As the result of an unprecedented legal settlement announced Friday, Penn State legend Joe Paterno once again is the winningest coach in major college football.
Hundreds of students paraded down College Avenue in celebration and “409” T-shirts bearing Jo-Pa’s total wins will be available at the Student Book Store.
The NCAA’s decision to erase 112 Penn State victories was an unrealistic attempt to rewrite history, part of the wide-ranging sanctions that it leveled in 2012 and that have been under fire since. Taking away the wins on paper did not change the fact that Nittany Lion athletes had won 111 of those games under Mr. Paterno’s direction, and reinstating them is a correction of the record. Restoring the wins, however, must not be misinterpreted as an alteration of the wretched child sexual abuse scandal perpetrated by his long-time assistant, Jerry Sandusky.
Some fundamentals were unchanged by the NCAA’s rollback of its sanctions.
It is still true that Sandusky preyed on at least 10 boys and richly deserves his prison term, which should last the length of his life.
It is still true that Joe Paterno failed to do as much as he should have to prevent a climate where Sandusky could use the football program as a grooming ground to lure and then molest boys. Even the late Mr. Paterno himself had said, “I wish I had done more.”
It is still true that the culture spawned by the adoration of football and Mr. Paterno cowed grown men who feared the consequences of reporting horrible deeds they’d seen — a janitor who witnessed the rape of a child but feared he’d lose his job if he spoke up and a graduate assistant, witness to another sexual assault, who did tell Mr. Paterno. The coach passed the information along to administrators, and they still are awaiting trial on related cover-up charges.
Much has changed at Penn State. Former Sen. George J. Mitchell, who had been working with the university to assure its compliance with the consent decree, has credited Penn State with significant advancements in creating an ethical culture and enhancing security. He will continue those efforts under the new settlement, which mandates that the university pay $60 million toward the prevention of child sexual abuse in Pennsylvania.
But let’s not forget the horrors that were committed within earshot of the winningest coach in major college football. And let’s not pretend that everything’s fine now.
First Published: January 20, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
