The search committee for PSU's next football coach has been named.

I'm sure that Dave Joyner, Linda Caldwell, Charmelle Green, Ira Lubert, John Nichols, and Russ Rose are incredible people. It's just that they're not football people.

How do they expect to interview anyone about football when they don't know anything about football? Certainly there could have been one or two people on the committee that played or coached football, maybe even not at Penn State.

What does this mean? Am I wrong?

Utterly classless.

http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2011/11/syracuse_coach_jim_boeheim_on.html

In response to the startling accusations, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim told Syracuse.com, “I’m not Joe Paterno. Somebody didn’t come and tell me Bernie Fine did something and I’m hiding it. I know nothing. If I saw some reason not to support Bernie, I would not support him. If somebody showed me a reason, proved that reason, I would not support him. But until then, I’ll support him until the day I die.”

You're right about at least one thing, Jim Boeheim. You're not Joe Paterno.

To: All Opinion Writers

From: The Editors

Re: Stories about Abuse

Dear Writers,

Please remember the basic Rules when writing opinion stories about child sexual abuse. This will save us time and work in rejecting or heavily editing your piece. Remember, it's all about the kids, and anything that helps the kids is morally and financially responsible, whether or not it is entirely factually accurate. Anyone with moral reservations about these Rules should make an appointment to see the ombudsman in his basement cubicle.

1. Foundational to your work should be the basic assumption of a competitive press: moral outrage and controversy brings page-views and sells newspapers and magazines.

2. Avoid writing about obvious or verifiable perpetrators, enablers, or victims. They are unambiguously morally bankrupt or virgin-innocent. These people are uninteresting and do not create controversy. If there is no controversy, there is no moral outrage, page-views, etc. Therefore, avoid mentioning them if possible, unless you must in order to castigate others who obviously should have helped victims, who are the most important (see above).

3. Focus on the people about whom there are no or few verifiable facts. They probably, but not verifiably, enabled/covered up/looked the other way/were too naive to believe it could happen here/created a culture of silence/were blinded by their own interests/sold their soul to the devil. These people are interesting because they create controversy and debate about whether or not they are morally bankrupt. This fuels moral outrage, which leads to page-views and the sale of magazines and newspapers.

4. Do not waste time waiting for verifiable facts. In the 24-hour news cycle, if you wait for facts, another site will get the page-views. Get what you can, and get writing. If other facts come out later that contradict the facts/innuendo/hearsay, there will be moral outrage and controversy about the press, and you can then write about how the press could get it so wrong and ruined the life of so-and-so.. This will generate more page-views and sell more publications.

5. People do not want to read about complex, flawed, human beings. Stories about these characters do not create outrage but lead to reflective thought, which leads to fewer clicks. Remember, to the public, the world is full of angels and devils. "Is he/she an angel or devil?" should always be your question, and you should answer it, preferably in the first or second paragraph. Do not mix your message.

6. You may, after the characters of the devils and angels have been cast, write stories about: the innocent, those who may have been falsely accused, or those who don't know what to think. These stories can keep the fire of controversy alive and can keep the page-views coming. Again, do not wait to verify, because verifiable truth is uncontroversial and does not sell.

7. Nothing in the Rules should be interpreted to contradict our mission statement which reminds us of our commitment to report truth in the service of freedom and justice. Again, for questions, please see the ombudsman, who will return next month from administrative leave.

Thank you for your attention to these important matters.

I can't imagine any of the current staff will be around next year, although who knows anything anymore?

But Tom Bradley is in charge for at least the next two or three or four games, and he's acting as if what he does now matters, and not just on the football field:

"Q. I know you were planning on having a call with all the current players, their parents. What was that call like and what are some of the concerns you're hearing from them?

COACH BRADLEY: Basically we wanted to make sure that we were it actually turned out to be a very positive experience. It wasn't like it was a witch hunt where they were asking why we were playing different people. .

They had some questions regarding a lot of different things. I'm actually thinking about instituting maybe once every two weeks we have those, whether it be an academic information (session) for the parents, when we go to a bowl game, what we expect from the players.... .

There's a whole bunch of different areas that we can communicate better with our parents, be more transparent. So they understand I want them to be on the same page, want them all to hear the same thing. We give them an opportunity, we give them a number to call in, they can call in and field their questions, and they've been good questions about all different things. And I just want to make sure that we continue on that path. ."

The thing is, I don't see that he's doing this for a job next year, at Penn State or anywhere. Whether he ever coaches again in college football, today he is the head coach of the Penn State football team. And that's all he cares about doing, and being there for the kids, the parents, the staff, the program.  Decisive, unflinching, caring. That's EXACTLY what Penn State needs right now.

 Kudos, Tom Bradley. Whatever your coaching record at Penn State ends up being, you're a winner.

(Note: this is written from a Christian perspective. I understand if you do not agree; I hope that you are not offended. I am indebted to the work of Rene Girard, the French linguist, anthropologist, and social theorist, for the ideas that underlie this piece. An overview of his thought and an interview can be found at http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-10-040-i.)

Even after Europe had been Christianized in the Early Middle Ages, some of the old pagan traditions remained.

Archaeologists digging out the foundations of ancient bridges over the rivers of that continent often find the skeletons of infant children buried deep in the foundation of the bridge, a sacrifice to the angry gods who could be placated by an innocent victim.

As children, my brother and cousins and I sang the song:

London Bridge is falling down,

Falling down, falling down;

London Bridge is falling down,

My fair lady.

Take the key and lock her up,

Lock her up, lock her up.

Take the key and lock her up:

My fair lady.

What did it mean? It was a nonsense rhyme. It was something innocent from my childhood.  Whoever thought it would have been about child sacrifice?              

For years, Penn State football was something innocent from my childhood. It was a tradition for our family on fall Saturdays. Penn State usually won, and they won the right way. Penn State’s head coach, Joe Paterno, was a man of honor, as was his defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, the man who coached defenses that confused Heisman Trophy winners and produced All-Americans.

The crowning moment was when Vinny Testaverde and his powerful Miami Hurricanes confronted Penn State and a no-name defense in a #1 vs. #2 matchup in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl. Sandusky and the Penn State defense got inside Testaverde’s head, sacking him five times, causing five interceptions. At the end of the day, our Lions had defeated the mighty Hurricanes. My mom and dad, my aunt and uncle, my cousins and my brother and I stood in the freezing cold at Harrisburg airport to welcome them home. The loudest and longest cheer was for Jerry Sandusky, man of vision, man of integrity, man of honor.

Five undefeated seasons. Two National Championships. A Big Ten title in the second year in the league.   More money for the University. Major roads leading to Centre County. A state-of-the-art medical center. The Paterno family giving millions to the library and to the spiritual center. Jerry Sandusky helping children through ‘The Second Mile.’ The development of Penn State as a major research university. Beaver Stadium, the towering edifice, the 110,000 seat sacred cathedral of football.

Apparently, the pagan gods still demand sacrifice.

Starting with the apparent demon in Jerry Sandusky’s soul. If the charges against him are true, not even the success and admiration he enjoyed could not fulfill his need for adulation, could not satiate his desire for virgin flesh. He hated himself for it, maybe, but he had to have it. The innocents had to be sacrificed for the sake of the thrill, the affirmation, the power he craved.

The demons apparently successfully tempted Tim Curley and Gary Schultz as well. Faced with explicit testimony of the sexual assault of a child deep in the bowels of the Penn State practice facility, they had the chance to act, to continue a process that would free him from the prison of humiliation.  They failed in their responsibility. They did not try to save the child. They did not even try to save Jerry Sandusky. They did nothing but try and save Penn State. They failed in that, too.

And Joe Paterno and Mike McQueary? They at least had the intestinal fortitude to report the incredible act of indecency to their bosses, as was their legal and moral responsibility. On Saturday, I wrote an article defending them, and at least they did this much.

But questions swirl about what they knew, and what they should have done when nothing happened and Sandusky continued his life as before. Plenty of people are convinced of their guilt, but as of this moment, only they know if they made a deal with the devils. 

Sandusky continued his presence on campus, until just days before the demons sprung the trap on him and all of the people who had tied their lives to Penn State football.

The demons demand sacrifice, but the sacrifices do not suffice. Eventually the child who is buried under the bridge is unearthed. The skeletons in the closet are found. And the next ones on the sacrificial altar are the ones who apparently buried them in the first place, along with other innocents and semi-innocents who are dragged there with them. The ones who had trusted them. The ones who had admired them. The ones who had benefited from them. The ones who had idolized them.  

Today, a ninth victim has now come forward. People are apparently burning their Penn State diplomas on the lawn of Old Main. Joe Paterno, the winningest coach in Division I college football history, the man who coined the phrases "Grand Experiment" and "Success with Honor," two-time national champion, five-time Coach of the Year, who is synonymous with Penn State, will reportedly be forced out of his job, maybe before the end of the football season.

When that which is sacred, which kept the community united because of its power, is found to be impotent, the members of the community turn on each other with a ferocity which can run wild.

The victims do not remain silent. They never remain silent.  In Genesis 4, Cain murders Abel, and then buries him. When God asks him where Abel is, Cain replies, "Am I my brother’s keeper?" "What have you done?" answers the Lord. "Look, your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground!"

While 110,000 fans screamed and shook the stadium to the pulse of ‘Zombie Nation,’ at least nine innocents were crying out, unnoticed, unimportant, unredeemed, seemingly unheard. Nine innocents, buried under Beaver Stadium, necessary sacrifices to the idol that Penn State football had become.

But the victims no longer go unheard. Now that we can hear them, now that we know that what was built was built partly by the sacrifice of their innocence and ours, nothing can be the same again. Beaver Stadium is no longer sacred ground, but lies under a curse. The Penn State football program, the reputation of Penn State University, lies in ruins. London Bridge has fallen down, and there can and must be no more victims sacrificed to rebuild it.

Our only hope is that there is another God, a God that does not desire or demand sacrificial victims, but who hears their cries, would rescue them from their oppressors, who would give everything up, even the glory, and trade it for the shame, if it meant that one innocent could be saved.

Today, the demons are laughing at all of us. We can only pray. Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy upon us all.

If what the Attorney General says is proven to be true, then Jerry Sandusky, Tim Curley, and Gary Schultz have failed Penn State University, every student-athlete, and every fan of the program in the most egregious way possible, and infinitely more grievously, contributed to the violation of eight young men by either commission or omission.

Innocent or guilty, Penn State's reputation is permanently changed from this day forward. Penn State's athletic slogan "Success With Honor" is irreparably defiled with the alleged defilement of eight young children by an icon of the university and the charges of cover-up by the school's athletic administration.  

But an important question still remains unanswered and will be debated ad nauseaum: Despite the lack of a charge against him, did Joe Paterno, the winningest head coach in Division I history, do everything he should have done to protect children? Or should he also be implicated in the alleged cover-up?

My answer is yes to the first question and no to the second. I am not a lawyer, but three years ago I wrote the majority of our church's Child Protection Policy, and in doing so became very familiar with the requirements for mandatory reporting of child abuse in Pennsylvania. If Paterno's testimony is true, (and the Grand Jury found his testimony credible), he did exactly what was both legally and morally required in the situations in which he found himself. 

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The first weekend of November, 1997, was trumpeted by ESPN as ‘Judgment Day.’ It was the first time College GameDay ever came to Happy Valley. #5 Michigan at #3 Penn State. The Lions were weighed in the balance and found wanting. Penn State’s weaknesses in every phase of the game – offense, defense, special teams, and coaching – were laid bare for the nation to see. Michigan dominated every phase of the game. The highly-touted 1997 team never really recovered from that cloudy, cold, depressing day.

On the second weekend in November 2011, Penn State will host Nebraska. This will be another ‘Judgment Day’ for the Lions. They sit at 5-0 in the Leader’s Division of the Big Ten. People are at least considering trips to Indianapolis and Pasadena, something unthinkable in late September. Questions about the quality of their wins persist. Their offense has played, well, offensively at times. But I submit for your judgment five keys to a Penn State victory over Nebraska next week.

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When Joe Paterno spoke about "returning favors" at the Rally in the Valley this year, it pumped up the crowd in Rec Hall and the viewers across the Interwebs.

For about nineteen hours.

Then Alabama dominated Penn State on the Beaver Stadium turf, seemingly without exerting any effort, and Paterno's words suddenly rang hollow.

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