Society and Philosophical Aspects of Physical Activity Narrative of Joe Paterno Scandal
Fletcher Coffman
9/18/12
PHED 243
Paper #1
On November 11, 2011, Penn St. head football coach Joe Paterno was fired after 46 seasons with the Nittany Lions. He was fired because according to the Penn St. trustees, “he didn't meet a moral obligation to do more to alert authorities about a child sex abuse allegation against a retired assistant coach” (Armas, 2012). Many believe that do to his lack of action, he should be held equally responsible for the many sexually offensive crimes committed by Mr. Gerald Sandusky. Many others were brought into the firing lanes including: President Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley, and senior vice president for business and finance Gary Schultz. While Paterno and Spanier were fired by the university, Curley and Shultz resigned from their positions. While the University stood strong with their decision to do away with the beloved and clear cut leader of the school’s athletic program, family, friends, former players, and of course the fans were left in disarray and with some skepticism. With all the facts and evidence from witnesses and others that testified to the events that occurred, nowhere did any factual testimony state that Joe Paterno did not report the problems to his supervisors.
In fact, Joe Paterno did report these allegations to his supervisors and in theory did what he was supposed to do. He didn’t know if these allegations on Mr. Sandusky were true or not. In every business, school system, and major organization, there are certain protocols that are to be followed by people within that set organization. In his biography, when prompted with the question of “should you have called the police?” in reference to Sandusky he replied with “"To be honest with you, I didn’t”, “I tried to look through the Penn State guidelines to see what I was supposed to do. It said that I was supposed to call Tim [Curley]. So I did"(Hockensmith, 2012). Someone does not just take unproven allegations straight to the
9/18/12
PHED 243
Paper #1
On November 11, 2011, Penn St. head football coach Joe Paterno was fired after 46 seasons with the Nittany Lions. He was fired because according to the Penn St. trustees, “he didn't meet a moral obligation to do more to alert authorities about a child sex abuse allegation against a retired assistant coach” (Armas, 2012). Many believe that do to his lack of action, he should be held equally responsible for the many sexually offensive crimes committed by Mr. Gerald Sandusky. Many others were brought into the firing lanes including: President Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley, and senior vice president for business and finance Gary Schultz. While Paterno and Spanier were fired by the university, Curley and Shultz resigned from their positions. While the University stood strong with their decision to do away with the beloved and clear cut leader of the school’s athletic program, family, friends, former players, and of course the fans were left in disarray and with some skepticism. With all the facts and evidence from witnesses and others that testified to the events that occurred, nowhere did any factual testimony state that Joe Paterno did not report the problems to his supervisors.
In fact, Joe Paterno did report these allegations to his supervisors and in theory did what he was supposed to do. He didn’t know if these allegations on Mr. Sandusky were true or not. In every business, school system, and major organization, there are certain protocols that are to be followed by people within that set organization. In his biography, when prompted with the question of “should you have called the police?” in reference to Sandusky he replied with “"To be honest with you, I didn’t”, “I tried to look through the Penn State guidelines to see what I was supposed to do. It said that I was supposed to call Tim [Curley]. So I did"(Hockensmith, 2012). Someone does not just take unproven allegations straight to the