Penn State trustees fire football coach Joe Paterno and PSU president Spanier

AP/Newser.com ^ | Nov. 9, 2011 | Genaro C. Armas

[Colofornian]

Penn State trustees fired football coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier (SPAN-yer) amid the growing furor over how the school handled sex abuse allegations against an assistant coach.

The massive shakeup Wednesday night came hours after Paterno announced that he planned to retire at the end of his 46th season.

But the outcry following the arrest of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky on molestation charges proved too much for the board to ignore.

One key question has been why Paterno and other top school officials didn't go to police in 2002 after being told a graduate assistant saw Sandusky assaulting a boy in a school shower...

[dfwgator]

I liked what I heard one commentator say, “If Bear Bryant heard what happened, he would have personally broke Sandusky’s neck with his bare hands.”

[gimme1ibertee]

What was a "boy" (or "boys") doing in the shower at Penn State in the first place?

Part of Sandusky's M.O.-his victims ultimately ended up in the shower with him.Sandusky had unrestricted access to the locker rooms which included the shower area.He would get his victims in there using the pretense of having to wash up after a wrestling practice,whether they were sweaty or not.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

PS: My wife is and her late father were HUGE Joe Paterno fans. She is spitting tacks.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Sandusky has been free on bail for at least a day now.

Morbid this is, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did something drastic.

[Colofornian]

This whole series of consequences has resurrected a key Biblical teaching:

Corporate guilt

It operates at two levels:

#1 The sin of omission -- especially in rescuing those most at risk:

10 If you falter in a time of trouble,
how small is your strength!
11 Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
12 If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done? (Proverbs 24:10-12)

And...what they (we) have left undone.

Many on the Penn State staff sadly could not say, "we knew nothing about this."

And what is true of the Penn State staff applies to each of us re: our aborted neighbors who die almost daily.

#2 Identificational repentance...Each of the major Old Testament prophets identified with the sin of the Israelites -- even if they themselves weren't personally guilty of this. Ultimately, the Lamb of God, the Messiah, did the same thing. He was perfect, yet the apostle Paul said, He identified with the sin of the people by taking on that sin (2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13)

Jesus, our Lord, when He became sin for each of us (2 Cor. 5:21), became that sin of pedophilia (Sandusky), that sin of looking the other way (Penn State staff), that sin of smugness (me, others). He identified with our sin and took it as His own.

May the entire state of Pennsylvania (& the rest of us across the states) release that sin to Him now. It's His. He owns it. He paid for it. Fully. The Lord forgives us not because we deserve it or earned it; but because of WHO HE IS...a God of loving-kindness and mercy and grace.

Yes, justice and accountability comes. But also grace and mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ. May the comfortable be afflicted; but may then then turn to our Lord -- and as the afflicted be comforted.

Let us all pray for the people of Pennsylvania in these emotional hours.

[dfwgator]

I think they did it, out of concern that the games both at Penn State and on the road, were going to devolve into circuses if Paterno was still on the sidelines...frankly I don’t see how he could coach under those circumstances, it’s almost as if they did it for his own good. Let him focus fulltime on restoring his reputation, without having to be distracted by coaching.

[airborne]

30 years ago society considered homosexuality disgusting, and anal sex of any kind perverse. Now it's "normal", and if you say otherwise in public, it is YOU who are attacked as an intolerant, bad person.

Now, look ahead 30 years into the future. How possible do you think it will be that pedophilia will be considered "normal"?

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Police in riot gear deal with Penn State students gathering to support Joe Paterno.

That's to their everlasting shame. Just confirming what we already know about Ped State.

[airborne]

I’d loan him my pistol, if he promised to suck on the barrel.

[Flycatcher]

You haven't read the 23-page Grand Jury report, have you?

All those on FR who defend this serial homosexual child-rapist enabler (Joe Paterno) have not read the Grand Jury report.

Now thank the Lord your grandson wasn't brought into the Penn State shower room by Sandusky when Joe Paterno was in charge...!

[RobertClark]

Hurry, someone tell Ole’ Miss there is a good coach that is in need of a new job.

I think you may have that backward: Hurry, someone tell Houston Nutt that a position has just opened up. With the $6mil in Rebel money he is walking running away with, he could do it gratis for a couple years. Don't worry, we paid him $3 mil to run his a$$ out of Fayetteville - thanks Ole Miss for giving him a home for the past few years.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

You might want to read this timeline . Sandusky was caught and investigated by the police in 1998 - he "retires" from PSU in 1999. I find it hard to believe no one in the community knew he had been interviewed since he admitted he showered naked with various boys, even hugging them while naked.

And one of us has the wrong information regarding who told Paterno. Everything I have read says the grad asst went to Paterno's home, not his father reporting it second hand.

[I cannot think of a name]

“why Paterno and other top school officials didn’t go to police in 2002 after being told a graduate assistant saw Sandusky assaulting a boy in a school shower...”

I miss the good ole days, when such a discovery would have resulted in a good old fashion case of the whoop-ass being applied. The police and EMS could deal with the results.

[Rushmore Rocks]

“no one did the right thing for these kids”

So terribly sad.....but, I guess the big alumni $$$$$$ trump the children’s welfare.

[BenKenobi]

Death Penalty will be coming around for PSU.

[montag813]

Horrible news, horrible story. A sad day for Penn State, football, Pennsylvania and America. HORRIBLE. Those poor children. And of course, NO media ANYWHERE will ever mention what lies at the core of this story: a HOMOSEXUAL SEXUAL PREDATOR. THIS is why they must be identified, and cannot be near children. This is why the Boy Scouts exclude them as leaders.

[dfwgator]

"were at risk kids - so broken homes, absent fathers or even mothers - easy prey. "

Like the scene in The Godfather II at the bordello, when Tom Hagen tells the Senator, "This girl had no home, no family, it's as if she never existed."

[eyedigress]

Without a doubt. Joe Paterno and the program was the last link to “Old School” football. This man started a cascade of events that was covered up by the heads of the school. That is one hell of a price, but he set those events in motion.

[kentramsay]

The onus was on the graduate student who witnessed the alleged crime to report the crime to police. Joe Paterno is not the police. If someone saw a murder in the locker would they report it to the football coach? How does Paterno know the story is true? How does he know the graduate student didn’t have something against Sandusky? These are the reasons the witness is supposed to report direct to police. The fault is his. And Sandusky’s if he committed the crimes.

[Oztrich Boy]

I’m no expert on crime but if Paterno knew this was going on and didn’t say a word, can’t he be charged with something?

As I understand it, after lying to the Grand Jury, he's now made a deal to weasel on his co-conspirators.