The Rest of College Football

[Tony G]

Perhaps they may cancel ?

Would that be fair to the teams challenging Nebraska in the conference?

[Tony G]

Last Updated: November 10. 2011 1:17AM
John Niyo

In the end, Joe Paterno left doing the right thing to others

He said he wanted to finish with "dignity and determination."
And yet, sadly, Joe Paterno failed to do even that in his last, desperate act as Penn State's football coach, forced out by the university's Board of Trustees on Wednesday night because he refused to leave on his own.
Oh, sure, Paterno announced his retirement earlier in the day in the wake of a child sex-abuse scandal that has engulfed the storied football legend he created and the university he so dearly loves and the sport in which he has become an iconic figure.
But he said he'd retire at the end of the season, not immediately. And if Paterno's statement read at the time like a preemptive move ? a plea agreement of a different kind after the indictment of his former longtime assistant, Jerry Sandusky, also revealed the moral failings of the coach, one of his assistants and other top administrators ? well, that's because it was.
The trustees exited an emergency meeting Wednesday night in State College, Pa., and for the first time since this story started unraveling in appalling detail over the weekend, someone finally did the right thing. For the first time in ages, someone at Penn State finally told Paterno what to do.
"These decisions were made after careful deliberations, and in the best interests of the university as a whole," said John P. Surma, the board's vice chairman, in announcing both the resignation of university president Graham Spanier and Paterno's dismissal at a contentious news conference. "Penn State has always strived for honesty, integrity and the highest moral standards in all of our activities. We promise you that we are committed to restoring the public trust to our university."
Culpability

The twisted, embarrassing scene that followed that announcement ? students gathering en masse on campus to protest, climbing lampposts, chanting Paterno's name, and eventually growing more destructive ? was all but promised by Paterno's stubbornness. Hell, no, Joe wouldn't go.
No matter how heartfelt some of the 186 words contained in the coach's initial statement were Wednesday morning, knowing what we know now about what he and others have known for so many sickening years, it was hard to read it as anything other than Paterno's final attempt at showing who's boss in the Happy Valley kingdom he built.
"I have come to work every day for the last 61 years with one clear goal in mind: To serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care," Paterno's statement read. "I have the same goal today. That's why I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season.
"At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can."
The irony in that was rich coming from Paterno, who'd rebuffed previous attempts from some of those same trustees ? and Spanier as well ? to get him to retire before it was too late, most notably in 2004.
Now, a month shy of his 85th birthday and five days into one of the worst scandals in NCAA history, Paterno was trying to make it "easy" for those seeking to end his reign? By doing what many expected him to do ? retiring when his contract expired at season's end ? even before last Saturday's grand jury report shocked the nation and put Penn State's cozy campus on riot alert?
No, the truth is Paterno, who was in tears as he told his players of his plans Wednesday morning, always was the one who got off easy, especially in the endless twilight of his remarkable career. And in the end, it was obvious someone else would have to make the hard decision for Paterno, at least if the university's administration ? or what's left of it, anyway ? is to be taken at its word going forward.
"We are outraged that a valued trust has been broken," acting athletic director Mark Sherburne said in a statement Wednesday ? the first one from the university that didn't sound completely tone deaf. "We can promise you that we are doing everything in our power to restore that broken trust."
Those words would've been rendered meaningless by Paterno's presence on the sidelines or in the press box as the Nittany Lions' coach at Penn State's final home game Saturday. Or in the weeks that'll follow, with the team possibly headed for the Big Ten Championship game and a January bowl.
Do Penn State's current players, young men who revere their great, grandfatherly coach, deserve a better fate in all this? Sure. But there's a lesson to be learned in that, too, isn't there? Don't coaches frequently punish teams to prove a point about the consequences of individuals' mistakes?
This couldn't be about sticking around for Senior Day or finishing what he started. Paterno, for all his talk of "Success With Honor" and despite the evidence to back it up, forfeited the right to make that call when he abdicated the most basic responsibilities of his job a decade or more ago.
That it took us all this long to understand that is only thanks to his own inaction, along with that of his athletic director, Tim Curley ? he's one of Paterno's former players, by the way ? and fellow administrator Gary Schultz, both of whom are charged with perjury and failure to report to authorities what they knew of Sandusky's alleged deviant behavior.
Ugly messages

And it wasn't just about the optics ? as the public-relations people like to say ? of what we'd see Saturday, with a still-muzzled Paterno leading his team onto the field and the crowd of 100,000-plus at Beaver Stadium cheering him one last time.
No, it's about the message Paterno's continued employment would've sent about accountability and leadership and a culture in major college athletics that sets the standard for participation at a criminally low standard.
It's about Mike McQueary remaining on the sidelines both as the receivers coach and Penn State's recruiting coordinator. Shurma indicated Wednesday night that McQueary's status remained unchanged. But how do you allow that after the former graduate assistant testified he'd witnessed Sandusky raping a young boy and yet reportedly did nothing more than tell his boss, even as an alleged cover-up in the years since allowed Sandusky to remain attached to the program?
And if this retirement went forward as Paterno planned, allowing him to take one final bow before the home crowd Saturday ? among a handful of uncomfortable curtain calls before season's end ? what kind of statement would that have made about the meaning of that chant, "We Are ? Penn State?"
How could that be allowed to happen by anyone in charge at that university, knowing now the horrors and taking note of the implications the timeline presents in the grand jury's findings?
Simply put, this wasn't about football anymore. It couldn't be.
"This is a tragedy," Paterno said in his statement Wednesday. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.
"My goals now are to keep my commitments to my players and staff and finish the season with dignity and determination. And then I will spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to help this University."
I've got a better idea for Joe Pa. He should spend the rest of his life doing everything he can to help Sandusky's alleged victims, a list that's reportedly growing daily as more come forward to authorities. He should spend his time and use his outsized profile ? however damaged it may be by all of this ? to help raise awareness about child abuse. He should spend the rest of his life helping raise money for advocacy groups that do the same.
And he should start doing all of that immediately, now that he's no longer a football coach.
That would be the dignified thing to do.
john.niyo@detnews.com

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111110/...#ixzz1dIgglUF5

[Tony G]

BTW, who gets the title for fired in a bigger disgrace?

Woody Hayes or Joe Paterno? (Moeller isn't even in the same zip code)

[Hannibal]

This may simply be what it looks like on the surface-- a brazen attempt by all concerned to cover up appalling crimes for the good of a football program.

How, exactly, was it good for the football program? Sandusky was no longer a coordinator. He didn't recruit, he was not a factor in wins and losses, and nobody's paycheck depended on him.

Let's not overreact and say that this is a problem with college football as a whole. It is, unfortunately, a disturbing trend in our society over the past few years that people are attributing all of society's problems to vague concepts like "greed" or the ill-defined profit motive of some major institution.

[hack]

On the surface, this looks like cronyism more than anything else.

[Rocky Bleier]

BTW, who gets the title for fired in a bigger disgrace?

Woody Hayes or Joe Paterno? (Moeller isn't even in the same zip code)

That's easy. Paterno. Woody punched a football player. Embarrassing, but no big deal. Paterno turned a blind eye to child molestation.

[Hannibal]

I'm actually kind of surprised that there is still this much Paterno loyalty in State College after what has happened. Especially for all of the young folks there who were in grade school or possibly even preschool when JoePa was actually coaching and coaching effectively.

I lost some of my respect for Paterno over the past decade. The guy appears to feel entitled to his job and he has long since passed the point where the program would have been better off by getting rid of him. He probably told every kid who went through there that none of them were bigger than the program, but he apparently thought he was bigger than the program.

[hack]

Paternoyurgen.

[lineygoblue]

Drew Sharp says Penn State should forfeit the game with Nebraska on Saturday...

http://www.freep.com/article/20111109/COL08/111109042/Drew-Sharp-Firing-Joe-Paterno-start-Penn-State-should-forfeit-Saturday-s-game?odyssey=mod|mostcom

[Wild Hoss]

Well as a Husker fan I certainly don't want the game cancelled or forfeitted....but I would like to see about 1,000 Pennsylvania State Police there.

Were I planning to attend, I would be thinking twice about it after the last few days.

[hack]

Oh I'd love to be there -- would be really very interesting. Of course I'd keep my mouth shut...

[lineygoblue]

I think there will definitely be an increased police presence there.

I don't think the game should be forfeited either. Players for neither team are responsible for what has happened, and the game should be played.

[Hannibal]

In between the happenings at Michigan since 2007, the cheating scandals around the country, and now this, I have come to the conclusion that our favorite sport is run by complete assholes. In between oversigning, pay-for-play, and coaches running loose ships that allow players to get paid, it's obvious that the playing field in the sport is not level. For the most part, I have quit watching non Big Ten games because I don't care what happens in other parts of the country anymore. Alabama, LSU, Arkansas, Oregon, and USC aren't playing the amateur sport that I fell in love with. Even at programs that don't cheat or oversign, you have petty ego battles (Michigan) or downright shameful behavior (Penn State). Notre Dame is coached by an unlikeable, egotistical asshole and Michigan State is practically a work release program. Tradition-rich programs like Notre Dame, Michigan, and OSU are pissing on their traditions by dressing up their players in ridiculous clown uniforms and playing piped-in music. My level of disillusionment has never been higher, and I don't think that I am alone.

I have long said that I have no problem with athletic departments being run with financial interests in mind. But it has long been my opinion that lots of programs are being run by short-sighted people who don't understand the concept of a false economy, and who mistakenly assume that the demand for college football is infinite and unconditional. Fans' loyalty to the sport is taken for granted. So is tradition that took 100+ years to build. I try to correct people who say that athletic departments have a corporate mentality. I say that athletic departments have a failed corporate mentality. Corporations like Target, Papa Johns, and Starbucks didn't become successful because they constantly fuck over their customer base, step over dollars to pick up dimes, and water down their product in an attempt to find the point at which the customers walk away.

If college football loses a big part of its cultural relevance, it wouldn't be the first time that this has happened to a sport. Remember Indy Car racing? It was less than 20 years ago that NASCAR was actually a niche sport and Indy Car racing had a healthy following. The Indy 500 was an American insitution like the World Series and the Kentucky Derby. The sport was singlehandedly wrecked by one man who decided to start his own league and force anyone who wanted to race in the 500 to be in it. The sport fractured and never recovered. The NHL once assumed that people would watch the sport on TV no matter how shitty the quality of play was. They found out the hard way that it isn't true. I don't know if college football is headed for this type of swift collapse, but the factors are definitely there.

[Rocky Bleier]

Well said.

Priceless: Michigan State is practically a work release program.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Hanni, I appreciate your clear thinking on this.

JRB's post was a little too cynical for me. His notion that old people get more "indulgent and stubborn" as a means of explaining Paterno's behavior is not consistent with my own experience.

It's important to not paint a broad brush over college athletics as corrupt as a result of Jerry Sandusky's behavior and how PSU handled that particular circumstance. I do, however, generally agree with your thoughts above, Hanni, esp. the part about college football being run by idiots.

That it is, however, does not overcome the value of the sport to the kids playing it. Besides the victims of Sandusky's acts, the football players should be considered in this as well. This might be a good time to focus college football on the players and not the money the sport produces.

In that regard, steps such as limiting commercial entities ability to invest in CFB such that their contribution cannot exceed covering the cost of their efforts to put uniforms on athlete's for example might be something to look at. Same for Television contracts. As well, the NCAA needs to step up the speed by which they are remodeling its rule book and how the organization functions and enforces the rules. This incident could provide the impetus for that.