Paterno is not a side show - he “is”, or “was” the university.
Hence - his ability to boss around Spanier with threats of cutting off the money machine.
With all due respect, Paterno isn’t the university any longer. My big fear is that PSU’s board is going to bury as much of this as they can. They will even protect former administrators if need be. Spanier didn’t want to go up against Paterno. That was Spanier not fulfilling his legal duty in the Sandusky matter as much as it was Paterno’s moral failure.
Don’t forget, under PA’s child-abuse statute it was Spanier’s obligation to report. Paterno should have been fired. But Spanier’s failure goes direct to the University in a “legal” way that Paterno’s didn’t. And the University is now concerned with the civil liability aspect of this so they’re going to shift as much blame onto Paterno as they can.