Column: No one deserves to go out on own terms in Penn State scandal

This is an outrage. How could this happen? Penn State is going to abandon not just its coach but also the history of the school’s football program with the dismissal of Joe Paterno.

He is 84. Let him finish out his 46th season on his own terms.

Those were my original thoughts when the Penn State and Jerry Sandusky issues arose.

I couldn’t understand why Paterno couldn’t be salvaged for the rest of the season since he was more of a figurehead, anyway.

Now I’m disgusted I ever thought any of those people should be spared.

In one of the biggest and most disturbing sports scandals in recent memory, it appears that as a coach and mentor, Sandusky abused his power by molesting young boys in his home, in locker rooms, in showers and on university grounds.

He did this for more than a decade. He abused his power as a coach and the benefits he got as a part of the Penn State athletic department to lure boys into trusting him.
Child molesters are the worst form of human beings, but this story brings a whole new type of person to light — those who know and do nothing.

After reading the grand jury indictment, it appears lots of people knew. That is when my opinion changed about what was fair. Reading about victims that hoped someone would help and then were let down by coaches and university officials was sickening.

Every news report makes it a little clearer that there was a time when these incidents should have been reported to law enforcement, not just the inner circles of Penn State.
The grand jury document claims a Penn State graduate assistant witnessed one of the alleged abuses by Sandusky in March 2002. This graduate assistant has now been identified as current Assistant Coach Mike McQueary.

He saw a young boy not just being touched but being raped.

McQueary left the locker room, told his father, later told Paterno and then supposedly up the chain it went. McQueary sat in a room and told Athletics Director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President Gary Schultz.

There McQueary was, sitting in a room with some of the most powerful people at Penn State, telling them he saw a former assistant coach rape a young boy in a university locker room. What did they say? They would look into it.

Nine years later, someone is looking into it, the people who should have been brought in years ago: law enforcement.

For more than a decade, Sandusky was able to use his position for Penn State as a shield for his actions and as a way to lure more victims to him. He knew that people in the department had to know, but since nothing was done, he continued the cycle of abuse.

Winning games does not make you invincible. Winning National Championships does not make you above the law. Too many people in this program had the chance to stop this. 

JoePa, I no longer feel sorry for you. I no longer believe you should have been able to leave on your own terms.

You and the rest of your staff and the administrators who knew deserve to go to jail right along with Sandusky.

­— cursini@indiana.edu