Penn State Scandal: Why Joe Paterno Needs To Speak Honestly About What He Knows

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno has experienced plenty of difficult days during his 46 years of leading the Nittany Lions, but never before has Paterno had to endure the ridicule he faced these past two days after his former trusted assistant, Jerry Sandusky, was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting up to eight young boys in a 15-year period.

As details continue to emerge about the case, many have begun to wonder why Paterno, who was informed by a graduate assistant of an incident involving Sandusky back in 2002, didn’t do more to make sure the allegations were handled properly at the time.

Yes, Paterno told his athletic director about the incident he was aware of, which is all he legally needed to do, but in situations involving the assault of children, the line separating legal obligation and moral obligation is certainly thin and you have to wonder why the coach let years go by without making sure proper action was taken.

The fact that Paterno is one of college football’s most cherished icons and the face of Penn State University makes the situation more sticky, and his many supporters now have to be left questioning if the man they’ve loved and cherished so much all these years is really the high-character leader they all thought he was.

To be fair to Paterno, no one but him and the graduate assistant knows what kinds of details were given to the coach at the time, but the fact is, he was the leader of the program and he has to bear some responsibility for not digging deeper into these types of severe allegations of misconduct by one of his most trusted assistant coaches.

On Sunday, Paterno released this statement.

"

If true, the nature and amount of charges made are very shocking to me and all Penn Staters. While I did what I was supposed to with the one charge brought to my attention, like anyone else involved I can’t help but be deeply saddened these matters are alleged to have occurred. Sue and I have devoted our lives to helping young people reach their potential.

The fact that someone we thought we knew might have harmed young people to this extent is deeply troubling. If this is true, we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things, and we grieve for the victims and their families. They are in our prayers.

"

The key word that struck me in that statement was "fooled."

Exactly how could Paterno have been fooled if he was made aware that something was going on?

The fact that Sandusky was barred from bringing children with him to the Penn State facilities obviously meant that officials and Paterno knew something was going on, even if they didn’t want to fully admonish him for it and turn the matter over to the legal system.

That’s why Paterno will now have some tough questions to answer regarding this whole scandal.

What did he know?

Why didn’t he do more?

And most importantly, did Paterno value the Penn State brand and his own coaching legacy more than he valued the safety of children?

Paterno has a lot of explaining to do, and it’s crucial for him to be completely honest and up-front about the whole scandal.

You can’t say things like, “I’ve been fooled” when it’s obvious you knew something was going on.

This isn’t the type of situation where you can pull a lame Pete Carroll excuse and say, "Hey, I might have been the head coach, but I just had no idea about anything that was going on."

You knew, Joe. And now it’s important to tell everyone exactly what you knew and exactly what you did to try to rectify the problem.

Today, Paterno will have his usual weekly conference call with the media at 12:20 p.m., but there have already been reports that he won’t address the Sandusky situation and will instead focus on the upcoming game against Nebraska.

Paterno may not deem this to be a proper venue to discuss his reaction, but the fact is, there’s no running away from this type of problem. This one can’t just be swept under the rug.

Whether he wants to finally face this or not is irrelevant. People want answers, and it’s Paterno’s obligation to give them.