“We are Penn State.”-Joe Paterno, November 9, 2011
The charges of child rape against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky that are detailed in a Pennsylvania grand jury indictment are shocking in both degree and scope. The incidents as described convey nightmarish qualities of helplessness, isolation, and brutality that shake the conscience.
The quick and devastating effect this indictment has caused has similarly shaken the large and proud Penn State community. Last night Penn State’s Board of Trustees dismissed Joe Paterno–the head coach of the Penn State football team since 1966 and the all-time leader in wins among college football coaches–apparently for his role in essentially covering up knowledge of at least one of the incidents from nine years ago. After news of Paterno’s firing spread across Penn State’s campus, throngs of supporters came to his house. The 84-year-old Paterno soon emerged with his wife Sue to greet these young people. Perhaps because he was away from the familiar context of the sideline or press room; perhaps because of the stress of this crisis, Paterno looked and sounded older than his advanced age. He appeared a bit disoriented as he told his supporters, “Hey, look. Get a good night’s sleep. Study …”
Paterno then added words that suggested a detachment from his new reality and anger at how he was informed of his dismissal, “I’m out of it, maybe, now. A phone call put me out of it.” He began to head inside before pausing to add the feeble sentiment,”One thing, guys: pray a little for those victims.” Some in the crowd could be heard calling, “We are Penn State!”, the iconic school motto that typically is shouted on autumn Saturdays by over 100,000 fans, the words forming a collective and unifying boom as they reverberate throughout Beaver Stadium. Paterno responded to this by raising his fist in the air and saying, “We are Penn State.”
There is much excellent and thought-provoking commentary about this story. But the best I’ve seen so far comes from my friend and University of Michigan blogger Yost at MZone, who concludes a recent post by noting:
Before he was let go, Paterno said he wishes he would have done more after being alerted about the incident. He could have: In 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 or 2011. Or any of those other times he probably ran into Sandusky around the campus he was only banned from this week, or in the weight room Sandusky apparently used just last week. But Paterno did not. Instead, his moral inaction did and should have cost him his head coaching job.
If you think that was unfair to JoePa, well, that’s exactly the kind of culture that led to some folks thinking after the rape of a 10 year old boy that the right thing to do was to take away some locker room keys.
So to all of you I saw on TV causing trouble on campus last night, yes, You are…Penn State. Now stop tipping over news vans, and screaming for the return of a coach who doesn’t deserve that title anymore, and decide what that slogan means. Joe Paterno forgot. Will you?
