Yeah.. I initially wrote that Paterno forced out Sandusky, but the administration made him a professor emeritus which gave him access to the university facilities, but wasn't sure if he forced him out so I deleted it.Just replying to one aspect of this, Lars. Believe me, in the 1970s, players who got into trouble downtown were detained only long enough until a coach could come down and pick them up. The cops would call Joe and he would send someone downtown to clean things up. We all looked the other way, but usually the offenses were alcohol-related, like the time a very famous player jumped up onto the Shandygaff Saloon sign and brought it to the ground.
By the mid-1980s, the local police stopped cooperating, as the nature of player offenses began to get worse. I was long gone by then and cannot speak to specifics. Joe's response was to close the doors to his program and blame the media. As the Internet media expanded, and Joe grew beyond initial retirement age, his willingness to protect the program's image grew out of control. His tunnel vision of Sandusky's perversion narrowed to how such a terrible story would harm recruiting. The solution was to force Jerry into early retirement in 1999. Out of sight, out of mind, except Sandusky's juicy retirement package literally gave him a set of keys to the Lasch Building.
I didn't know much about the 70s... I was in school there in the late 90s, but also around in the early 80s watching games..but as a kid. I just remember players like Curtis Enis getting suspended for a bowl game and such. But it also did seem that the football players were kind of kings on campus so the fact that they got away with things and were actually protected by Paterno and the cops also makes sense. My perception was probably shaped by being a kid in that era and seeing more what I wanted to see than the reality.
Edit: I shouldn't have said 'any minor infraction'.. but more infractions that didn't seem to be a big deal at other football programs.
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