I just finished Ronald Smith book regarding the Paterno/Sandusky
pedophilia scandal. Mr Smith was a long time professor at PSU (joined faculty around 1966-67) who largely does a fair presentation of of the scandal and the psu culture that ultimately led to the occurrence of the scandal (although hints of his defensiveness do leak through at times). Mr Smith would have been better served by an editor because the book definitely needs to be "tightened up." However, he does ultimately conclude that the Big 4 (Curley, Schultz, Spanier and Paterno) failed morally and legally. The following are some interesting tidbits gleaned from the book:
1. From it earliest days psu viewed Pitt as big brother. PSU constantly measured its academic rep vs Pitt and used Pitt as the standard it had to achieve. Interestingly, the 1970s jo pa could not stand having wvu on psu's schedule and considered wvu a backwater school with idiots. Jo pa believed that wvu undermined psu's academic rep.
2. Athletically psu viewed Pitt as the ultimate measuring stick. Beginning at about 1901 onward psu scheduled games at Pitt because the revenue from these games essentially constituted psu's entire athletic budget. Also, most psu grad until late 1960 matriculated to jobs in Pittsburgh; hence psu viewed the game as a way to touch base with its largest alumni group.
3. As an example of psu's little brother attitude, their most successful coach in the 1920's thru mid- 1930s was a guy names Bedzek. Bedeck won over 85% of the psu games he coached (at one time won 30 in a row), but he could not beat Sutherland's Pitt teams. Other psu coaches in early 1900's were fired for the same reason. Despite his record of success (including major bowl games --Rose, Orange etc) psu fired him because he could not beat Pitt. PSU dropped Pitt from its schedule in the 1930s because they could not beat Pitt. Interestingly, until the 1970s psu used to play a very lackluster schedule which consisted mostly of schools like Gettysburg, Moravian, Dickenson and the like.
4. Beginning in 1901 psu began offering 75 football scholarships per year while no other schools offered athletic scholarships. Eventually in the 1920s some teams began to offer between 10 and 30 scholarships while psu kept theirs at 75 (yes the football only culture was there from the beginning).
5. At one point in the 1920s (at the time the Ivy league schools were football powerhouses) psu sought to join the ivy league conference. LOL, psu never received a response back to their request.
6. Jo Pa's predecessor, Rip Engle, was truly committed to academic excellence. Engle never had a player admitted who did not meet psu's entrance requirement. In contrast, Jo pa relied on what were referred to as a "Presidential Admit" scheme where more that a third of his football roster did not qualify for admittance but were admitted on an exception basis by the University president (essentially jo pa ran his recruiting admittance practice like an SEC school). All the while jo pa would criticize Sherrill, Switzer, et.al., and pontificate at conferences about psu's rigorous admission standards. Less than 5 % of these "presidential admits" ever graduated, but it was never explained why this never adversely impacted the overall football grad rates.
7. The book confirms that jo pa had complete control over the players. University & State College officers would never charge football players and simply report them to jo pa, who in turn would "punish them within the team. Interestingly, the book reminds us of Anwar Phillips who was suspended from school beginning the second semester from psu for raping and assaulting a coed. Jo Pa played Phillips in the Orange Bowl since the second semester did not start until 3 days after the Orange Bowl. When confronted about it Jo pa simply replied..."its none of your business" and the local press and Pittsburgh/Philly media never pursued it. Several weeks later when psu formally expelled Phillips from school due to the rape Jo pa's press release simply stated that Phillips was leaving school for "personal reasons." The author infers that "Phillips" event was not an uncommon occurrence.
8. Although psu did not report Cleary violations throughout his coaching tenure the author advises that many unreported assaults and rapes occurred under Jo Pa's watch. The author indicates that although the football team constituted around 2% of the student body a conservative estimate is that psu football players perpetrated almost 25% of the serious assaults, rapes and rimes on campus.
9. The author freely admits that jo pa had unfettered power that went unchallenged throughout his coaching tenure. The author does recount the well known attempt in 2004 when the university president, athletic director and Chair of psu's board of trustees went to jo pa to tell him it was time to step down. Jo pa told them to "stuff it" and they meekly left his home. Similarly, in 2007, the woman who headed up psu's student affairs (Tripony) sought to have football players be subject the same code as other students, including disciplinary measure. Jo pa rejected her argument and advised the university president he would cease participation in all psu fund raising efforts unless Tripony was immediately removed. Shortly after Tripony was told to leave.
10. The author explains that contrary to the Paterno family assertion (that Jo pa "despised Sandusky"), Jo pa and Sandusky had a very cordial and close relationship.
11. The Big 10 had much difficulty in admitting psu. Largely did not think its academic profile was suitable for the Big 10 and the Big 10 looked at admitting academically superior schools like Pitt or Cuse along with psu in order to make it easier to swallow the academically deficient psu.
12. The emails concerning the first Sandusky incident (in 1998) clearly show jo pa was involved in the process to make it go away.
13. The author laughs at jo pa's contention that he did not understand "the rape of man" and therefore did not understand the gravity of McQueary's report.
pedophilia scandal. Mr Smith was a long time professor at PSU (joined faculty around 1966-67) who largely does a fair presentation of of the scandal and the psu culture that ultimately led to the occurrence of the scandal (although hints of his defensiveness do leak through at times). Mr Smith would have been better served by an editor because the book definitely needs to be "tightened up." However, he does ultimately conclude that the Big 4 (Curley, Schultz, Spanier and Paterno) failed morally and legally. The following are some interesting tidbits gleaned from the book:
1. From it earliest days psu viewed Pitt as big brother. PSU constantly measured its academic rep vs Pitt and used Pitt as the standard it had to achieve. Interestingly, the 1970s jo pa could not stand having wvu on psu's schedule and considered wvu a backwater school with idiots. Jo pa believed that wvu undermined psu's academic rep.
2. Athletically psu viewed Pitt as the ultimate measuring stick. Beginning at about 1901 onward psu scheduled games at Pitt because the revenue from these games essentially constituted psu's entire athletic budget. Also, most psu grad until late 1960 matriculated to jobs in Pittsburgh; hence psu viewed the game as a way to touch base with its largest alumni group.
3. As an example of psu's little brother attitude, their most successful coach in the 1920's thru mid- 1930s was a guy names Bedzek. Bedeck won over 85% of the psu games he coached (at one time won 30 in a row), but he could not beat Sutherland's Pitt teams. Other psu coaches in early 1900's were fired for the same reason. Despite his record of success (including major bowl games --Rose, Orange etc) psu fired him because he could not beat Pitt. PSU dropped Pitt from its schedule in the 1930s because they could not beat Pitt. Interestingly, until the 1970s psu used to play a very lackluster schedule which consisted mostly of schools like Gettysburg, Moravian, Dickenson and the like.
4. Beginning in 1901 psu began offering 75 football scholarships per year while no other schools offered athletic scholarships. Eventually in the 1920s some teams began to offer between 10 and 30 scholarships while psu kept theirs at 75 (yes the football only culture was there from the beginning).
5. At one point in the 1920s (at the time the Ivy league schools were football powerhouses) psu sought to join the ivy league conference. LOL, psu never received a response back to their request.
6. Jo Pa's predecessor, Rip Engle, was truly committed to academic excellence. Engle never had a player admitted who did not meet psu's entrance requirement. In contrast, Jo pa relied on what were referred to as a "Presidential Admit" scheme where more that a third of his football roster did not qualify for admittance but were admitted on an exception basis by the University president (essentially jo pa ran his recruiting admittance practice like an SEC school). All the while jo pa would criticize Sherrill, Switzer, et.al., and pontificate at conferences about psu's rigorous admission standards. Less than 5 % of these "presidential admits" ever graduated, but it was never explained why this never adversely impacted the overall football grad rates.
7. The book confirms that jo pa had complete control over the players. University & State College officers would never charge football players and simply report them to jo pa, who in turn would "punish them within the team. Interestingly, the book reminds us of Anwar Phillips who was suspended from school beginning the second semester from psu for raping and assaulting a coed. Jo Pa played Phillips in the Orange Bowl since the second semester did not start until 3 days after the Orange Bowl. When confronted about it Jo pa simply replied..."its none of your business" and the local press and Pittsburgh/Philly media never pursued it. Several weeks later when psu formally expelled Phillips from school due to the rape Jo pa's press release simply stated that Phillips was leaving school for "personal reasons." The author infers that "Phillips" event was not an uncommon occurrence.
8. Although psu did not report Cleary violations throughout his coaching tenure the author advises that many unreported assaults and rapes occurred under Jo Pa's watch. The author indicates that although the football team constituted around 2% of the student body a conservative estimate is that psu football players perpetrated almost 25% of the serious assaults, rapes and rimes on campus.
9. The author freely admits that jo pa had unfettered power that went unchallenged throughout his coaching tenure. The author does recount the well known attempt in 2004 when the university president, athletic director and Chair of psu's board of trustees went to jo pa to tell him it was time to step down. Jo pa told them to "stuff it" and they meekly left his home. Similarly, in 2007, the woman who headed up psu's student affairs (Tripony) sought to have football players be subject the same code as other students, including disciplinary measure. Jo pa rejected her argument and advised the university president he would cease participation in all psu fund raising efforts unless Tripony was immediately removed. Shortly after Tripony was told to leave.
10. The author explains that contrary to the Paterno family assertion (that Jo pa "despised Sandusky"), Jo pa and Sandusky had a very cordial and close relationship.
11. The Big 10 had much difficulty in admitting psu. Largely did not think its academic profile was suitable for the Big 10 and the Big 10 looked at admitting academically superior schools like Pitt or Cuse along with psu in order to make it easier to swallow the academically deficient psu.
12. The emails concerning the first Sandusky incident (in 1998) clearly show jo pa was involved in the process to make it go away.
13. The author laughs at jo pa's contention that he did not understand "the rape of man" and therefore did not understand the gravity of McQueary's report.
