APIt’s been exactly nine weeks and one day since Penn State issued a statement declaring that its Board of Trustees had “determined that it is in the best interest of the University for Joe Paterno to no longer serve as head football coach, effective immediately.”
The abrupt and what some considered heartless end to a 46-year head-coaching career at, and a 62-year association with, the school did not sit well with many individuals connected to the university. Two months later, it’s still not sitting well, apparently.
At a series of town hall meetings that began Wednesday and was intended to address how the school handled — or bungled — the Jerry Sandusky child-sex abuse scandal before and after it came to the public light, president Rodney Erickson was peppered with questions by the alumni in attendance regarding the manner in which Paterno was dismissed. As a result of those questions, the university decided to release a statement from board chairman Steve Garban.
Here’s Garban’s statement, in its entirety:
Many alumni have asked why the Board decided to remove Coach Paterno from his position as Head Football Coach.
On Wednesday, November 9, Coach Paterno announced that he would retire at the conclusion of the 2011 football season. Given the nature of the serious allegations contained in the Grand Jury Report and the extraordinary circumstances then facing the University, the Board’s unanimous judgment was that Coach Paterno could not be expected to continue to effectively perform his duties and that it was in the best interests of the University to make an immediate change in his status. Therefore, the Board acted to remove Coach Paterno from his position as Head Football Coach effective as of that date.
Coach Paterno remains employed by the University as a tenured faculty member. The details of his retirement are being worked out and will be made public when they are finalized. Generally speaking, the University intends to honor the terms of his employment contract and is treating him financially as if he had retired at the end of the 2011 football season.
That’s all well and good, but what we’re anxiously awaiting is a statement on why Sandusky, months after the school was made aware of the grand jury investigation into the alleged pedophile and a week before his indictment, was sitting in the president’s box for a Nittany Lions-Illinois game Oct. 29 at Beaver Stadium. With tickets provided by then-athletic director Tim Curley.
The reasoning behind that immensely disturbing development, more so than the minutia behind the firing of a head football coach, is what university officials might consider addressing in future town hall meetings. And something for which those same alumni questioning how Paterno was dismissed should demand an answer to just as loudly.
UPDATED 8:26 p.m. ET: Shortly after Penn State issued its statement, Scott Paterno, one of the coach’s sons, issued a statement of his own in which he again charged that the dismissal was not handled well:
“It is helpful to have on the record the Board’s position re my father’s status with the University. As has become apparent, the termination on November 9, with no notice or hearing, was not handled well. Joe Paterno has reiterated from the beginning that the first priority in this crisis is to serve the best interests of the victims.
“He believes strongly that everyone involved is entitled to due process.
“He also thinks that a wholesale attack on the football program and Penn State’s academic record, as has happened in some quarters, is unjustified. This is a crisis that deserves thoughtful and thorough review. In the course of that review and analysis, however, the legitimate achievements of this University and the many good people who worked so hard to build it into a world class institution should not be disrespected. My parents are unwavering in their loyalty and dedication to Penn State.”
Garban’s comments are nothing more than a lot of BS. The team and community was already rocked by this situation and firing Joe for the reason given in the article is nothing more than a cowards way out from telling the telling truth. The entire board needs to be fired and replaced. They are the ones responsible for the cover up. What a mess!
Well get rid of the president, the athletic director and the coach.
Huh? They did. Just did not cut deep enough the cut the heads from the snakes.
Sitting in the president’s box?
Musta been a lot of people there and he wasn’t noticed.
Scott Paterno’s a moron. No one is questioning Joe Pa’s donations to the university, years of recruiting the right way, and making players graduate.
Everyone has the right to question Joe Pa’s integrity though. He’s old school and was probably aware of the situation but kept his distance from the “sick individual” as people his age would call Sandusky. He should’ve gone further and should have never allowed Sandusky around the program after the initial 1998 allegations, after Sandusky “retired” in 1999. If not then, then absolutely no doubt after the 2002 allegations.
All of this is immensely disturbing on a lot of levels that no one seems to notice.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Paterno, but this isn’t open to debate. He was the power figure of Penn State football and did nothing to ensure this matter was taken to law enforcement or that Sandusky was removed from contact with children. Now we have confirmed what was evident when Paterno’s congratulatory statement to O’Brien was released prior to official news of the hire: He was never really fired–just removed from the head coaching position. He’s continued to receive his salary and all other benefits of his position. It’s plain to see he still has a seat in the power structure.
The others responsible for this nightmare also continue in their power positions, and for some insane reason, to give keep company with their pal Sandusky.
It’s unfortunate that no one connected with Penn State seems to have the power or will to thoroughly and completely clean out this next of vipers. I’m on record as being absolutely against the death penalty in football and think it’s a shame that the Penn State team has been dragged through this. But maybe an SMU solution is the only way to get the Board of Trustees to take this seriously enough to completely sever ties with EVERYONE involved and pry their dirty hands out of the university once and for all.
As a PSU alum, I think JoePa should have been let go when he was- it is quite clear that after Sandusky was a well known pedo, he was still in the inner circle at PSU.
I don’t get why other PSU alumni and students are upset that JoePa was let go. Sure the way it was done wasn’t great, but neither was the way Joe handled the info from McQueery (I didn’t want to bother anyone over the weekend). So, get over it fellow PSU fans- the deed is done, so lets focus now on helping these kids, kicking out anyone else who knew (erickson and the BOT have some dirt on their hands) and moving forward as a university
get over it
When you are a “legend in you own mind” sometimes it’s hard to let go. Paterno should have been forced to retire years ago.
Still worried about how Paterno was treated while ignoring Sandusky’s victims. Pretty pathetic, I figured the Alumni would have more class.
“As has become apparent, the termination on November 9, with no notice or hearing, was not handled well. Joe Paterno has reiterated from the beginning that the first priority in this crisis is to serve the best interests of the victims.”
Hmm… I don’t think JoePa handled the whole “slapping sounds in the shower” very well. And if “from the beginning the first priority was the victims”, he wouldn’t have let a pedo walk around the school.
ScottPa is a moron.
You can’t tell the JoPerv supporters anything..
I guarantee you none of them have even bothered to read the Grand Jury testimony from Paterno where he clearly acknowledges knowing of the accusations against Sandusky.
1) “Joe Paterno from the beginning has reiterated that the first priority in this crisis is to serve the best interests of the victims.”
2) He knew what was going on yet he didn’t do anything other than to pass the information up the chain of command.
Statements #1 and #2 contradict each other.
One is true and one is not.
Take your pick
With the information that the BOT executive committee was briefed in May on situation by university president, it is abundantly clear that the rotteness did go directly to the governance level. As a member of the exec committee the chair (Garban) certainly knew at that time about the situation. Perhaps Spanier did not come fully clean with them but they had an obligation to ascertain the facts and act appropriately to deal with the issues. Regardless of situation with Paterno, the facts are clear that the BOT should be out the door along with the AD, new president, and new AD!
Not one of the posters gets the right issue. Is Penn State a big college football machine where you may also get an education or is it a major university where football is also played? The posters seem to think it is the former. Those of you who think Paterno was not involved in some way in the cover-up are also probably leasing the Brooklyn Bridge on Tuesday and Thursday mornings into Manhattan.
Erikson and Garban are full of sh1t. Alumni will not be satisfied until Erikson, Joyner and the entire Board are replaced. Using the same logic, none of them can serve the university to their fullest potential with the alumni and public wondering what they knew and why they are still associated with the university.
Man – is it me or does it appear that there are just going to be a massive amount of PSU personnel with a knowledge of Sandusky’s actions as well as involved in whitewashing, covering it up, and ignoring it.
There biggest mistake with the townhall meetings was going to Philly more than once. These (Eastern, PA/Philly types) cheered when Michael Irvine broke his neck, boo the home pro teams at almost every event, throw snowballs at Santa on live TV, raised their kids in that culture and people wonder why the same children grew up to riot at State College after some related to sports didn’t go well. Hell the former mayor and past Governor of the state at one point encouraged the good people of Philly to burn City Hall down if the Eagles drafted Donovan McNabb. Nothing thos people do surprise and I grew up 90 mins away.
On the flip side the board doing these come yell at us sessions deflect from the bigger issue manly Jerry at the Illinois game. Kind of like when New Orleans held the mayoral election the same weekend as Super 44 & big surprise a White guy finally got elected in the town. It’s actually pretty smart when you think about it (Wag the Dog anyone).
WTF did cfbfaninbadinfltown did he say? Donovan McNabb has been washed up for well over 4 years. His “picking up the phone” schtick at the Meadowlands vs. the Giants was neither humorous nor appropriate. He lead Philly to one Super Bowl where he choked….big time! The Shtickla did not play either in Wash DC or Minn. Can you say “it’s over” Donovan? Find Tiki and hang out with that loser. You both can reminisce about your shortcomings.
OK – I think I get the part about Sandusky attending Illinois game and in a nice comfortable box no less. That shouldn’t have occurred under any circumstance. But his comparison to New Orleans and the “White guy”? Hellllpppppp!!!!
@ thegamecocker
Did you actual read what I posted or just the highlights? The McNabb reference was the fact that he actually lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl for the first time in over two decades, yet people in the town never wanted him nor their Mayor(future governor) and the crazy & ungrateful fanbase full of animals still got a much better effort from him than Ricky Williams ever would have. I was simply explaining the Philly mentality of championships or disgrace(like the Steelers play in the town or something).
My point is valid as long as the board does this dog & pony show they don’t have to answer Sandusky question. The New Orleans line is proof that as long as the masses are distracted anything can slip by like a White Guy ruling over “Chocolate City” (not my words believe me).
OK. You’ve made yourself clear and I went off on a McNabb tangent. But it is a too much to think we can eliminate the entire BOT at PSU but all those scoundrels deserve to be “relieved of their duties.” So the easier decision is to remove the high-profile folks like JoePa, the President, AD, the Chief Financial Officer. I truly feel bad for PSU b/c it is a proud university whose student body performs out-standing community service. I see it all the time with PSU kids standing in the cold and rain collecting money Cancer and other worthy causes. Despite this traumatic event, I am impressed when speaking with PSU graduates. I would send my child there. There is good at PSU.