Originally Posted by
Ping Lin
I think there may be an elephant in the room -- okay, maybe not elephant, but perhaps a medium-sized horse -- that no one is talking about, and that is Joe Pa's advancing age.
Joe Pa, in short, was 73 years old when this first arose, and after taking the first initial step, may not have been able to devote the time and energy necessary to chase this one down (and particularly if the higher-ups like Curley were willing to stonewall him). Heck, one of the most trenchant criticisms of Paterno in the last few years is that he's not really been able to keep up with the coaching, instead being present as an inspirational figure of sorts.
Note that this isn't a defense of Paterno per se; one could reasonably argue that if he didn't have the energy to chase down something as important as this, then he didn't deserve to hold on to his position as coach. I suppose, however, having had some experience in realizing what magnitude of effort is required to flag something like this down, that may explain why my feelings are kind of "meh" with regard to Joe Pa's culpability in this matter. His failing strikes me, if not excusable, then at least understandable.