Media MonsterNCAA Football

Louis Freeh Says Joe Paterno Could Have Stopped Penn State’s Coverup “If He Wished”

While Penn State’s lack of response to accusations of child sex abuse against Jerry Sandusky dating back to 1998 was a failure of the entire university power structure, the most attention has been paid to late, legendary football coach Joe Paterno, and how much he was at fault. Sandusky was his assistant, after all, and while not technically the most powerful figure at the school, Paterno was certainly the most well-known.

Paterno had defenders, though, those who pointed out that while he was for all intents and purposes the face of Penn State, he had people above him in the actual university hierarchy. Additionally, he notified his (nominal) boss when assistant Mike McQueary told him what he saw Sandusky doing to a boy in the shower at a Penn State facility in 2001, which was all he was technically obligated to do.

But the actions of Paterno and former Penn State president Graham Spanier, former athletic director Tim Curley, and former VP Gary Schultz were just as much at fault were clearly woefully inadequate. And as more information has emerged about the school’s handling of Sandusky – first through leaked emails and today through the release of the Louis-Freeh-led report into Penn State’s conduct and corresponding press release summary – Paterno’s gotten harder to defend. First there was evidence he might have prevented Curley from reporting Sandusky to Pennsylvania’s child welfare agency, and today came evidence Paterno knew of the first investigation into allegations against Sandusky, but reported nothing – and later denied knowledge of the 1998 investigation altogether.

Still, though, there was the question: was Paterno powerful enough that he could have put a stop to the school’s inaction, even if he’d wanted to (which, based on the contents of Freeh’s report, it doesn’t appear he did)? A reporter asked Freeh just that at a press conference earlier today, and Freeh’s response was about as damning as it could get for Paterno:

And there you have it. After conducting an expansive investigation into everything that went wrong at Penn State, Freeh concluded that yes, Paterno really did have as much power at that school as everyone figured he did, and that in this case – the most important he ever faced – he used it not to do the right thing.

It feels a little wrong to pile on Paterno when the man isn’t around to defend himself anymore, but the results of the Freeh report speak for themselves. Paterno was a huge part in what Freeh called “the act to conceal,” and that needs to be said. Not a football scandal? There was certainly much more to it, but Paterno played a big role, he was Penn State football – and especially in the wake of today’s report, it’s hard to imagine anyone looking at that legacy so favorably anymore.