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- Thread starter mercer_buckeye
- Start date
409fold
All-American
FWIW:
Smith was a professor at Penn State from 1968 to 1996. He's "professor emeritus" now, but it's questionable just "how close" to things he may have been during the ensuing 19 years.
A legitimate question is: Where was this guy and why was he not speaking up prior to NOW? Seriously, I've never even heard of him prior to today, and a Google search on his name indicates that while he has been quoted a few times during the 2011-2015 period, he hasn't been heard from overly much.
One of the articles where he is quoted is from 17-November-2011. There are definite hints that, for whatever reasons, he didn't like Joe Paterno at the time. References to him as a bully. http://articles.philly.com/2011-11-17/sports/30410602_1_tenured-professor-penn-state-jerry-sandusky
Interestingly, ANOTHER article in which he is quoted is in a Centre Daily Times (State College newspaper) editorial on 2-July-2014. One of the major arguments he is making in that article is that the NCAA was full of bull-kaka in terms of not affording Penn State due process in July 2012. That's not a popular opinion among many people --- including the majority of folk on this message board. But I intuitively like people who are smart enough to see that BOTH (a) Penn State coaches and administrators screwed up AND (b) the NCAA should be totally ashamed and embarrased about the process in which they went about administering punishment. (PSU deserved "due process" but everyone was content to just sit back and say "fuck them"). http://www.centredaily.com/opinion/article42856308.html
Also: for much of the 1980s, Smith served on internal committees at Penn State that oversaw Penn State athletics. I'm sure he'll talk about that era as part of his book. But if Penn State was a "rogue program" during the time he was there, what did he do about it then? Doesn't/didn't he have some responsibility himself to do or say something if he knew something?
Anyway: some context to this author and some thoughts to consider. We'll see what the book says.
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It'll be interesting to see what he says...I vividly remember seeing PSU football players at the branch campus at Mont Alto....it just wouldn't shock me if he has the goods on Pedterno, especially during his heydays (mid-70s through the mid-90s)....
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When you commission your own investigation (Freeh group) and turn those findings over to the NCAA, you've had your fucking due process.
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Zurp
I have misplaced my pants.
Agreed. The way I remember it, the NCAA wanted to go in and investigate. Penn State said, "let us do our own investigation, first. We'll share everything with you." The NCAA said, "Yeah, you've been pretty good up until now. We'll let you run your own investigation, first. Share everything with us when you're done." So they hired Freeh, and told him to share with NCAA.
Now the fans are whining because the NCAA sanctioned them without doing an investigation. Dummies. You ASKED the NCAA to let you do your own investigation.
This is like a guy walking into the police station with his computer in hand, saying, "I have child porn pictures on my computer." They arrest him and use his admission and the evidence they found on his computer to get a conviction. He can't come back later and say that they had no right to look at his computer, or that they took his words out of context.
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Delaware Buck
Heisman
Had PSU been near a major media market and not in the middle of nowhere, there would have been closer scrutiny over the program. The remoteness and insular nature of central PA is what allowed this to happen for as long as it did - unchallenged and unquestioned. People were probably afraid to speak up because it meant loss of livelihood or other consequences. And this concept that there was no 'DUE PROCESS' is nonsense. You had an internal investigation and it uncovered 120 some odd violations/gaps. Those were used as the basis for the punishment. There was no compliance with the Clery Act, no separation of athletics compliance responsibilities, special disciplinary action for football players that was outside the process used for everyday students... etc. PSU clearly was not the squeaky clean program it was trying to sell to the public and recruits. I'm interested to hear what Smith has to say. I've long believed that Jerry's sexual acts have been going on since the early 80's and were simply swept under the rug by many of your administrators including Spanier & Paterno and probably some members of the BOT as well as community leaders. Also, let's not forget that TSM was essentially a charity arm of PSU. It's impossible to separate them. The number of ex-PSU athletes and high level PSU administrators that served on the board at TSM is staggering and should have been a red flag. BWI itself was involved with TSM right up to the indictments.
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LovelandBuckeye
You never lose to those pricks. Ever. Ever. - UFM
So that's how they caught Jerry.
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ORD_Buckeye
Wrong glass, Sir.
PSU had zero right to or expectation of due process. The NCAA isn't the government. That is a legal term for our court systems. It is neither valid nor relevant when discussing the administrative sanctions of a private organization of which Penn State was a voluntary and willing member. If PSU felt they were being treated unfairly and didn't like the outcome, they were more than welcome to tell the NCAA to shove it up their ass, keep their $60M and resign their membership.
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ORD_Buckeye
Wrong glass, Sir.
I'm getting the feeling that a lot of faculty quietly seethed at how PSU was run under Paterno and Spanier. As they retire (and possibly move away from Creepy Valley), I wouldn't be surprised to see the floodgates open up on what they witnessed.
It doesn't surprise me that even tenured full-professors would keep quiet there. While they may not have been fired, the Paterno cult would have certainly found a way to run them out of town.
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ORD_Buckeye
Wrong glass, Sir.
Let's not forget Paterno having the power to order Spanier to run off a VP because she dared suggest that his football players should come under standard university disciplinary procedures.
I think the NCAA was also complicit in maintaining the myth of "Success with Honor." The Paterno myth was the convenient tool in the belt that the ncaa p.r. minions would reach for to counter the bad publicity of SMU, Switzer, the Fab 5 or whatever scandal was in the newspapers at the time.
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
I'm sure the situation exits at a lot of universities where the "academic side" is jealous of the popularity and/or control that the athletic side (i.e a sports team) has over the university. And that is nothing new.
It even came to a head at Ohio State in 1961 when the "faculty council" voted to not go to the Rose Bowl.
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