JoePa's Legacy Forever Tarnished

I know this isn’t a TCU issue, but it is a college football issue so I feel like I should weigh in. We have all heard what went on with Jerry Sandusky and the children he molested. The criminal trial is over and justice has been served. Sandusky will never see the light of day. That wasn’t the final chapter in the Penn State saga though. Today, Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI who was hired by university trustees to look into this scandal released his findings, and it’s disgusting.

One sentence from the report sums up the entire report and shows what kind of person Joe Paterno really is…"Four of the most powerful people at the Pennsylvania State University- President Graham B. Spanier, Senior Vice President- Finance and Business Gary C. Schultz, Athletic Director Timothy M. Curley, and Head Football Coach Joseph V. Paterno- failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade."

That sentence makes my stomach churn. I had always though Joe Paterno was extremely overrated, but this takes it outside the realm of football and into something much deeper. Joe Paterno isn’t the all-time winningest college football coach, he is a criminal and will always be linked to child molestation in my book. JoePa was more concerned about money and winning than he was the wellbeing of others. He pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes for years. The sickest part is we all know this didn’t just start in 1998. Who knows how long Joe Paterno let this go on.

A lot of people are now calling for Penn State to receive the death penalty and I agree completely. I don’t care if this is outside the realm of the NCAA or whatever. Something needs to be done. If any school has ever deserved the death penalty, it is Penn State. I’ve also heard people say, "well you shouldn’t punish the current Penn State coaches and athletes, they had nothing to do with it." Where were those people when the current USC players and coaches were punished because of Reggie Bush? How about all the other instances where players were punished for something someone no longer on the team did? It happens all the time.

Hopefully Penn State does the right thing and totally cleans house. Everyone needs to be fired and the University needs to restart its athletic department from scratch. They also need to rip down that Joe Paterno statue ASAP because it’s embarrassing.

Joe Paterno’s legacy is forever ruined, and deservedly so.