JoePa Soon to be Out per Pete Thamel

Submitted by Mlaw2010 on

Pete THamel of the New York Times just tweeted that Joe Pa will not coach next season. 

 

PeteThamelNYTPete Thamel

 
BREAKING: @markcviera and I report that Joe Paterno will not coach next season. Officials are planning his departure. http://nyti.ms/u4XcOz
 
 
 
You have to assume this decision has to do with Sandusky.  While it could have been handled differently and much better by him it's sad to see his career end with this hanging over his head. 
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Six Zero

November 8th, 2011 at 12:29 PM ^

If this is legit, this is officially the darkest day in the history of Penn State Football.  No rumblings here on the local level, but I'll know what's gonna be all over our media tonight.

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mackbru

November 8th, 2011 at 12:32 PM ^

Good. He did plenty of good things. But a man who gets rich and famous by branding his Moral Fiber reaps what he sews. In a way, I feel bad for him. But mostly I don't. He did something beyond the pale.

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MichFan1997

November 8th, 2011 at 1:11 PM ^

This as a positive. At the same time as the main story is the kids and ridding psu of the ppl responsible, its also incredibly short-sighted to not also consider the secondary fall out such as what happens to recruits, who coaches Penn state next year, ect. Just because those stories will and should br told doesn't mean anyone thinks they are more important than the main story

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Hoke Abandoned

November 8th, 2011 at 12:39 PM ^

Hard to believe someone like Paterno would have let Sandusky continue to have access to the facilities.  This once storied football program and coach will now be remembered for this ugly scandal. 

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BursleysFinest

November 8th, 2011 at 12:42 PM ^

  You know what sucks....when great man (and Yes I would have considered Joe Paterno a great man, at least I did before this news came out)  hold on too long and don't uphold their own values and tarnish what should be a Great legacy

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Bodogblog

November 8th, 2011 at 12:42 PM ^

But I'd title the thread "JoePa Soon to be Out per NY TImes".  I personally don't know who Thamel is

Unless of course his tweets are not representations of NYT

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Dr.Jay

November 8th, 2011 at 12:57 PM ^

I hate PSU probably more than anyone, why you ask? Because I live in PA and have to deal with their disallusional, low life, homer fans everyday who think JoePa in godlike. That being said I kinda feel for Joe, he will most likely be remembered for all his wins, black shoes, big glasses, walking around the sideline looking like he forgot where he parked his car, and having that assistant who used to fuck kids on his staff. Happy Valley = Neverland Ranch

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Needs

November 8th, 2011 at 12:58 PM ^

Andy Staples just posted a column on si calling for Paterno to be fired. 

 

I thought if I waited a few days I could look at the situation through a more rational lens. I can't. Every time I think about it, I get more angry. And I pray that I can protect my kids from the monsters, because apparently not everyone feels the same responsibility. If Paterno would sit silently for years about this, he has no business representing a proud university. Fire him now, not in days or weeks as The New York Times is reporting. I don't give a damn how many games he's won.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/andy_staples/11/08/penn-s…

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switch26

November 8th, 2011 at 1:03 PM ^

The worst part of this story i heard was "Mcquery" or whatever saw that D coordinator raping a young boy in the showers and he tells his dad, who doesn't do shit instead of stopping it or going to the cops..

 

WOW just wow

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Sopwith

November 8th, 2011 at 2:34 PM ^

I wondered the same thing.  The graduate assistant in the news stories, according to the AD's lawyer, is supposedly frmr QB and grad assistant coach (now assistant coach) Mike McQueary.  According to the indictment, he walked into the shower stall and caught Sandusky raping a boy who looked to be about 10 against the wall.   I appreciate that McQueary went to the Pharoah himself to talk about it, but... doesn't he owe an explanation for why he walked away from the scene in the shower?  He said that both Sandusky and the boy looked at him when he poked his head into the stall-- that means he looked at this kid's eyes while he was being raped and walked away.

Sandusky would have been about 60 years old at the time. McQueary is 6-4 220-something or more and a young guy.  A pic of McQueary (redhead) is pasted below.  It's easy for anyone to say what they would have done in the same situation... and I understand that.  We always like to think we'd have been heroic, or at least a good citizen.  But in this case... yeah, I give myself the latitude to call bullshit on McQueary.  He could have stopped it or at least called campus security immediately to report a rape in progress.  He walked away.  WTF, Mike McQueary? 

EDIT:  Brian's unverified voracity post today has a link to a blog that adds details to the above argument against McQueary-- worth a read.  The blogger even chose the same pic I did after a google search, probably because it gives you a good indication of how physically imposing McQueary is.  Link at http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2011/11/the-mystery-of-cowardice

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MaizeAndBlueWahoo

November 8th, 2011 at 2:44 PM ^

I think McQueary "gets a pass" for now because technically he's an unidentified witness, and getting him out there in front of people the way JoePa is (sort of) could jeopardize the case.  I get the rage and the desire for all involved to face justice, revenge, etc. but not to the extent that it affects the case against the actual perpetrator.  People who would call for McQueary to be publicly fried right now are confusing their priorities.

Edit: Although I have to add this: if McQueary really did witness a rape in the shower, why are Curley and Schultz being hauled up for perjury for failure to report, and not McQueary?  McQueary seems to be the only firsthand witness right now and technically he was working with minors since not every member of the football team was 18.  That said, the case against Sandusky probably collapses without his testimony, so....his cooperation rather than his punishment is more important right now.  Possibly he might have already been offered that deal.

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Engin77

November 8th, 2011 at 3:06 PM ^

if you read the Grand Jury report, McQuery did testify to that Grand Jury exactly what he saw, and he described exactly what he saw to Curley and Schultz back in 2002. Without McQuery's explicit testimony, there are no charges against Curley and Schultz, the shower incident could be characterized as "horsing around", inappropriate, but not a crime which requires reporting. ( "horsing around" is what both Curley and Schultz told the Grand Jury they were told, which is where the perjury charges come from.
Could McQuery have done more and done it sooner? Certainly. But he did a brave thing in testifying to the grand jury, in my opinion.

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mackbru

November 8th, 2011 at 3:20 PM ^

Well, given that he never felt compelled to alert authorities outside of JoePa, there's a good chance the prosecutors subpoenaed him (or let it be known they would do so). 

I'm not sure it counts as brave to simply answer questions about witnessing the rape of a child.

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Sopwith

November 8th, 2011 at 4:42 PM ^

"Brave" would apply to the now-adult victims coming forward to tell their stories despite the memories it dredges up.

But I wouldn't ascribe "brave" to any responsible adult who receives a subpoena to testify in front of a grand jury under oath and upon penalty of perjury if he doesn't answer fully and honestly.

Agree with previous post that says he probably got a deal on the "failure to report" charge if he testifies against both Sandusky and possibly the other two.  I have no problem with that.

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Yeoman

November 8th, 2011 at 9:02 PM ^

Because unliike Michigan the law in Pennsylvania requires the report come from the "person in charge" or their "designated agent". McQueary's legal obligation, and Paterno's, was to kick this up the organizational chart to the person designated to report to the authorities.

Again, I said legal obligation.

The law here was written to address cases where someone working with kids begins to suspect that one of the children is a victim of abuse--they notice some injuries that look like the child might have been deliberately hurt, or the child behaves strangely or makes odd comments that elicit some suspicion.

It's something of an accident that it's the applicable law in this situation as well. The law, and the institutional procedures set up to conform to the law, weren't intended for a situation where the abuse is going on in front of you. But it does mean McQueary and Paterno get a legal pass on this.

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mGrowOld

November 8th, 2011 at 3:30 PM ^

That was my point exactly in the "What about McQuery?" thread.  My favorite comment from the article you attached:

"I’m a five foot nothing middle aged woman and there’s no way I would have walked past that shower without dragging that child to safety. [Another commenter] compared it to the shock and fear that one feels when a gunman opens up on a crowd and argued that “none of us would be heroes” if we, too, caught sight of an old man buggering a ten year old boy.

My jaw just hit the floor . . .apparently he doesn’t know any normal people and normal parents. We are confronted every day by dangerous incidents involving children—when a kid gets hit on a soccer field or is injured while playing there are really zero adults who run away from the scene of the action or stand bewildered wondering who to notify.

A 28 year old graduate assistant former football player ought to have had the natural human kindness and good sense, the basic human decency, to have grabbed the rapist and secured the child and called an ambulance."

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