The tragedy of this entire situation at Penn State is the failure of people (legends!) to properly report and handle situations that hold no moral ambiguity. The role of college coaches is molding young athletes to eventually contribute to society outside the game, and the lessons they impart have so much to do with good decision making. A basic, fundamental level of critical analysis that Paterno and McQueery failed to execute. When you get into discussions about “will this taint his legend” or “….you have to look at the body of work” the answers are, respectively, Yes and you can’t pick and choose your moments that will reflect on you as a person. It would be great to wrap JoePa up in this tight little package of winning-est coach, eternal tenure, and old fashioned values and representing State College with dignity and grace. Unfortunately, this latest, more pressing, more blatant action (or lack thereof) seems to be the bow that ties the entire thing together.
I commend Penn State students and alumni for handling the situation with the outpouring of emotion and support it so rightly deserves.
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