Freeh Report on PSU - open thread
Freeh Report release this morning at 9am on the PSU Sandusky scandal.
Freeh Report text:
http://www.thefreehreportonpsu.com/REPORT_FINAL_071212.pdf
Freeh Press Release on Report (summary of findings):
http://www.thefreehreportonpsu.com/Press_Release_07_12_12.pdf
Live coverage of press conference at 10am (one of these links should work):
http://www.witf.org/regional-a-state-news/live-audio-video-and-interactive-coverage-of-freeh-report
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8732365
Deadspin obtained drafts of Freeh preparation for Q & A at today's press conference:
This. If they want to release some statement about waiting to see all the facts come out before judging or whatever, that's fine, but why do they feel the need to jump out in front of every outlet with such blatant denial of everything that's being proven correct. Every time I see Jay Paterno speak on TV I get angrier and angrier.
Who did JoePa think he was fooling when he told the public AND the grand jury last year that he had no idea of the 1998 investigation until 2011? He was the king of the whole state of Pennsylvania. If one of his coaches was being investigated, he would be the first to know. Everyone knew that. And now it's been proven that he knew it. Perjury. There's no way the Paterno family can spin this now.
If you read the statement released yesterday that was purported to be written by JoePa before he died, it's pretty disgusting that after all that has come to light he still didn't get it. He was still putting the institution and football above the victims. Sadly, such blind devotion was probably what prevented any action that may have stopped Sandusky earlier. The whole situation is just depressing beyond words.
"He was still putting the institution and football above the victims. Sadly, such blind devotion was probably what prevented any action that may have stopped Sandusky earlier."
is so on the money.
To me JoePa became so wrapped up in his own legacy that everything else became dim and ignorable.
IMHO
has been a little too loud and a little too vocal about protecting dear old dad's reputation. I'm not suprised by these findings and wouldn't be surprised if it were much deeper and much more sinister.
This school can not be allowed to remain in the B1G. At the very least, they should be suspended from conference football for several years until they fix whatever the hell is going on in that creepy little town.
The question is, how do they even move on from this? Joe Paterno was that school's whole legacy. They don't have any other legendary figures from the past to look to. If the legend of Joe Pa crumbles, the whole school goes down with him since they are so intertwined. This is all just so sick, pathetic, and sad. .
I don't know which entity should step in to make it happen -- both the B1G and NCAA would be acting entirely within the scope of their legitimate mandate -- but Penn State really shouldn't be playing football in 2012.
The report confirms what most of us suspected, which is that Sandusky was eased out mid-career because Paterno and Spanier knew he was a child molester.
Sickening.
Does anyone besides myself find it odd that the district attorney who decided not to prosecute Sandusky in 1998 has now been missing for several years and is presumed dead? The whole thing was a cover up from top to bottom.
That DA was also involved in quite a few mob trials
The DA may have been involved in many other prosecutions. But all of Penn State's actions were mob like. They justified these intolerable actions because of the bottom line. They covered up the story at every level. They refused to diminish the reputation or harm any of the top guys until the very end.
The details are indeed strange. Since the day that this scandal broke I've compared the situtation to the scandal that went down at the Texas Youth Commission here in Austin. In a nut shell, the TYC was absolutely infested -- from top to bottom -- with suspected and even convicted pedos. They were throwing after hours "rape parties" in the facility, and like the PSU/Sandusky situation, there were many circumstances in which people turned a blind eye to the situation.
My point is that this is NOT limited to Sandusky -- these sick bastards travel in packs. They need others to be complicit, to cover up, and to participate to make their pathology seem normal. There are myriad of scandals that mirror the PSU scandal almost exactly. As I mentioned, scandals like TYC -- also check out the Belgian Cabinet child sex scandal -- are disturbingly common.
A prosecutor stumbles upon a powerful pedo hive whose tentacles extend into the highest seats of power at PSU, the city, county, and state. Criminal profiling is all about patterns of behaviors, and it is rare when these situations defy the patterns -- there have been reports of similar "sex parties" involving Sandusky and "rich boosters." There is little doubt in my mind that Gricar's disappearance is associated with his attempts to uncover all those that were involved -- he dug too deep and had to be silenced.
Sandusky is for sure a monster, but I think he is a mid-level fall guy who is toeing the line to keep his more powerful cohorts anonymous. Unless he's kept in complete isolation in prion, I fully expect him to be killed very soon after arriving. It will be explained away as a typical to a pedo in prison, but it will likely be to insure that he cannot name names. In fact, I am surprised that he's not hung himself or hard a heart attack already.
from my twitter feed, it's rough:
Stweart Mandel @sImandel : Penn state received word that the indictment was coming around Oct 27 last yr. On Oct. 29 Sandusky attended PSU game, in Nittany Lion Club
Charles Robinson @charlesRobinson The Freeh report's criticism of Penn State's compliance structure provides footing for a major investigation by the NCAA
Andy Staples @Andy_Staples In his list of retirement requests, Sandusky asked for "the opportunity to run a football camp for middle school youth."
@bubbaprog: Realize Paterno's nonchalant response to McQueary in 2001 is due to him having known Sandusky abused kids for three years.
@DanWetzel Penn St failed to follow Cleary Act for reporting crime. This while Graham Spanier was head of NCAA Board of Directors.
And Wetzel's first article: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--freeh-report-penn-state-key-findings-joe-paterno-jerry-sandusky-.html
He's done a good job reporting on all of this. If you don't have time to read the whole thing, his article does a good job summarizing
: Penn state received word that the indictment was coming around Oct 27 last yr. On Oct. 29 Sandusky attended PSU game, in Nittany Lion Club
Unbelievable. This alone speaks volumes. Even when the cops told them Sandusky was going to be a wanted man for child molestation, they didn't give a sh*t.
Had Paterno lived, I wonder if he would have potentially faced criminal prosecution. From a quick read of the report, it seem Paterno knew what was going on in 1998, although he denied this claim. Obstruction/perjury?
Screw him and the rest of the enablers that let scumbag Sandusky ravage children for over a decade. I hope he rots in hell.
Guy who pisses me off the most: Schultz. One, he's a bald-faced liar ("gee, I had no idea there was a '98 investigation.") That right there should jump him to the top of the shit list. Two, he's the guy in charge of the campus police. When Paterno goes to him and tells him, hey, this is what I was told, you have to admit Paterno could have a reasonable expectation that by telling the head of the campus police, he's doing what he needs to do and it'll be properly taken care of. Not everything JoePa did was right but Schultz is a university VP, the head of campus police, and supposed to be sort of a watchdog on guys like the AD Curley.
The report lumps Spanier, Schultz, Curley, and Paterno all in one, but IMO there are varying levels of culpability here and Schultz is #1 in my book.
Respectfully disagree. JoePa is my public enemy #1 as he held the most power and had the widest circle of influence over the lack of action. Shultz may have held the most direct responsibility but make no mistake, if JoePa wanted the investigation to proceed it would proceed and if he wanted it stopped, it would be stopped - Shultz or no Shultz.
You honestly believe that if Shultz had ignored the great and wonderful Paterno's wishes and moved forward he'd still have job 10 minutes later? I don't. He was a titular figurehead at best; a minion at worst, title notwithstanding, and the King got exactly what he wanted.
Sorry, but you're asking me to think that JoePa was some kind of mafia-don in charge of the entire Penn State operation. Vice Presidents are not "titular figureheads" and to call him a minion of Paterno is absurd - he didn't owe his position to Paterno's influence and he didn't supervise Paterno. He was the VP for finance and business.
I would believe this more if you were saying this about Curley, but Schultz is a guy who is and should be outside that sphere of influence. Paterno was revered, but do not confuse that with having the entire university from top to bottom on his puppet strings. Schultz ran the police department, Paterno did not. Penn State, like any flagship public university, is a massive operation and I think you're overrating Paterno's influence on how it's run.
So yes, I honestly believe "if Schultz had ignored the great and wonderful Paterno's wishes and moved forward he'd still have job 10 minutes later" and that in itself assumes that Paterno reported the incident and then somehow, outside the scope of the report, instructed Schultz to keep it quiet and only tell people that Paterno could control with his puppet strings, which apparently included Spanier.
Think about it: if "the great and wonderful Paterno" really wanted the incident covered up, wouldn't it have been a lot simpler just to never do anything at all after McQueary came to him, instead of going to Schultz and Curley and then saying "oh by the way, don't investigate"?
Think about it: if "the great and wonderful Paterno" really wanted the incident covered up, wouldn't it have been a lot simpler just to never do anything at all after McQueary came to him, instead of going to Schultz and Curley and then saying "oh by the way, don't investigate"?Absolutely not! He had to do something to satisfy McQueary. Apparently they did just enough to keep him quiet for a long time. Ignoring him would have presented a much greater risk of him reporting what he saw to others.
If he has enough power to turn a vice president into a "titular figurehead" or a "minion" he has enough power to make a lowly GA like McQueary shut up. Who would McQueary go to in that case?
I think you are vastly underestimating the sphere of influence Paterno had as football coach of PSU. Yes, i DO believe he had the ability to turn a Vice-President into a titular figurehead, especally at an institution where football was revered and worshipped. If you honestly believe that in Happy Valley the Vice-President had more real power than Paterno I think you are kidding yourself.
Different university but do you remember Tressel's last presser when Gordon Gee said he hoped Tressel didn't fire him? Gee is the President of the University and he wasnt entirely joking. Power isn't found in titles.
But what made Gee's statement so damn ridiculous was that it was a pathetic attempt to downplay his role in the scandal when the whole world could see who should've been taking responsibility. Likewise, Schultz can in no way hide behind the power of Joe Paterno for his actions or lack thereof. Just because Paterno had a ton of it doesn't mean Schultz didn't also.
Paterno is the head football coach, Schultz is the guy in charge of the campus police: Schultz did have the power to make an investigation happen, he didn't need Paterno's approval, and even if what you say is 100% entirely true (which I don't believe) it doesn't excuse Schultz from being the major culprit in my book. You** own up to the responsibilities of your job, and oh by the way, don't be a lying prick when you're asked about prior investigations and you deny knowing of them despite being heavily involved in the whole process.
**Having had someone else bite my head off on this very subject because he thought I specifically meant him when I said "you," please realize that this is the generic "you."
I don't think Paterno had the power to order Schultz around, and I find the idea that Schultz feared for his job if he investigated McQueary's accusation far-fetched. I do think that Paterno had a good idea that Schultz would go along with what he wanted. As I recall, he spoke to Curley first, so he could have known that he was on board before they went to talk to him.
As far as telling McQueary to shut up, that's a pretty risky approach. McQueary was very upset. Who could say where he would go next. Ever heard of plausible deniability? Paterno had it. I don't think there should be any of it left though.
"Paterno was revered, but do not confuse that with having the entire university from top to bottom on his puppet strings."
If i'm not mistaken, these same guys tried to fire him in 2006 and he told them flatly, "no". They left his house and stayed on as coach. That makes them toothless figure heads in my opiinion.
When you can't be fired from your job, you are the most powerful man on campus.
When Paterno goes to him and tells him, hey, this is what I was told, you have to admit Paterno could have a reasonable expectation that by telling the head of the campus police, he's doing what he needs to do and it'll be properly taken care of.
This I agree with. Unfortunately, Schultz did exactly what Paterno wanted.
As far the rest, if it's this hard for you to come to grips with what Paterno did, I have a little more sympathy for the PSU faithful and what they are going through.
Well, again: I think the logic that you and Mgrow are applying is pretty faulty. Your premises are:
- Paterno had complete control over whether an investigation happened or not
- Paterno did not want an investigation
If the premise is true, why on earth would Paterno go to Schultz and Curley at all? Why wouldn't he just sit on what McQueary told him?
Just a guess, but plausible deniability? Sounds easy and lame, but it's the main defense JoePa apologists have been using this whole time -- he reported it to his superiors. But if he did so knowing he could then tell them to hold off on the investigation, it's easier for him to say he did the right thing while not really worrying about the repercussions
ding ding ding. There it is!
Still don't buy it. The competing premises of Paterno being powerful enough to own the president, vice president, and athletic director and yet weak enough to be taken down by a lowly GA are mutually exclusive. Only one or the other can be true. McQueary could've told Curley and if Paterno owned him, it'd do no good; he could've told campus police and if Paterno owned Schultz it'd do no good; he could've told city police and they'd've just said they have no jurisdiction because it's on campus property. If Paterno is that damn powerful that he can tell the president what to do, these nebulous "others" won't have any effect either.
Also, I am not saying anyone here today is doing this, but in the past, I have had similar arguments twisted around to where I'm defending Paterno, defending child molester enablers, etc. So I want to make it clear, FOR THE RECORD, I'm not "defending" anyone.
But neither am I trying to win a righteousness contest. Just trying to look at things with some logic instead of raw, kill 'em all emotion. And the heart of what I'm arguing is that, first of all, it's my opinion that Gary Schultz is the guy who bears the most responsibility (after the obvious), and second, Joe Paterno is not some grand, strings-pulling conspiracist who worked to cover up wrongdoing; his crime is mainly ignoring the whole issue and wishing it would go away.
Paterno's crime was "mainly ignoring the whole issue"???
Based on the evidence, the only known, intervening factor between the decision made on February 25, 2001 by Messrs. Spanier, Curley and Schulz to report the incident to the Department of Public Welfare, and then agreeing not to do so on February 27th, was Mr. Paterno’s February 26th conversation with Mr. Curley.
The other three were in agreement, then they heard from Paterno and changed their minds. You work it out.
Can you think of a single incident in the last, say, three decades in which any PSU official took a decision over the objections of Joe Paterno?
When the first inklings appeared in the press of possible wrongdoing, or even gross negligence, on the part of Paterno there was unrest in the streets. The students and the community weren't rioting because of a threat to the president or the athletic director or the university, they were out there in support of their beloved head coach.
That's power--not the fictional kind that sits on an organizational chart but the real thing. Every official at any level in the university has to have known who the community--students, townspeople, alumni, donors--would support in the event of a conflict with Joe Paterno, and it's been that way for far longer than any person other than Paterno has been associated with the school. Every single person working there took their job with the understanding that that was how it was; anyone truly uncomfortable with it would never have gone there in the first place.
You've mischaracterized my argument.
1) Paterno doesn't need to "own" anybody to persuade them to go along with him. They didn't have to agree, but he could wield a lot of influence.
2) McQueary was a wild card. If you remember, he first went to his father. His father told him to inform Paterno, a man he greatly respected. You can easily imagine McQueary telling his dad of his meeting with Paterno and them both thinking he would take care of it. If Paterno tells McQueary to shut up, he's going back to his dad for more advice. The chances his dad knows someone he trusts in the state police, FBI, media and/or legal community are pretty good. Paterno took the best possible route for keeping McQueary quiet.
Freeh is pulling no punches in his presser. Yikes.
It's about time someone told the truth in this whole mess.
I'm not sure how the Big Ten Presidents can read this and conclude that PSU should be allowed to stay in the conference. They will take a $$$ hit, but the Big Ten's entire brand will be trashed if PSU is allowed to stay. How can we go about touting the "integrity" of the conference and our academic credentials with Penn State around?
Penn State's is now lower than Bob Jones University in the public's eye. Why should we have to live with a school like that in our conference?
but how would that go down? In all seriousness, I really think that it is a possibility that Penn State will not be a member of the Big Ten, I don't know whether the conference is going to have a choice. Logistically, I just don't know how that would take place but I have a feeling that the wheels may already be turning.
You do the right thing and deal with the consequences later. PSU would probably sue; the BTN network's sponsors (Fox?) will have a bit of a heart attack. The football championship game, and the contracts associated with it, will be a real challenge.
But, the B1G has a ton of money. And there's Notre Dame out there. And schools itching to leave their conferences, like Rutgers. (Missouri probably landed too well.)
Just do the right (and ONLY) thing, tell PSU to leave and not let the door hit its @$$ on the way out, and figure out the next step later.
Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. Penn State needs to go.
The coverup by the University to protect the football program is what has done it to me. I have said it time and time again that Penn State University [note: not their fans, or alumni] is doing their best job to get kicked out of the Big Ten. This report seals the deal for me.
On a sidenote, I do feel really bad for the faculty, students, and alumni that are going to take a hit of this whole scandal. You gotta think that the actions of a football coach will lower enrollment, and put a tarnish on the degree that these students and alumni are so proud of. But most of all, I feel sorry for the victims, I really hope that they can get some closure and everyone who had a part of the cover up gets the punishment that they deserve.
Feel bad for the Big Ten too. Our conference is taking a major hit regardless of whether they get booted. Both options are devastating to the Big Ten. Option 1) you keep a bunch of child rapist enablers in the Big Ten and the integrity of the conference is trashed. Option 2) you lose a crap load of money, and any shot at being a major player in future expansion talks (say goodbye to any shot at ND).
Yeah, I didnt mention that but good points.
I think the reputation of the Big Ten is much easier to fix compared to Penn State. If they were to boot Penn State and get another university that places a higher emphasis on education than sports, like a University of Virginia, it would be fixed.
Honestly, before this whole scandal broke, Penn State was one of my favorite Big Ten universities. Now they are infront of Ohio State for my least favorite Big Ten University. JoePa was a fraud. Represent with honor... I am calling B.S... If you really wanted to represent with honor it would have been reported to the police to protect THE CHILDREN, not your football team. This whole story is absolutely disgusting. Penn State has done damage that is beyond repairable to their image...