Joe Paterno statue will be torn down this weekend

Statue will be torn down this weekend

According to my sources at Penn State Universtity, the decision has been made to tear down the statue of legendary football coach, Joe Paterno. The statue will come down this weekend. Apparently the decision to tear down the statue was made by Penn State interim President Rodney Erickson after consulting with members of the Board of Trustees in a conference call last night.

Erickson and the Penn State Board of Trustees have chosen to cave to the mounting pressure by national media outlets and the possibility of severe NCAA sanctions against the football program by deciding to tear down the statue this weekend. Personally, I feel this is the culmination of just how poorly the Penn State administration and Board of Trustees have handled this story since if first broke last November.

From refusing to allow Coach Paterno to have his press conference, to coach Paterno's firing, to the awful embarrassment of the Freeh Report and all of it's flaws; the Board of Trustees at Penn State have made one bad decision after another. They lack the currage to stand together and correct the large amount of misinformation that has been reported by national media outlets regarding the Sandusky sccandal. In fact, with the release of the Freeh Report they have even made things worse.

It doesn't take rocket scientist to identify the severe lack of evidence in the Louis Freeh report. The report is filled with Louis Freeh's assumptions and accusations based on scribbled notes and vague emails that he assumes references Paterno. Since it's release several sources have laid out the report's flaws, but yet the national media keep reporting that, "Joe Paterno and former Penn State officials covered up evidence that protected a pedophile since 1998" despite no credible evidence in the Freeh Report suggesting this as fact. President Rodney Erickson and the Board of Trustees have failed to set the facts of the Sandusky Scandal straight and the media continues to define the message and image of Penn State.

Now one week after the garbage report (Freeh Report) was released, Joe Paterno's statue will be torn down.

Penn State fans and alumni should be outraged today. The statue of the greatest college football coach will be torn down this weekend and this will no doubt be the defining moment of this scandal. Paterno will forever be linked with Sandusky's abuse of children once the statue comes down. Paterno will no longer be remember for the wonderful things he did for our university or for the players he coached. If the statue comes down, Coach Paterno will always be remembered for this abuse scandal which he really had nothing to do with.

No one will remember that Paterno never was afforded due process during this entire scandal up to this point. Or remember that coach Paterno never had a chance to defend himself against the hearsay and accusations of the Freeh report. No one will remember that Paterno was the only person that followed protocol and the law by reporting the abuse to his superiors while Penn State janitors, the president of the Second Mile foundation, and the incompetent staff at Centre County Children and Youth get to exit stage left without anyone noticing.