PSU: Paterno firing over "failure of leadership"

In this Nov. 6, 2010 file photo, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno is carried off the field by his players after getting his 400th collegiate win, a 38-21 victory over Northwestern, in State College, Pa. / AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

(AP) STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Penn State trustees, faced with continued alumni and student criticism for firing football coach Joe Paterno, on Monday released a statement intended to underscore their rationale for his ouster: "failure of leadership" for his actions following a reported sex assault involving former assistant Jerry Sandusky.

The board found that while Paterno fulfilled a legal obligation to tell his superiors that an employee claimed Sandusky abused a young boy in a shower, it said Paterno should have done more.

"We determined that his decision to do his minimum legal duty and not to do more to follow up constituted a failure of leadership by Coach Paterno," the trustees wrote.

The trustees report comes after months of criticism from Penn State alumni over Paterno's firing in November. The Hall of Fame coach died in January after a brief bout with lung cancer.

In its statement, the trustees said they had been asked by the Penn State community to "state clearly" the reasons for Paterno's dismissal and the removal of the university president.

Sandusky is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year span. He has denied the allegations.

Then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary's claim he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a young boy inside a football building on the university campus is one of 10 such allegations brought by the state attorney general's office.

The first round of charges against Sandusky was filed Nov. 5, four days before Paterno was fired and university President Graham Spanier was forced to resign.

The board also apologized for the decision to fire Paterno by phone late that night — a decision that drew the ire of many of the late coach's supporters.

"We saw no better alternative," the trustees wrote. "Because Coach Paterno's home was surrounded by media representatives, photographers and others, we did not believe there was a dignified, private and secure way to send Board representatives to meet with him there."

The trustees said they planned to apologize to Paterno for the way he was being dismissed but the coach ended the call before the message could be delivered.

Phone messages left for Spanier and the Paterno family were not immediately returned.

The board also said it decided not to wait until the next morning, saying it feared leaks would have Paterno learning his fate before an official announcement.

Bitterness over Paterno's removal has turned up in many forms, from online postings to a note placed next to Paterno's statue at the football stadium blaming the trustees for his death. A newspaper headline that read "FIRED" was crossed out and made to read, "Killed by Trustees."

Paterno missed his team's last three regular season games.

[rightontarget]

Those administrative cronies are only interested in covering their own a$$es and making themselves "acceptable" for future enrollees. The way they treated JoePa after all the years he gave that school is just unforgivable. He was not just about sports but about education. I remember back in the day when ALL of us were instructed how to "handle" any sexual "harrassment" or "unappropriate behavoir" alligations or any other of this type of thing. Law suits were rampent for false accusations and I, along with others in my profession, were required to attend a "seminar" addressing these issues. We were instructed to go directly to the Human Resources department or the Administration of your employer and that it was THEIR job to contact proper authorities for an investigation and charges. Joe did exactly what EVERYBODY during that time frame was instructed to do. Joe was NOT the child molester. He did what he was supposed to do being that he didn't witness the incident himself. I think that the "Godfathers" of the school, unknown to him, were looking for a way to get rid of him anyway. Personally I have thrown all my Penn State memorabilia in the trash and urge any alumni to stop all contributions. Parents, if you are thinking of sending your kid there, think again. I hope this hits them where it hurts, in the finances.

[636anton33]

They need to point the finger at someone and it is easy to blame someone dead because he can't speak up for himself. I say trusties need to all be replaced. Paterno had the person that saw it go to the campus police chief duhhhh!!!! The school did not do their job!

[credibility2]

McQueary should have also been fired. He was old enough to know what he witnessed was wrong, yet he chose not to go to the police as he should have. It was sexual assault, not someone stealing cookies from the jar. PSU is spineless in not also firing McQueary. McQueary is just as culpable for the continuation of these assaults.

[margroks]

He was elderly and had cancer, after all. I doubt this was the cause of his death. He had said he was ging to retire anyway, didn't he?

Many people in the chain of command should have done more but Paterno was defintiely one of them and he said so later. He was a very powerful man in the Penn State hierarchy and while no one is accusing him of the crime, he should have done more in terms of following up the on the whole issue to make sure it was not being summarily dismissed. I also think some information got garbled in the telling and re-telling up that chain, just like playing telephone, and that was an issue as well. But Paterno did hear from the eyewitness directly and he knew what the stakes were and how serious the alegations were. Yes, he could have gone further and he knew it.

[lindoram7]

Everyone seems to be forgetting is that Joe could legally do so much without making it hurt the case. Joe did not do the act-Sandusky did. McQueary did not do the act-Sandusky did. The two university officials who are also charged knew about it and ultimately hid the facts and lied under oath about it. Spanier had been looking for years to get rid of Joe. That is fact. He got what he wanted-the removal of Joe. I am not saying that Joe was an angel. Joe would never have intentionally hurt a child-any child. When you are working with young adults (18-22/23 year olds) you never suspect having to deal with an issue of sexual child abuse (which occurs when the victim is considered a minor child or under the age of 18) on a college campus. This proves that it can happen anywhere. Maybe Joe did not want to believe or think that such a thing would be happening there and more importantly involve a colleague. When Joe said that he wished that he done more I think that he wished he had seen the signs. For those of you who sit in your ivory towers and say I would have done more, would you be willing to jeopardize a case of child sexual abuse just to satisify your own inflatted ego? Why are you not condemning Mrs. Sandusky because at least one of the known incidents occurred in her home with her there. The victim screamed out and she heard but did nothing. Why are you not wanting to go after her? Better yet, why not Corbett? He was A.G. when this got started and knew about it. It only came out once he took office and had already accepted campaign contributions from both the Second Mile organization (which Sandusky was very much apart of and has been hinted that is how he got his "boys") and the Board of Trustees at Penn State. For those of you who do not know the workings of PA politics should do some research before you make idle comments. There has been alot of good to come out of Penn State and through The Paternos. People have been able to go to college who may not have been able to either because they could not financially or because of their academic ability was not were it should have been. (Sue was know to tutor students and not just the football players.) Joe and Sue Paterno helped to raise funds for the college library, scholarships, an excellent medical school/children's hospital/research center which is based out of Hershey, and other vital community programs that many have benefited from. Joe probably blamed himself for not seeing the signs but then gain Sandusky fooled even the experts. There are always moments in our life when we wish we could go back and change things. I think that was Joe's guilt. He wished he could have gone back and gotten himself to see the signs. Would these children have shown tale-tale signs of this? Yes. Why didn't the case workers (because many of the victims had them), other staff at the university, and the families of these boys do nothing? Why did Mrs. Sandusky do nothing? Why did Corbett do nothing? Why did Spanier, Schultz, Curley do nothing? Why did the BoTs do nothing? We all talk about the morale high road. Corbett keeps saying that Joe had a morale obligation to do more. Corbett as A.G. had the highest morale obligation to these victims to be the one person to stand up and become their voice but he did not. He kept his mouth shut and took the money from the Second Mile and the BoTs. Corbett, until your backyard is clean and you have taken that morale high ground at every moment in your life then that is when you can discuss about morales. I have a bachleor's degree in Criminal Justice. I can honestly say that I am disappointed-not in Joe-in those of authority at the university and of the government on every level-local, state, and federal-who did nothing and allowed it to go on. I can honestly say that if Joe had gotten involved or took everyone up on the morale obligation to do more, it may have ruined the case. If that were to have happened the same ones who wanted Joe to take the morale high road would have been wanting him to be arrested for ruining the case. Should Joe have done more? Joe did what he could do here. He was not God, a cop, a social worker or a doctor. He was a man-flawed and imperfect. Is he discussing this issue with his Maker? Probably. And that is between him and God. The way the BoTs (this includes Corbett) handled dismissing Joe was disrespectful to the man who took Penn State from an agricultural college to the institution that it is today. Joe did not blame the students or other university staff. Joe continued to give to the university and ironically the university continued to accept money from Joe and Sue Paterno. Joe loved the staff and especially the students. He was proud to be a Penn Stater and he was proud of the students-past and present. The thing that gets men like Corbett mad is the fact that Joe will have a longer legacy then they will. Because he positively touched the lives of many.

[Montana5]

Can you rephrase that?

[jetreal]

i'm tired of hearing about the "minimum required by law". if you follow the laws of our state and it's not enough then the laws of our state are seriously flawed. why do we have laws that are not adequate? why aren't you screaming about that? why is the governor not assigning blame to our legislature and himself for "minimum, inadequate laws"? you want the university to lead? lead that.

[AnnieDanny]

It seems to me that this Board had a failure of leadership too. Could have been handled better and differently, IMO.

This entire situation will definitely become THE guidebook on how NOT to handle sensitive problems, in the future. All the way through it could have been handled better.

[lesserof2evil]

Yeah, let's just win football games at any cost. Why let a few child sexual abuse get in the way? American exceptionalism at its finest. LOL

[OnTheRoad01]

If 'Failure of Leadership' is reason to fire someone, then I say we 'Fire' Congress!!!!

[AnnieDanny]

Yeah, that's definitely a good point.

[Yes_ABWH_Fan]

More Lies. IMO, Gov. Corbett, the lead force on the BoT, steered them to this decision, as an attempt to deflect criticism of his own failure during the first pre-Paterno-involved investigation of Sandusky, when, as Pa State Attorney General, he put the brakes on THAT investigation. IMO, he is also involved in the disappearance of Centre Cty. DA Ray Gricar.
Yet NO ONE in the press is investigating why Corbett was smiling in press interviews while telling about the decision to fire Paterno.
The bid to deflect attention worked beautifully, for a press that no longer INVESTIGATES, but instead is driven only by salacious ratings, or is bought off.