Joe Paterno Fired

notrichenough
Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:04:30 +0000

I can forgive McQ’s initial reaction. We all say, now, that we would have intervened, but in fact, in the real world, when faced with a shocking situation where we should intervene, a lot of us don’t.

I think his reaction was way more calculated than that.

He was seeing his entire future career flash before his eyes. If he had gone around Paterno and the AD, and gone directly to the police, he probably would have been fired or quietly let go (contract not renewed), and he likely would never have worked again as a college coach. It’s a small fraternity, and his proven unwillingness to put the school and team ahead of everything else would be career suicide.

So he did what a good lieutenant would do - he went to his superior and reported it. And Paterno probably told him that he did the right thing coming to him and he (Paterno) would take care of it.

Given the heinous nature of the crime it is hard to forgive him. I’d like to think I would do the right thing, but what if doing the right thing meant giving up my career and threatening the livelihood of my family? I hope I am never confronted with that decision.