Joe Paterno, 84 yr. old football coach of 46 seasons (counting this short one), was fired Nov. 9, 2011 by the Penn State Board of Trustees. He was fired because of a child sex abuse scandal involving long-time coach assistant and one-time heir apparent, Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky has been charged with molesting eight boys in 15 years. Some of the alleged abuses were said to have taken place at the Penn State football complex.
Paterno was fired because he did not take more action, when in 2002, Mike McQueary notified him that he saw Sandusky in the Penn State Showers with a boy (reported to be 10-years old at the time). While Paterno did report McQueary’s allegations to the athletic director, Tim Curley and a vice president, Gary Schultz, the police authorities were never notified.
In the wake of these scandalous allegations, Paterno is fired, Schultz has stepped down, and Curley has taken a leave of absence. But there is one player on this “infamous team” that, at the time of this writing, remains seemingly unscathed and is likely to be standing on the sidelines, come game time this Saturday in the game vs. Nebraska.
When Mike McQueary saw Sandusky in the Penn State Football Complex shower with this boy, why didn’t he yell for Sandusky to stop, get that young child out of the shower, and then notify Paterno? And, why didn’t he go to the boy’s parents … and then notify the police authorities, once he realized that nothing was being done about the incident?
Actually, in my opinion, nothing that McQueary would say in his own defense would excuse the fact that he did not try to save that young child and that many more boys would endure the same treatment at the hands of Sandusky because of his silence.
For me, the better question when it comes to McQueary is …. Why is he still standing on the sidelines of Penn State as an assistant coach? Isn’t it time that Mike … takes a hike?
This Is Really Debbie Barth 
You know me, Debbie. I’m not football follower but I have to say … this is the EXACT same question I asked when all this broke. Why is it that the man who actually saw the scene seemingly hasn’t even been reprimanded (if he has, no one’s talking about it) but the guy he reported it to–& who did report it to his superiors–has gotten canned? Shouldn’t McQueary at the very least receive the same treatment?
Hi Linda, thanks so much for dropping by! I just don’t get it. However, it is early on yet and maybe the dismissal (maybe charges) whistle will be blown before too long.
Clearly we all see this same discrepancy, and frustrating no one else seems to.