Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/78625
NEWS & NOTES WAITING GAME Reporters queued up for Paterno's Nov. 8 news conference. A recent report by ESPN revisited the events that led to the coach's dismissal. that the firings involved "bare- knuckle Pennsylvania politics, old grudges and perceived slights." During the gubernatorial cam- paign, Corbett reportedly fumed over what he saw as Spanier's favoritism toward Dan Onorato, a Democrat and Penn State graduate. Also, Paterno refused to endorse Corbett, citing his desire to avoid a potential conflict of interest. (The governor is an ex officio member of the board of trustees.) After Corbett was elected in 2010, he and Spanier clashed over the governor's proposal to cut $182 million in state funding for the university. When the grand jury present- ment was released in early November, Corbett blamed Paterno and Spanier for not doing more to follow up on an eyewitness account of an assault that alleged- ly took place on Penn State's cam- pus in 2002. The ESPN story notes that as Tim Owen Governor's role explored in ESPN report FOOTBALL an investigative story claiming that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett "lobbied for the ouster" of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and former university pres- ident Graham Spanier. Corbett and a host of Penn State T trustees have since questioned the accuracy of the story, which was written by Don Van Natta Jr., a for- mer international investigative jour- W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M he Jerry Sandusky scandal took an unforeseen turn April 4 when ESPN The Magazine published nalist for The New York Times. The lengthy article offered what it termed the "untold story" behind Sandusky trial delayed until June The start of Jerry Sandusky's child sexual abuse trial has been delayed by three weeks, pushing the trial date to June 5. the meetings that ultimately led to the dismissal of Paterno and Spanier on Nov. 9, 2011. It stated Judge John Cleland said addi- tional time was needed "to accommodate various logistical contingencies that have arisen." According to a report from The Associated Press, the attorney general's office supported the postponement. attorney general, Corbett launched a two-year investigation into allega- tions against Sandusky but never had enough evidence to make an arrest. All the while, the article states, he accepted campaign dona- tions from Sandusky's charity, The Second Mile. After the grand jury's presentment became public, initially via a com- puter glitch, Corbett allegedly spearheaded the effort to fire Paterno and Spanier. "Throughout this whole process, I felt [Corbett] had some ulterior motive," an unnamed trustee told ESPN. "Most trustees felt uncom- fortable with his role." According to the report, the night that Paterno and Spanier were fired, Corbett was seen at the American Ale House in State College and was described as "effusive" by a senior faculty member. "It was like a victory celebration," the faculty member said. "I remem- ber thinking at the time that it just seemed a strange thing." The story added that eight days A P R I L 3 0 , 2 0 1 2 5