You know what convinced me that Joe knows?
When he appeared in front of his sycophant fans after his was fired....this is not a guy who cares about what happened to those kids, as much as he cares about having the fawning adulation of his fans.
Quite honestly, I don't think Joe has any sense of awareness (and hasn't for years). Many PSU fans have worried that he would say or do something to embarrass himself because it's obvious he lacks mental clarity on his surroundings (I never would have imagined this, though). One need look no further than his postgame press conferences and sideline interviews to see it, and it's been going on for years.
Obviously that doesn't excuse this situation and I don't think that this was the case in 2002 or 1998. But I do think it's an explanation for his actions this week. It's why he never should have been allowed to stick around this long.
I guess my term would be ‘in denial’ rather than ‘knows’.
I know this seems to be a fine distinction, but it’s important to find out whether Joe actually knew or just put his fingers in his ears and screamed ‘LA LA LA!’. One is passive, the other active.
Inaction falls mostly in the moral realm, occasionally in the legal realm of negligence if severe enough. Active is no question in the moral realm, and very much falls in the legal realm as conspiracy.
If the former, then other than lawsuits, what has been done to Joe is about all we can do, unless his negligence is proved to be egregious to the point where it can be proven he SHOULD have known. If the latter, then the spotlight needs to be put back on Joe and his ass thrown on the grill.
IMO it’s very important we keep those distinctions very clear and don’t throw unproven conjecture around.