There are likely not many smiles in Happy Valley this morning.
A shroud hangs over Penn State, its tradition-steeped football program, and legendary head coach Joe Paterno.
The familiar chant, “We are … Penn State,” is now being replaced by, “We are … what exactly?”
That is just part of the fallout from a child sexual abuse investigation that has shattered the tranquil calm over the central Pennsylvania college community known simply as Happy Valley.
Paterno’s former top assistant, defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, has been charged with 40 counts relating to the sexual abuse of children.
Two key Penn State executives, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, vice president of finance and business, were charged in a cover-up. Last night both stepped down so they could focus on their defense.
Paterno, who testified before the grand jury that investigated the case, was not charged. The grand jury report does not seem to implicate him in wrongdoing.
Of course, that would be in a court of law. The court of public opinion will likely be another matter, especially with quotes like this one:
“This is a case about a sexual predator who used his position with the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys,” said Attorney General Linda Kelly.
Sandusky is believed to have preyed on boys through the charity foundation he and his wife started and ran. The Second Mile focused on at-risk youths. He resigned from Paterno’s coaching staff in 1999, despite being widely considered to be the heir apparent to the head coaching job. He continued to keep an office on the campus and ran youth camps there until he was banned from the campus after charges were filed this weekend.
As is usually the case in these instances, the problem for the school amounts to the old question: Who knew what and when did they know it.
From the grand jury report, it seems clear that several people reported seeing Sandusky involved in sex acts with young boys. Reports were made to university officials. It seems apparently that Paterno was aware of such reports.
None of them reported the acts to police. Those would seem to include the legendary head coach.
School officials maintain they did everything they were required to do.
That may be the case. It won’t do much to ease the public relations nightmare the school faces.
A program that has always been held up as squeaky clean now has been tarnished.
Forget Paterno’s 409 victories, the most in Division I college football history. Forget the fact that the Nittany Lions, at 8-1 and 5-0 in the conference, are in the hunt for another Big 10 title.
All of that is now smudged with the ugly details of this case.
In a statement last night, Paterno said he was “shocked and saddened” by the charges. “If this is true, we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things, and we grieve for the victims and their families. They are in our prayers.”
He wasn’t the only one fooled.
Who knew what and when did they know it? It’s almost inconceivable that this was going on for as long as it did, and incidents were apparently witnessed and reported to university officials, and not one person took that information to the police.
If that is indeed the case, it will be a long time before the smiles return to Happy Valley.
And when they do, they may do so without the visage of Joe Paterno.
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