JoePa, or Joseph Vincent Paterno, the legendary Penn State football coach, was fired last week — and Penn State students are angry. Being a former Nittany Lion myself, I am also angry at how the situation ended up unjustly focused on Paterno, especially considering how small his role was in the situation, compared to the others involved.
To students, Paterno was more than just a football coach. At 84 years old, he had led the Nittany Lions football team for 46 years and was a beloved symbol of the university’s pride. He held the record for the most FBS victories at 409, was the only FBS coach to reach 400 wins and coached five undefeated seasons, including two national championships. To a university that lives and breathes football, losing someone like this is more than just a tragedy — it is a loss of a culture and spirit that can never be replaced.
So, what happened? On Nov. 5, former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was arrested on 40 counts of sex crimes against 8 young boys over a 15-year period. Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant at the time, said he witnessed Sandusky in the act with one of these young boys at campus facilities and reported the incident to Paterno. Paterno, required by law to report such an incident, called Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and passed on what he had been told by McQueary. Curley and Penn State Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Shultz, who was also informed, are now under investigation and have been charged with perjury and failure to report suspected child abuse. Curley and Shultz have both stepped down from their positions while still maintaining their innocence. After the scandal broke, Paterno made the decision to leave, and announced that he would retire at the end of the season. Paterno was never meant to be a target of the investigation, as he met his legal obligations in reporting the alleged incident. However, the board of trustees decided not to accept Paterno’s retirement at the end of the season and decided instead to terminate him from the university immediately with only three games remaining. They fired him with nothing more than a phone call from one of the board members to Paterno.
To most, the outcome may seem obvious and uncontroversial, but to the students in Happy Valley there is much more to it. Why have Penn State students reacted to this so much more strongly than everyone else? It’s hard to convey the intense, emotional level of Penn State pride that emanates out of State College and especially Beaver Stadium. When it comes to football, every Penn State student is part of a family. Football is the culture there. As the saying goes at football games, “It’s just me and 110,000 of my friends.” For Penn State, losing JoePa is like losing the patriarch of the close-knit family. So yes, they are angry that they have lost their beloved football coach. And they’re angry that he couldn’t finish the last three games of the season and retire normally. But there is even more to it then that, and I think I represent many at Penn State in my feelings.
As a former student, I am angry at the situation. I am angry at the way the media has played up Paterno’s role in the whole series of events. I am angry not only that they blamed the beloved coach, but also because they failed to put just as much blame on the other members of the coaching staff involved. Paterno did report what he knew to his superiors. Could he have taken it a little further? Sure, but he did not ignore the situation like Shultz and Curley did. Not only was JoePa unfairly targeted, but also most of the others involved, with the exception of the university president, haven’t been fired. Curley took a leave, Shultz resigned, and McQueary, who actually witnessed the alleged crime, now an assistant coach is only on paid leave. No action was taken against them, but the board of trustees fired Paterno, even after he had offered to gracefully step down after a historic run. They fired a legend, a symbol of the community and of the university over the phone. They didn’t even have the grace or respect to do it in person. In my opinion and that of many other Penn State students, this was a slap in the face to 46 years of history and culture, and an insult to the Penn State family.
