However, he waited two days to do so. When questioned about why he waited to make the report, Paterno had conflicting answers. He eventually told the grand jury that he had waited because, "I didn't want to interfere with [the staff's] weekends." However, he later told a Washington Post reporter that he'd waited "because [he] wanted to make sure [he] knew what [he] was doing."

  To many, these conflicting answers raised more doubt regarding Paterno's knowledge about Sandusky and potential prior incidents. At the very least, it only added to the tarnish that was starting to wear down his reputation, and did nothing to defend him against arguments that he should have called the police immediately.
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  (#7) In 2012, Emails Surfaced Hinting That Paterno Knew More Than He'd Admitted

  While under oath in 2011, prosecutors asked Paterno if he had ever heard of any other inappropriate behavior between Sandusky and young boys, other than the incident reported by McQueary. He replied: 

  I do not know of anything else that Jerry would be involved in of that nature, no. I do not know of it. You did mention — I think you said something about a rumor. It may have been discussed in my presence, something else about somebody.

  This answer was vague, but in a following Washington Post interview, he stated that he had "no inkling" of any prior accusations. 

  However, when a 1998 email from Curley emerged detailing a sexual abuse incident involving Sandusky, there was a figure in the emails referenced as "Coach." Later, Curley testified that he'd discussed the alleged 1998 assault with Paterno. This, of course, insinuated that Paterno had lied while under oath.

  The lie undermined much of the case that Paterno supporters had been making throughout the scandal: that the beloved figurehead had simply been fooled by Sandusky, just like everyone else. But if Paterno had in fact known about Sandusky's prior incidents, his lack of immediate action was much more troubling.
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  (#8) Paterno Did Fulfill His Legal Duty By Reporting The Sexual Assault Allegations

  As a Pennsylvania State employee, under Title IX, Paterno had a legal duty to report any incidents of sexual assault he heard. The 2001 assault was clearly something that needed to be reported to his higher-up, which is exactly what Paterno did.

  Paterno was a larger-than-life figure at Penn State; in many ways, as the case against Sandusky would prove, he wielded more power — at least in a rhetorical sense — than the school president. He had devoted his life to fostering and aiding the growth of students, and it showed. In the aftermath of the scandal, the public demanded to know how someone with Paterno's stature and power let this slide. State police commissioner Frank Noonan said:

  Somebody has to question about what I would consider the moral requirements for a human being that knows of sexual things that are taking place with a child... I think you have the moral responsibility, anyone. Not whether you’re a football coach or a university president or the guy sweeping the building. I think you have a moral responsibility to call us.
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  (#9) Prosecutors Admitted They Structured The Case Around Avoiding Paterno And Penn State

  No one alleged Joe Paterno directly caused any harm to children himself, but he was accused of covering up what he knew to be inappropriate and illegal acts. His celebrity status almost detracted from the publicity surrounding Jerry Sandusky himself. Paterno's cult of personality ran deep — he'd been employed at Penn State since 1950 — and revelations about his knowledge of the abuse were not well received.

  The prosecution knew that if the criminal case against Sandusky became centered around Penn State and focused on Paterno's lack of action, the politics would turn ugly. Paterno's legacy and support at Penn State and in the surrounding community were strong enough to influence the case, and they knew they had a better chance of getting a conviction if they were up against Sandusky alone, not the institution.

  As put by a source close to prosecution, "We structured the whole case around avoiding Penn State... We were terrified (of acquittal)." 
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  (#10) Even Paterno's Family Encouraged Him To Take The Hit

  Paterno's son Scott had worked as a lawyer, lobbyist, and had even run for Congress. He understood the gravity of the situation and made multiple attempts to prepare his father for what was coming. It was a difficult situation, in many ways. At 84 years old, Joe Paterno was already aware it would be his last season of coaching at Penn State; he just didn't know that it would end even earlier than planned.

  Both Scott Paterno and Jay, his brother, recognized the explosive nature of the scandal. They also recognized that public outrage would be directed not only toward Sandusky, but toward their father as well. Paterno was the face of Penn State football. They begged him for information, anything he might have known earlier about Sandusky, looking for a saving grace. Paterno denied any prior knowledge of the abuse, and his sons sat back and braced for the worst.
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  (#11) Paterno's Bosses Claimed He Failed To Explain The Severity Of The Abuse

  Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, (the senior vice president of finance and the athletic director at Penn State, respectively) were the higher-ups to whom Paterno first reported what McQueary had told him. However, the two claimed Paterno hadn't relayed the severity of the situation, instead making it sound like "horseplay" in the shower between Sandusky and a minor from Sandusky's charitable foundation for disadvantaged youth, The Second Mile.

  Curley and Schultz followed up on the allegation with McQueary; during the conversation with Curley and Schultz, McQueary claims he was very explicit about the nature and extent of the abuse. Curley and Schultz deny this. They claim that, even after speaking with McQueary, they didn't understand the severity of the situation.
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  (#12) Paterno Still Managed To Squeeze A Lot Of Money Out Of Penn State, Even After He Was Fired

  When Joe Paterno was terminated, he had already been negotiating a retirement contract for the end of that season with the Penn State board of trustees. Prior to his termination, the contract was calling for Paterno to be paid $3 million, forgiveness of loans totaling $350,000, and would grant him use of the university's private plane and a luxury stadium box for the next 25 years. 

  In the wake of the scandal, Paterno's family upped these demands, and when the board wavered, they threatened with a defamation lawsuit, which was bolstered with hate mail from the Paterno-supporting community. Eventually, the university gave up nearly everything the family was asking for, and the final retirement package totaled nearly $5.5 million in value. Members of the board admitted to fearing the wrath of Paterno's supporters if they did otherwise. This final decision (made after Paterno's death), demonstrates just how much power Paterno held over the university.

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