The Briefing Room
General Category => Sports/Entertainment/MSM/Social Media => Topic started by: mystery-ak on February 10, 2013, 05:53:00 pm
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http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8930657/joe-paterno-family-report-calls-freeh-report-sandusky-scandal-total-failure (http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8930657/joe-paterno-family-report-calls-freeh-report-sandusky-scandal-total-failure)
Joe Paterno family releases report
Updated: February 10, 2013, 12:14 PM ET
ESPN.com
Review Of The Freeh Report
Former PA Governor Dick Thornburgh discusses what Louis Freeh did incorrectly or not substantially in his report.Tags: Louis Freeh, Dick Thornburgh, Penn State, Joe Paterno, Jerry Sandusky, Bob Ley
Big Ten's biggest storyline from signing day
A report commissioned by Joe Paterno's family calls the July 2012 Freeh report that was accepted by Penn State trustees before unprecedented sanctions were levied by the NCAA against the school's football program a "total failure" that is "full of fallacies, unsupported personal opinions, false allegations and biased assertions."
The Paterno family report, which targets nearly every conclusion and assertion the Freeh report made about Paterno in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, states that while former FBI director Louis J. Freeh has had an honorable past and good reputation, his investigation -- especially as it relates to Paterno -- relied on "rank speculation," "innuendo" and "subjective opinions" when it concluded that Paterno concealed facts about Sandusky in part to avoid bad publicity.
Freeh was hired on Nov. 21, 2011 and paid $6.5 million by Penn State University trustees -- who fired Paterno after 46 years as head coach -- to conduct the inquiry. Freeh said his team interviewed more than 430 people and reviewed more than 3 million documents to prepare the 267-page report.
more at link
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Given Paterno's health, Freeh should have had him interviewed first and foremost. Paterno had asked over and over to be interviewed because he knew that time was short, but Freeh just kept putting it off until Paterno was dead. Then they blamed him for almost everything.
I don't know what Paterno did or did not do; I wasn't there. However, why did they flat out refuse to interview the man who would have filled in a lot of gaps which were instead filled with second and third hand information? That to me says they had the result already prepared and could not risk anything interfering with it.
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I worked for Penn State at one time. Knowing the institution as I do, I find it impossible to believe that JoPa was not deeply complicit in the cover-up of the Sandusky affair.
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He shouldda been able to see that situation as untenable far earlier than he did.
One of my favorite FReeper FRiends back in the day, the late, great sultan88 was a huge Nittany Lion booste/supporter, and he would have been crestfallen to learn what occurred under JoPa's watch. I don't begrudge the family attempting to paint the Paterno story in a better light, but I think even JoPa would admit to quite a few missteps vis a vis Sandusky...MUD
I think the story was going to be a big downer for Penn State PR-wise one way or the other, and JoPa knew it would wreck his legacy. So he tried to contain it. He did report it to higher ups, but I am certain he was completely on board, and probably pressured them, to leave the matter alone.