Politics & Government
Local Coaches 'Disappointed' By Response To Child Abuse at Penn State
Hear the reactions of area coaches to Penn State University's response to a child abuse scandal.
Several coaches and athletic staff from and High Schools reacted last week (click on image to hear audio) after Penn State University announced that its head football coach of 46 years, Joe Paterno, had been fired by the Board of Trustees.
"He (Paterno) rarely failed in the heat of battle in a football game to make the appropriate decision, and in the game of life when that moment came, he obviously failed to do what needed to be done," said Carl Costello, athletic director for Niles North High School in Skokie. "Very disturbing."
The 84-year-old Paterno, an icon of the university’s football program, was let go Wednesday night after a sexual abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky came to light. Sandusky, who has been charged with sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year span but denies he committed abuse, was arrested last Saturday.
"I have an 18-year-old and a 6-year-old son and to think there's adults that didn't have their best interests, and, it sounds really, trying to protect their image--I think it's despicable," said Dan Paxson, head girls' basketball coach at Niles North.
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The university’s president, Graham B. Spanier, who had served as president since 1995, was also removed by the Board of Trustees Wednesday. Tim Curley, athletic director, and Gary Schultz, senior vice president for finance and business, have been charged with perjury and failure to report the allegations to authorities.
The initial reaction at State College was one of anger and violence. Students fled to the streets in the downtown area after the announcement to protest, where riots broke out that resulted in broken car windows, knocked over trash cans, collapsed street signs, and even an overturned news truck.
"What I find even more disturbing, in some ways, is that one response from the student body at Penn State--no one was upset, really, about children being abused and when a coach who all he does is win or los football games, gets fired they have riots and they have people crying and turning over cars, it really makes one wonder about what we value in our society," said Bob Williams, director of varsity boys basketball at Niles West High School in Skokie.
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Later in the week, however, Penn State students organized a vigil for abused children.
