A pillar of decency falls

For all of the corruption and back-door-dealing that goes on in college athletics, the NCAA has never investigated Penn State for any recruiting violations of any kind in football. Iconic, Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno has run a clean program. His devotion to the school is such that he turned down an offer from the then-Boston (now New England) Patriots to be their coach more than 40 years ago.

However, like so many other schools, Penn State is dealing with scandal, but it's not the usual case of overzealous boosters offering money & gratuities to student-athletes, the kind that cost Jim Tressel his job at Ohio State earlier this year. No, it's far worse.

Last weekend, former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who left Penn State after the 1999 season, was charged with sexual assault. The victims were all young boys who were involved in Sandusky's charity program for troubled, at-risk youth, which has an office on the Penn State campus. Former player Mike McQueary, now an assistant to Paterno, was a graduate assistant when he first turned in Sandusky to Paterno, who then reported it to his immediate superiors. Those superiors never bothered to contact the police, and so it went on. And on and on. Those superiors, Tim Curley & Gary Schultz, resigned on Monday. Earlier this morning, the scandal claimed another victim, as it was announced that after 46 years of coaching the Nittany Lions, Paterno, who faced down detractors calling for his dismissal many times over the last decade, would resign after the season. The school owes him as much as the opportunity to coach one last bowl game. The Lions are 8-1 and one of the "surprise" teams in the Big 10, after all.

We are accustomed by now to the familiar images of a Penn State student dressed up as Paterno, with a lifelike face mask that includes Paterno's signature glasses, flanked by two others dressed as generic football players, mugging for the camera every chance they get. Paterno has gotten the honor of having a statue in his likeness erected in front of Beaver Stadium, in much the same way some pro teams honor their Hall of Fame stars (i.e. Roberto Clemente, Ernie Banks). When the season ends for the Nittany Lions, likely in January, the search will begin for a new coach, and a new era, one of redemption & reclamation in the face of scandal, will begin. It will do so without school President Graham Spanier, whom reports say may be gone before the day is over, another victim of the fallout.

We've been accustomed, also, to the stories of young boys supposedly having been sexually abused by Catholic priests. To think that this lewd, sordid behavior was going on in a pillar of higher education, one with a national reputation, would've been absurd a decade ago. Curley & Schultz stand accused of covering up Sandusky's lurid actions, all in the name of protecting the program and the school brand. Paterno has not been charged with a crime, nor should he be. Spanier, on the other hand, should, because as school president, it falls on him to be held most accountable. That Paterno was forced out isn't so much a virtual victory for his detractors, who wanted him gone years ago, but a case of protecting him and his legacy from being further soiled. Unfortunately, we live in an age where the media isn't satisfied with just the facts. They service an allegedly unquenchable thirst for curiosity and the most minute of details, no matter how insignificant it might be. There are those in the tabloid end of the media spectrum that won't be satisfied until some dirt is dug up on Paterno, even if it is fabricated for the sake of selling a few extra papers.

Joe Paterno is being allowed to walk away with his dignity still intact. The same can't be said for his bosses, who have to hang their heads in shame because they don't have much choice. They gave up their integrity & dignity when they decided one man's indiscretions needed to be concealed for the sake of protecting the image carefully built over time. They should've known that even though this was different than the usual boosters-out-of-control that have plagued other high profile schools like Ohio State & USC, that image was bound to be tarnished, somehow, some way. It's just the way it works in today's society.

You never read about things like this in smaller schools. You pray you never have to. For all our sakes.

Updated, 11/9/11, 11:13 pm (ET): Penn State has fired both Joe Paterno & Graham Spanier, effective immediately. The school simply wasn't willing to wait for the season to end and let Paterno walk away gracefully after all. A sad, sad end to an amazing 46 year run.