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Anyone watched “Paterno” on HBO yet?

Even though they didn't have to pay the fines, they've still have taken a huge financial hit over Sandusky's crimes (as they should).

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2017/11/13/470977.htm

Last year’s payments mean Penn State’s overall Sandusky-related costs now exceed a quarter-billion dollars.
You are correct to point this out. Many people wanted to see Penn State put out of business athletically both completely and permanently. Those people will always discount the losses you brought out. However, taken alone, although they come short of what they might have been, the financial setback Penn State sustained would have been grievous for any school, or even many companies.
 
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They lost a lot of numbers due to scholarship reductions - were banned from postseason play and became radioactive to recruits and their parents in the immediate aftermath, so there was a meaningful impact for awhile - only, in the end, not a financial one in terms of fines and not for the length of time that the NCAA had envisaged. Basically, you're looking at a little over two years of damage.


how many times must i emphasize the only sanction that lasts is losing.. If you win games at a championship level, the NCAA can't hurt you with sanctions
 
I’ve watched bits and pieces of it. Honestly, I start watching and then stop because the whole situation makes me want to vomit. I believe we’ll never know the entire scope of what happened, and everyone involved. How any PSU fan can defend, or gloss over it, is beyond me. I think Joe Pa (and others) knew some of what was going on and just chose to ignore it hoping it would go away. How PSU still has a football program is beyond me. I’ll never pull for them again.


I agree with you here. A lot more people knew but chose to look the other way. When you look at how it was handled once discovered it points to a cover up. They hammer the hell out of PSU then when the heat is off they let them off the hook. IMO this was part of a network and connected to some power.
 
The NCAA tried to give them severe penalties and the courts said that was not allowed. The court made the NCAA pay back all of the fines that were imposed, over $50 million dollars with interest, the court reinstated all of the wins the NCAA had said were forfeited, reinstated all of the scholarships the NCAA had restricted, and dissolved all of the bowls bans, TV bans etc that the NCAA imposed. Are you not aware of this? Blame the courts morality if you want, but the NCAA had no power to do what you desired.



The NCAA rolled over. They had the right to do everything they did...but chose to listen to lower courts decision and reinstate.
 
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I agree with you here. A lot more people knew but chose to look the other way. When you look at how it was handled once discovered it points to a cover up. They hammer the hell out of PSU then when the heat is off they let them off the hook. IMO this was part of a network and connected to some power.
I worked with some PSU grads in the 90s.. Several of them joked that if you walked into an ice cream parlor in Happy Valley and order a Sandusky, you get two scoops of ice cream with the cone on top.. Sandusky was never a secret in the area... Just about everybody knew
 
I liked how at the end, (SPOILER ALERT --if that's even possible) they showed where the writer that broke the story got a call from a guy saying he told Paterno about being molested in 1976 (or '78). So it didn't just start in the 2000s.

For some reason, this is often glossed over. Especially by those that still want to rationalize and minimize his role in all this.
I was going to add, that if you watched it to the end, it made it seem that JoePa knew all along but tried to play it off like he didn’t or didn’t fully understand the whole deal. I think he knew, but even if he didn’t, I still believe in the morality of it all. I get telling Curley and Spaniard, but how do you not notify the police (same goes for McCready)? If they worked at a public school, McCready would have been in deep crap because he is a “mandated reporter”, who must notify the proper authorities.
 
The NCAA tried to give them severe penalties and the courts said that was not allowed. The court made the NCAA pay back all of the fines that were imposed, over $50 million dollars with interest, the court reinstated all of the wins the NCAA had said were forfeited, reinstated all of the scholarships the NCAA had restricted, and dissolved all of the bowls bans, TV bans etc that the NCAA imposed. Are you not aware of this? Blame the courts morality if you want, but the NCAA had no power to do what you desired.
Correct. These despicable actions were outside of the NCAA's purview - they did not involve student athletes. Now the administration, and those further down the chain who allowed this to happen were rightly charged and convicted - by the courts, not the NCAA.

Similar to if a Chemistry professor committed such a crime in the PE center. Despicable, but outside of the NCAA's purview. It amazes me how many people don't understand this.

Now what the NCAA could do is sit down with the new PSU admin and "suggest" substantial "self-imposed bans" else be subject to investigations which are under the NCAA's aegis with the finest comb ever made and no leniencies allowed.
 
You're entitled to your opinion, but I must say, that is quite a reach.
Why is it a reach? Have you done any research into how these pedophile rings work, and how they protect each other? I have, and I have also read the book by Sandusky's first victim. I don't make that statement lightly.
 
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Why is it a reach? Have you done any research into how these pedophile rings work, and how they protect each other? I have, and I have also read the book by Sandusky's first victim. I don't make that statement lightly.

You do understand the difference between fiction and a documentary, right? And you do know that the MAKERS of the film characterize it as fiction, right? You are also aware that the DA made mention of the fact that Paterno did everything correctly with regard to the report he received, right? You most certainly also realize that the recent NCAA guidelines for how to treat such a report detail exactly what Paterno did in this case, right? That is: report it up the chain and step back so as not to interfere with the investigation. You also realize that the phone call that ended the movie never happened, right? Nobody says it did, including Sarah Ganim. (She is the reporter who received the call in the movie)

I think the film has taken a tragic situation and turned it into a piece of fiction that will get viewers, but ultimately skew the truth of what actually happened. You obviously have an opinion, no matter how ill-informed. Bless your heart. I have no dog in this fight personally and have a lot of criticisms for everyone at PSU, but you are basking blissfully in a pile of ignorance that is truly astounding.
 
You do understand the difference between fiction and a documentary, right? And you do know that the MAKERS of the film characterize it as fiction, right? You are also aware that the DA made mention of the fact that Paterno did everything correctly with regard to the report he received, right? You most certainly also realize that the recent NCAA guidelines for how to treat such a report detail exactly what Paterno did in this case, right? That is: report it up the chain and step back so as not to interfere with the investigation. You also realize that the phone call that ended the movie never happened, right? Nobody says it did, including Sarah Ganim. (She is the reporter who received the call in the movie)

I think the film has taken a tragic situation and turned it into a piece of fiction that will get viewers, but ultimately skew the truth of what actually happened. You obviously have an opinion, no matter how ill-informed. Bless your heart. I have no dog in this fight personally and have a lot of criticisms for everyone at PSU, but you are basking blissfully in a pile of ignorance that is truly astounding.
I don't watch movies including this one, so I am not basing my opinion on it. I am basing my opinion on non fiction books and research I have read. You can call me ignorant just because you don't like my opinion, but it doesn't change what I and many others believe.
 
The NCAA tried to give them severe penalties and the courts said that was not allowed. The court made the NCAA pay back all of the fines that were imposed, over $50 million dollars with interest, the court reinstated all of the wins the NCAA had said were forfeited, reinstated all of the scholarships the NCAA had restricted, and dissolved all of the bowls bans, TV bans etc that the NCAA imposed. Are you not aware of this? Blame the courts morality if you want, but the NCAA had no power to do what you desired.

Correct. These despicable actions were outside of the NCAA's purview - they did not involve student athletes. Now the administration, and those further down the chain who allowed this to happen were rightly charged and convicted - by the courts, not the NCAA.

Similar to if a Chemistry professor committed such a crime in the PE center. Despicable, but outside of the NCAA's purview. It amazes me how many people don't understand this.

Now what the NCAA could do is sit down with the new PSU admin and "suggest" substantial "self-imposed bans" else be subject to investigations which are under the NCAA's aegis with the finest comb ever made and no leniencies allowed.

A judge never ordered anything since Penn State settled out of court and Penn State did pay the fines. What am I missing here? Got links?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/penn-state-joe-paterno-to-get-wins-restored-under-proposed-deal/

"The consent decree had also called for Penn State to provide $60 million to fight child abuse and combat its effects. The lawsuit scheduled for trial next month began as an effort by two state officials to enforce a state law that required the money to remain in Pennsylvania.

Under the settlement, the money will remain in Pennsylvania.


As part of the new proposal, Penn State acknowledges the NCAA acted in good faith."
 
I was going to add, that if you watched it to the end, it made it seem that JoePa knew all along but tried to play it off like he didn’t or didn’t fully understand the whole deal. I think he knew, but even if he didn’t, I still believe in the morality of it all. I get telling Curley and Spaniard, but how do you not notify the police (same goes for McCready)? If they worked at a public school, McCready would have been in deep crap because he is a “mandated reporter”, who must notify the proper authorities.
Yeah, I'm still puzzled why the report about the 70's incident didn't generate more of an uproar. For me, it completely puts to rest any notion that Paterno was innocent or just ignorant.
 
Yeah, I'm still puzzled why the report about the 70's incident didn't generate more of an uproar. For me, it completely puts to rest any notion that Paterno was innocent or just ignorant.

Probably because it’s fiction. This came to light only because the insurance company fought the claim because it had no veracity. The end of the movie was a complete fabrication. That phone call never happened.
 
Probably because it’s fiction. This came to light only because the insurance company fought the claim because it had no veracity. The end of the movie was a complete fabrication. That phone call never happened.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...usation/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0f6ac9e91bee

That voice is at the center of another round of allegations against the Penn State icon a day after PennLive reported Paterno might have known about Jerry Sandusky’s sex crimes against children as early as 1976. On Friday, CNN published a report detailing the account of an unnamed Sandusky victim who says he was raped when he was 15 years old by Sandusky in 1971.

[Joe Paterno allegedly knew of Jerry Sandusky sex abuse as early as 1976]

In the story reported by Sara Ganim, the 62-year-old man referred to as “Victim A” provides the first public account of his encounter with Sandusky when the longtime colleague of Paterno was a 27-year-old assistant linebackers coach. Ganim won the Pulitzer Prize after originally breaking the news of a grand jury investigating Sandusky while she worked for The Patriot News in Harrisburg, Pa.
 
This thread will hopefully prove therapeutic to those who need to propound some theory or another.

I'm surprised that no one has yet to mention that the DA for the Centre County in PA went missing on April 15, 2005 and no one has yet to hear from him since. Some believe the theory/conspiracy that his disappearance is linked to the Sandusky scandal
 
I'm surprised that no one has yet to mention that the DA for the Centre County in PA went missing on April 15, 2005 and no one has yet to hear from him since. Some believe the theory/conspiracy that his disappearance is linked to the Sandusky scandal

Unsolved-Mysteries.jpg
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...usation/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0f6ac9e91bee

That voice is at the center of another round of allegations against the Penn State icon a day after PennLive reported Paterno might have known about Jerry Sandusky’s sex crimes against children as early as 1976. On Friday, CNN published a report detailing the account of an unnamed Sandusky victim who says he was raped when he was 15 years old by Sandusky in 1971.

[Joe Paterno allegedly knew of Jerry Sandusky sex abuse as early as 1976]

In the story reported by Sara Ganim, the 62-year-old man referred to as “Victim A” provides the first public account of his encounter with Sandusky when the longtime colleague of Paterno was a 27-year-old assistant linebackers coach. Ganim won the Pulitzer Prize after originally breaking the news of a grand jury investigating Sandusky while she worked for The Patriot News in Harrisburg, Pa.
Thank you. You beat me to it. Just because it didn't happen exactly as depicted in the movie, doesn't mean that the allegations weren't made.
 
Thank you. You beat me to it. Just because it didn't happen exactly as depicted in the movie, doesn't mean that the allegations weren't made.

The problem is the movie is not factual — certainly not the portrayal of Paterno; and uninformed people, like several in this thread are going to remember the movie without doing any real reading on what happened and understanding the complexities that occurred. The point I made earlier that seems to be lost on you is that of all the claims that were paid without much if any vetting, this one was not because it was deemed not believable.

Again, lots of people with blame to go around, but to oversimplify what happened does not help anyone move forward to prevent this kind of horrible criminal behavior in the future. Did you read or view any of the FBI profiler’s report about nice guy pedophiles?
 
The NCAA tried to give them severe penalties and the courts said that was not allowed. The court made the NCAA pay back all of the fines that were imposed, over $50 million dollars with interest, the court reinstated all of the wins the NCAA had said were forfeited, reinstated all of the scholarships the NCAA had restricted, and dissolved all of the bowls bans, TV bans etc that the NCAA imposed. Are you not aware of this? Blame the courts morality if you want, but the NCAA had no power to do what you desired.
The very fact that the university community appealed and then sued over the penalties showed me that they never really "got" it. It's not like appealing penalties over recruiting violations or something. These were wrongs that went far beyond the sport of football and it would have been a good opportunity for the Penn State community to show the world they understood that. In the big scheme of things, what are a few football scholarships and bowl games against a principled stance against the most heinous types of crimes? Just what level of crime is worth such a stance?
 
The very fact that the university community appealed and then sued over the penalties showed me that they never really "got" it. It's not like appealing penalties over recruiting violations or something. These were wrongs that went far beyond the sport of football and it would have been a good opportunity for the Penn State community to show the world they understood that. In the big scheme of things, what are a few football scholarships and bowl games against a principled stance against the most heinous types of crimes? Just what level of crime is worth such a stance?
University didn’t appeal anything. The State of Pennsylvania sued the NCAA, if I remember correctly, to keep the fines in the state, since it was from state funds. The intent, and I believe what came of the money was an institute to study and prevent pedophilia. Seems like the right approach, wouldn’t you say?
 
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I'm surprised that no one has yet to mention that the DA for the Centre County in PA went missing on April 15, 2005 and no one has yet to hear from him since. Some believe the theory/conspiracy that his disappearance is linked to the Sandusky scandal
There ya go! Now that's the spirit!
 
The problem is the movie is not factual — certainly not the portrayal of Paterno; and uninformed people, like several in this thread are going to remember the movie without doing any real reading on what happened and understanding the complexities that occurred. The point I made earlier that seems to be lost on you is that of all the claims that were paid without much if any vetting, this one was not because it was deemed not believable.

Again, lots of people with blame to go around, but to oversimplify what happened does not help anyone move forward to prevent this kind of horrible criminal behavior in the future. Did you read or view any of the FBI profiler’s report about nice guy pedophiles?
And like others, I'm not basing my opinion on the movie. That's just the most recent thing that has people talking. I agree that there is plenty of blame to go around. But you seem to think that Paterno doesn't deserve any. And you also are mighty quick to assert that many (or is it all?) of the claims are just not true. In many of these cases, the alleged victim is the only one still alive or it's their word vs another coach's. Given that PSU have lost jobs and/or been convicted for what happened, it's not out of the question that there are indeed other victims that aren't reported or absolutely verified due to lack of enough evidence. In fact, it tends to be the norm with child sex abuse cases.
 
Why is it a reach? Have you done any research into how these pedophile rings work, and how they protect each other? I have, and I have also read the book by Sandusky's first victim. I don't make that statement lightly.
Regardless of psychiatric or other theories, whatever people do at a given time, whether good or bad, is determined by the impulses they act upon, not what they think about and refrain from acting upon. And, minus action, who can know for certain what another person is contemplating?
 
And like others, I'm not basing my opinion on the movie. That's just the most recent thing that has people talking. I agree that there is plenty of blame to go around. But you seem to think that Paterno doesn't deserve any. And you also are mighty quick to assert that many (or is it all?) of the claims are just not true. In many of these cases, the alleged victim is the only one still alive or it's their word vs another coach's. Given that PSU have lost jobs and/or been convicted for what happened, it's not out of the question that there are indeed other victims that aren't reported or absolutely verified due to lack of enough evidence. In fact, it tends to be the norm with child sex abuse cases.

To be honest,the DA who prosecuted Sandusky said that Paterno had done everything correctly in this case. Did he make mistakes and miss important signs? Yes. Did he have any overt intention of covering for Sandusky? I don’t believe he did. I think he was fooled, as were a lot of people.
 
To be honest,the DA who prosecuted Sandusky said that Paterno had done everything correctly in this case. Did he make mistakes and miss important signs? Yes. Did he have any overt intention of covering for Sandusky? I don’t believe he did. I think he was fooled, as were a lot of people.
Legally speaking, he may have done what was required. What about morally or ethically? You don't think when he saw Sandusky walking around campus with other boys for years after he was told about what happened he should've felt compelled to follow up with the AD and president? How many other boys were hurt because he couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone and ask a couple of questions?
 
A judge never ordered anything since Penn State settled out of court and Penn State did pay the fines. What am I missing here? Got links?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/penn-state-joe-paterno-to-get-wins-restored-under-proposed-deal/

"The consent decree had also called for Penn State to provide $60 million to fight child abuse and combat its effects. The lawsuit scheduled for trial next month began as an effort by two state officials to enforce a state law that required the money to remain in Pennsylvania.

Under the settlement, the money will remain in Pennsylvania.


As part of the new proposal, Penn State acknowledges the NCAA acted in good faith."


"The N.C.A.A. on Monday restored Penn State’s postseason eligibility, removing one of the final hurdles in its football team’s path back to normalcy in the aftermath of the child sexual abuse scandal that engulfed the university nearly three years ago.

The decision by the N.C.A.A.’s executive committee means that Penn State will be allowed to participate in a bowl game this season, if it qualifies. It also restores all the scholarships that it stripped from the team."

The state passed a law forcing the NCAA to return the 60 million dollars to Pennsylvania, with interest.

"the N.C.A.A. announced it was withdrawing its challenge to a Pennsylvania state law that sought to redirect the N.C.A.A.’s $60 million fine from a national endowment for sexual-abuse survivors administered by the N.C.A.A. into a Pennsylvania endowment — where that money will now head.

“The money will stay here in Pennsylvania where it belongs,” said Jake Corman, a Pennsylvania state senator who had sued the N.C.A.A."

http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...drops-postseason-ban-penn-state-nittany-lions

After being sued, the NCAA rolled back the sanctions in January 2015: Paterno had 111 wins returned to him, again making him the all-time wins leader for a head coach at the FBS level. The $60 million fine will stay in Pennsylvania. The scholarship limits and post-season play ban were earlier removed.

http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/07/penn_state_football_sanctioned.html

So the massive sanctions were:
1. There were 111 wins forfeited. Those were reinstated.
2. Loss of scholarships. The NCAA had to return all of those.
3. Post season ban. The NCAA had to allow Penn State to participate.
4. 60 million dollar fine that the NCAA directed to a national abuse endowment. That was returned to Penn State with interest.
5. You are reading this as if the NCAA had a choice. They were losing in court, that is why it was done.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...-joe-paterno-lawsuit-consent-decree/21723591/


Covey also outlined that the NCAA entering in to a Consent Decree with Penn State with a fine of over $10 million causes a burden to the state government that oversees 32 university institutions.

“An institution of higher education freely giving away funds is completely different than an institution of higher education paying money to a non-governmental entity that possess the authority to demand payment,” according to court documents.

Corman said in a press release issued Wednesday he is pleased with the court’s ruling in his favor.

“It appears the Court, in reviewing the NCAA challenge, has called into question the validity of the consent decree itself,” Corman said in the release. “This is an important development in the case and coincides with many calls for more scrutiny on the matter.”

Covey argued the NCAA had “questionable and dubious authority” when issuing the consent decree, because former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was no longer working for the university and the involved children were not affiliated with the university.

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/crime_courts/article_64f2ffc6-c046-11e3-b042-0017a43b2370.html

Understand that the NCAA and Penn State were both defendants, not plaintiffs in this litigation. It was the state legislature who acted to force the consent decree's modification and the funds returned, etc.
 
The NCAA rolled over. They had the right to do everything they did...but chose to listen to lower courts decision and reinstate.


Where did they get that "right"? Numerous criminal laws were broken, but that isn't the NCAA's jurisdiction. The NCAA polices NCAA rules and no NCAA rules were broken. Don't say institutional control, because that is very clearly only applicable to repeated violations of NCAA rules.
 
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"The N.C.A.A. on Monday restored Penn State’s postseason eligibility, removing one of the final hurdles in its football team’s path back to normalcy in the aftermath of the child sexual abuse scandal that engulfed the university nearly three years ago.

The decision by the N.C.A.A.’s executive committee means that Penn State will be allowed to participate in a bowl game this season, if it qualifies. It also restores all the scholarships that it stripped from the team."

The state passed a law forcing the NCAA to return the 60 million dollars to Pennsylvania, with interest.

"the N.C.A.A. announced it was withdrawing its challenge to a Pennsylvania state law that sought to redirect the N.C.A.A.’s $60 million fine from a national endowment for sexual-abuse survivors administered by the N.C.A.A. into a Pennsylvania endowment — where that money will now head.

“The money will stay here in Pennsylvania where it belongs,” said Jake Corman, a Pennsylvania state senator who had sued the N.C.A.A."

http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...drops-postseason-ban-penn-state-nittany-lions

After being sued, the NCAA rolled back the sanctions in January 2015: Paterno had 111 wins returned to him, again making him the all-time wins leader for a head coach at the FBS level. The $60 million fine will stay in Pennsylvania. The scholarship limits and post-season play ban were earlier removed.

http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/07/penn_state_football_sanctioned.html

So the massive sanctions were:
1. There were 111 wins forfeited. Those were reinstated.
2. Loss of scholarships. The NCAA had to return all of those.
3. Post season ban. The NCAA had to allow Penn State to participate.
4. 60 million dollar fine that the NCAA directed to a national abuse endowment. That was returned to Penn State with interest.
5. You are reading this as if the NCAA had a choice. They were losing in court, that is why it was done.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...-joe-paterno-lawsuit-consent-decree/21723591/


Covey also outlined that the NCAA entering in to a Consent Decree with Penn State with a fine of over $10 million causes a burden to the state government that oversees 32 university institutions.

“An institution of higher education freely giving away funds is completely different than an institution of higher education paying money to a non-governmental entity that possess the authority to demand payment,” according to court documents.

Corman said in a press release issued Wednesday he is pleased with the court’s ruling in his favor.

“It appears the Court, in reviewing the NCAA challenge, has called into question the validity of the consent decree itself,” Corman said in the release. “This is an important development in the case and coincides with many calls for more scrutiny on the matter.”

Covey argued the NCAA had “questionable and dubious authority” when issuing the consent decree, because former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was no longer working for the university and the involved children were not affiliated with the university.

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/crime_courts/article_64f2ffc6-c046-11e3-b042-0017a43b2370.html

Understand that the NCAA and Penn State were both defendants, not plaintiffs in this litigation. It was the state legislature who acted to force the consent decree's modification and the funds returned, etc.

The money didn't return to Penn State. They paid the fines; the money just stayed in state.
 
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The money didn't return to Penn State. They paid the fines; the money just stayed in state.

Penn State agreed to pay the 60 million. It was paid to the NCAA who was going to use it for a national endowment for abuse. The state legislature balked, saying a state institution had no authority to agree to that, passed a law saying that money had to come back to the state of Pennsylvania. The NCAA sued claiming the law was a violation of constitutional rights. The Pennsylvania courts, not surprisingly, upheld their own state law's constitutionality. So the NCAA tried to sue in federal court on the same issue. US District Judge Yvette Kane sided with the state court on constitutionality. The NCAA was forced to repay, with interest, the amount to the state of Pennsylvania.
 
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I’ve watched bits and pieces of it. Honestly, I start watching and then stop because the whole situation makes me want to vomit. I believe we’ll never know the entire scope of what happened, and everyone involved. How any PSU fan can defend, or gloss over it, is beyond me. I think Joe Pa (and others) knew some of what was going on and just chose to ignore it hoping it would go away. How PSU still has a football program is beyond me. I’ll never pull for them again.
My father and sister went to Penn State and I certainly don't "gloss over it." It may be the worst scandal in college football history. It's awful and I hate that it happened at a place that was trying to be a model of integrity, but it did.

My only rebuttal is that they cleaned house, as they should:
  • Sandusky is in jail and will die there
  • The President, VP, and AD were all fired and criminally prosecuted
  • Paterno was fired and died shortly thereafter
  • The Second Mile Foundation was shut down
  • They paid hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements to the victims
  • The entire coaching staff was let-go, even though most of them had no role in it whatsoever
  • Players were allowed to transfer anywhere immediately and dozens of schools came in and poached their roster
  • The program was hit with scholarship reductions and post-season bans
  • They will live with the stigma of the scandal for decades
And all of that happened because PSU hired a former FBI director to investigate and get to the bottom of the story, and because they signed a "Consent Decree" allowing the NCAA to issue sanctions on a criminal matter that was technically out of their jurisdiction.

You think we'll see anything like that from Michigan State? How about all the other programs who have had rapes and assaults swept under the rug or victims who were just paid-off to go away quietly?

To be clear, there's no excuse for what happened. If anything, there are probably a lot more people who saw or suspected something over the years who did nothing yet escaped blame. Just saying that once it came to light, the BOT totally cleaned house to an extent we've never seen before rather than lawyering-up and just defending themselves at all costs like most other programs.
 
My father and sister went to Penn State and I certainly don't "gloss over it." It may be the worst scandal in college football history. It's awful and I hate that it happened at a place that was trying to be a model of integrity, but it did.

My only rebuttal is that they cleaned house, as they should:
  • Sandusky is in jail and will die there
  • The President, VP, and AD were all fired and criminally prosecuted
  • Paterno was fired and died shortly thereafter
  • The Second Mile Foundation was shut down
  • They paid hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements to the victims
  • The entire coaching staff was let-go, even though most of them had no role in it whatsoever
  • Players were allowed to transfer anywhere immediately and dozens of schools came in and poached their roster
  • The program was hit with scholarship reductions and post-season bans
  • They will live with the stigma of the scandal for decades
And all of that happened because PSU hired a former FBI director to investigate and get to the bottom of the story, and because they signed a "Consent Decree" allowing the NCAA to issue sanctions on a criminal matter that was technically out of their jurisdiction.

You think we'll see anything like that from Michigan State? How about all the other programs who have had rapes and assaults swept under the rug or victims who were just paid-off to go away quietly?

To be clear, there's no excuse for what happened. If anything, there are probably a lot more people who saw or suspected something over the years who did nothing yet escaped blame. Just saying that once it came to light, the BOT totally cleaned house to an extent we've never seen before rather than lawyering-up and just defending themselves at all costs like most other programs.
Nice rebuttal.
 
My father and sister went to Penn State and I certainly don't "gloss over it." It may be the worst scandal in college football history. It's awful and I hate that it happened at a place that was trying to be a model of integrity, but it did.

My only rebuttal is that they cleaned house, as they should:
  • Sandusky is in jail and will die there
  • The President, VP, and AD were all fired and criminally prosecuted
  • Paterno was fired and died shortly thereafter
  • The Second Mile Foundation was shut down
  • They paid hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements to the victims
  • The entire coaching staff was let-go, even though most of them had no role in it whatsoever
  • Players were allowed to transfer anywhere immediately and dozens of schools came in and poached their roster
  • The program was hit with scholarship reductions and post-season bans
  • They will live with the stigma of the scandal for decades
And all of that happened because PSU hired a former FBI director to investigate and get to the bottom of the story, and because they signed a "Consent Decree" allowing the NCAA to issue sanctions on a criminal matter that was technically out of their jurisdiction.

You think we'll see anything like that from Michigan State? How about all the other programs who have had rapes and assaults swept under the rug or victims who were just paid-off to go away quietly?

To be clear, there's no excuse for what happened. If anything, there are probably a lot more people who saw or suspected something over the years who did nothing yet escaped blame. Just saying that once it came to light, the BOT totally cleaned house to an extent we've never seen before rather than lawyering-up and just defending themselves at all costs like most other programs.
Good points here. While some people will forever vilify PSU for this (and I'm not going to tell them how to feel), I've tried to remember the points that you made here. No coach or administrator that had anything to do with the scandal is here now.

Now if they keep pushing to have Paterno's statue returned, my feelings may change...
 
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