In the wake of the JoePa, I mean Jerry Sandusky, sex abuse scandal, Penn State has launched a full internal review to determine what went wrong and correct the institutional failures so such an event never occurs again. Multiple outside agencies from the federal government down to the NCAA and the Big Ten have demanded action and accountability. Former FBI director Louis Freeh has been brought in to head the investigation. Make no mistake, wrongs will be found and corrective action will be taken. But, will they be the right ones?
PSU in statements and actions by their new leaders seem to be pointing that the scandal sprung from the concern about the football program and the cash cow it was; bringing in money for the school and putting it above all else. Joe was the head and he had to go; and to keep this from happening again, the school can never let such a cult of personality develop – where one person becomes more important than all else. In this regards, the school has slowly but surely been distancing itself from Joe. His image will no longer adorn PSU products. Family members such as his wife Sue are given a hard time and made to feel uncomfortable about using school facilities, even though Joe is still a tenured professor at Penn State. At this pace, when all is said and done, JoePa will be wiped clean from the school’s collective memory.
All this begs the question, was there a cover-up to protect the football program?
IMHO, there may have been a cover-up but it was not to protect the football program, it was to protect the relationship between Penn State and the Second Mile. All this chatter about the football program is just a misdirection, to mislead us as to the causes so the University can point it finger at those already dismissed and need not remove any one else from their positions.
By 2002, Jerry Sandusky was long gone from the football program. However, the connections between Penn State and the Second Mile were still in place and those in power belonged to both entities. As stated in previous posts, Penn State was Second Mile and Second Mile was Penn State. They were mirror images of each other. And those in power had financial interests in both entities, gaining positions of power to line their pockets financially and otherwise. Their own financial gains from the Second Mile dwarfed anything that the football program brought in. Look at the Second Mile building project out by the University Park airport and the financial gains that those involved stood to collect. So if there was a cover-up, it was to protect the real cash cow – the Second Mile and not the football program.
The narrative has already been written by the press and Penn State is just following it so as to not ruffle any more feathers. Put the blame on Joe and his beloved program, clean house in the football program and move on so others still employed in positions of power with Penn State can retain their spots without a worry in the world to be called to account for their conduct in this sorry affair.
Good article on the Second Mile and its entanglement in the scandal: www.seattlepi.com/news/ar...o-know-2411564.php#page-1
Click for Full Text!