[needle]

FWIW, the report says that before the May 1998 incident that sparked a police investigation into Sandusky, he had already been told by Paterno he wouldn't be the head coach (Reason: Too much time devoted to Second Mile Foundation). The report states that no evidence was found linking Sandusky's resignation and the 1998 police investigation.

Interestingly, the report cites a June 1999 email from AD Tom Curley about Sandusky's resignation that states "Joe did give him the option to continue to coach as long as he was coach."

So, whatever JoePa knew of the 1998 investigation, he apparently was OK with keeping Sandusky on staff indefinitely.

Personally, I think a strong argument can be made that JoePa didn't do anything wrong in 1998 and 1999, as he could have only been told (perhaps emphatically) that an investigation cleared Sandusky of any wrongdoing. The report only states that Paterno was "anxious" to know the outcome of the investigation.

This news casts in a completely different light what happened after McQueary's report. It's one thing to agonize over to report to police if this was the first time you'd heard such allegations; another thing completely if you'd heard a similar allegation a few years earlier.

To be charitable to JoePa, perhaps he thought that an exhaustive investigation in 1998 cleared Sandusky completely and unequivocally, and that this other allegation was thus likely to be equally unfounded.

The way I look at things, it was when JoePa actively decided (along with Spanier and Curley) to not go to authorities that he crossed the line into indefensible, probably criminal behavior.

[needle]

FWIW, the report says that before the May 1998 incident that sparked a police investigation into Sandusky, he had already been told by Paterno he wouldn't be the head coach (Reason: Too much time devoted to Second Mile Foundation). The report states that no evidence was found linking Sandusky's resignation and the 1998 police investigation.

Interestingly, the report cites a June 1999 email from AD Tom Curley about Sandusky's resignation that states "Joe did give him the option to continue to coach as long as he was coach."

So, whatever JoePa knew of the 1998 investigation, he apparently was OK with keeping Sandusky on staff indefinitely.

Personally, I think a strong argument can be made that JoePa didn't do anything wrong in 1998 and 1999, as he could have only been told (perhaps emphatically) that an investigation cleared Sandusky of any wrongdoing. The report only states that Paterno was "anxious" to know the outcome of the investigation.

This news casts in a completely different light what happened after McQueary's report. It's one thing to agonize over to report to police if this was the first time you'd heard such allegations; another thing completely if you'd heard a similar allegation a few years earlier.

To be charitable to JoePa, perhaps he thought that an exhaustive investigation in 1998 cleared Sandusky completely and unequivocally, and that this other allegation was thus likely to be equally unfounded.

The way I look at things, it was when JoePa actively decided (along with Spanier and Curley) to not go to authorities that he crossed the line into indefensible, probably criminal behavior.