EDITORIAL: Joe Paterno death recasts light on serious allegations, issues
Make no mistake, a legend is no longer with us.
The Sunday passing of Joe Paterno, the winningest coach in college football history, was a tough pill to swallow for many. Paterno, 85, was a fixture on the sidelines at Penn State, one many admired and respected. His knowledge of the game and brazen personality — he wasn't afraid to tell it like it was — made him an icon in the Big Ten Conference and around the country.
Like his colleagues and followers in State College, Pa., we also celebrate his decorated coaching career. Paterno won 409 games and helped lead 250 players to the National Football League. No one else in college football history had that type of positive influence, both on and off the field, with young men.
Paterno's death, however, also recasts light on the string of serious allegations against Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant coach under him in the '80s and '90s alleged to have molested 10 boys during a 15-year span. While it has been reported Paterno was made aware of the illegal and extremely inappropriate actions going on within his program, and he reported them to university officials, no action was ever taken.
Could Joe Paterno have done more? Of course he could have, and should have.
But his passing, while sad and unfortunate, should serve as a wake-up call to other universities.
The culture many university administrators and public relations officials cultivate of putting their organization first and treating it like a business simply cannot get in the way of maintaining integrity and protecting those who cannot protect themselves.
If the administrators whom Paterno had informed of Sandusky's alleged crimes had taken the necessary investigation seriously, they could have prevented more evil being done, and come out as the good guys in this story.
Instead, secrecy justified by claims of "protecting a legend" allowed several boys to be violated while the truth waited to be uncovered.
So when the detestable truth of the matter rose to the surface, Paterno's legend was indeed tarnished. Instead of dying at the head of the team he brought to national prominence, the team which under his direction became the starting point of many legends of their own, he died a pariah.
Paterno did not do enough, but those who tried to protect his and the school's reputation by sweeping the problem under the rug did more than any to dim their shining legacy.
