Joe Paterno’s side of the story

Andrew Cohen

TheAtlantic.com

Sorry, Joe, no one outside Penn State is buying it, said Andrew Cohen. College football legend Joe Paterno gave his first interview about the sexual-abuse scandal at Penn State last week, portraying himself as a confused, sick old man who simply didn’t know what to do when he was told that a former assistant had molested a child. Paterno says he reported that 2002 allegation about Jerry Sandusky to his athletic director, but didn’t go to the police or to Sandusky’s charity for underprivileged boys because “I didn’t know exactly how to handle it.” Rather than “make a mistake,” Paterno said, he “turned it over to some other people”—which he now regrets.

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None of this passes the smell test. At Penn State, Paterno was known to exert “iron control” over anything concerning his football program. So why did this supposed “moral paragon” choose silence and passivity? Did he let children continue to be abused for years to protect Penn State football—and his own reputation? Paterno may deserve some sympathy, but not absolution. “Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it, whether you are a legend or a loser.”