Moving Forward... the Paterno Way
On Sunday, August 12, 2012, the Penn State Board of Trustees allowed nearly 9,000 of us to bear witness to their apathy; to their lack of allegiance to all that Penn State is, was, and should always be; and to their profound inability to lead that has brought about the mess in which we now find ourselves and Dear Old State. In essence, these people who are tasked with protecting the integrity of our beloved University did nothing more than embrace the false assumption of the Freeh report that we have a "culture problem" and we need to "move forward." Though surely we should not be surprised by what we heard, most of us are more angry than ever for having heard it. Now it is time for us to ask ourselves the one question any football-fevered, idol-worshipping group of lemmings must ask to survive in times of turmoil: What would JoePa do?
We all know what JoePa would do, he would run it up the middle. Repeatedly. He would run it and run it and keeping running it until our greater strength and resolve wore down the opponent. He would put our linebackers out there to read their gameplan and stop them from executing it. And then he would run it up the middle, again.
In 1967, Joe saw his team perform lackidaisically, led by a group of upperclassmen who believed their longevity alone entitled them to play. What did JoePa do? He benched those upperclassmen in favor of a hungrier, more motivated group of young players who went the next 2 1/2 seasons undefeated. This BOT is our class of '67. While we may not be able to bench them immediately the way JoePa did, we can continue to fight for reform in the way the board is selected, the rules by which it operates, and the manner in which it is held accountable for its decisions. Why do board members themselves get to choose more of their own numbers than we do? Why is the executive committee given so much power? Why are individual votes not recorded? These are questions and problems that we can address through every means at our disposal. We can never again forget to vote in trustee elections or neglect to study our candidates carefully. We can monitor their statements, their actions, and their votes, and we can let them know that we are watching and that we hold them personally accountable to each of us. We can make them earn their positions and our trust.
In 2003, JoePa saw his team lose to three conference opponents in a row due to incredibly poor calls that went against them and directly affected the outcome of the game. What did JoePa do? He worked behind the scenes to ensure that the Big Ten led the nation in the implementation of instant replay. The Freeh report, the media miscarriage and the NCAA sanctions are our "bounce pass" and the "first downs that weren't." Here, we have a power that Joe did not, the power to go back and change the result! We must continue to fight the credibility of the Freeh report, both by refuting his so-called evidence and by presenting our own fact-based evidence against his false characterization of a "win-at-all-costs football culture." We must demand that our BOT recognize these errors, reject this document on those grounds, and rectify the public perception based on these inaccuracies. If Gene Marsh says the NCAA felt they could act outside their mandate because they were addressing a 'culture problem', we must prove their actions are unjust because the problem was never within our culture. We must force members of the NCAA executive committee to produce facts, not Freeh assumptions, to justify their actions or to repeal them. Remember, we've never lost to Indiana, and if it takes another goal line stand to keep that record intact, lets put on the pads and fight for every inch.
In 2011, Joepa saw 32 "representatives" of Penn State turn their back on him and all that he had worked to build. What did JoePa do? He renewed his annual endowment to the University he loved so that current and future students could continue to reap the benefits of his legacy. He understood that the 600,000 and growing beneficiaries of the "grand experiment" could, should and would speak louder in pride than the 32 could ever speak in fear. We must be those voices. Not because Joe Paterno was God, but because WE ARE PENN STATE and they are not.
