Oswald, who is CEO of BLR, offered his thoughts on the passing of Joe Paterno in a recent edition of The Oswald Letter.
Joe Paterno spent his entire career at Penn State University, coming to the school as an assistant coach in 1950. That’s not a typo—1950. That’s 62 years ago. I’d be willing to wager that only a small minority of those reading this were working full-time in 1950. After 15 years as an assistant, Paterno was named head coach in 1966—the same year I was born. And he spent the next 46 years winning football games and impacting the lives of young men. In that span he chalked up 409 wins, more than any coach in NCAA football history.
But Paterno was also known for promoting a balance between collegiate academics and athletics. His players graduated at a rate of 74 percent—19 points above the national average. And Paterno was never accused of any NCAA rules violations. What’s more, he and his wife donated more than $4 million to the university for scholarships and to build a library on campus. In a world of college athletics where so much is wrong, Paterno was seen as a man who did things right.
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That is until long-time Paterno assistant Jerry Sandusky was arrested and charged with 40 counts of child sexual abuse. The abuse allegedly took place over a 15-year period, some of it in Penn State athletic facilities. One incident in 2002, in which a football graduate assistant allegedly walked in on Sandusky assaulting a young boy in the showers of the football building, became Paterno’s undoing.
According to grand jury testimony, the graduate assistant told Paterno what he had seen. Paterno insisted that he was told only of “inappropriate behavior” and that he notified campus officials who should deal with it.
In light of the scandal involving Paterno’s former long-time assistant and believing that he had not done enough, Penn State’s Board of Regents fired the coach with a phone call. Of the entire Sandusky incident, Paterno said, “It is one of the great sorrows of my life. I wish I had done more.”
It’s a tragic story. But there are lessons about loyalty in it from which we can all learn.
Loyalty and longevity are great, but you must be aware of the potential downside. Paterno spent 61 years at one institution building a great reputation and a cult-like following. His immense popularity with Penn State alumni and fans gave him an incredible amount of power.
Paterno was that employee who is so valuable and popular that management begins to believe he is “untouchable.” In many ways, his actions go unchecked until there’s a problem and then management finds it difficult to act fearing the repercussions. Much of the problem in this situation was that Joe Paterno became bigger than Penn State, and that just can’t happen. No employee can be bigger than the institution.
Loyalty can be blind. I don’t know what Joe Paterno knew about Jerry Sandusky’s alleged actions, but it certainly appears that he knew something and didn’t do enough about it. He admitted that when he said, “I wish I had done more.” Paterno and Sandusky spent 15 years together. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that someone close to you is capable of doing bad things. Maybe it’s because you see the good they do or maybe it’s because admitting it would mean you failed to be a good judge of character, but managers must be vigilant about assessing those who work for them and not ignore the signs of problems. Paterno did, and it cost him his job and, in many ways, his reputation.
Loyalty can make for hard decisions, but you need to handle them the right way. The Penn State Board of Regents fired Joe Paterno, a decision that many thought was the right thing to do. I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision to make about a man who had done so much for the university. But they did it with a phone call. Sixty-one years of dedication to one institution and they don’t have the courtesy to meet with him face to face.
Again, I don’t know the facts surrounding the firing, but it appears to be a very cowardly way to end a relationship that lasted as long as this one had.
Joe Paterno dedicated his life to Penn State University, and his dedication and loyalty may have cost him his life. Less than three months after being fired by the university, Paterno died—many of those close to him said he died of a broken heart. Loyalty to an organization and loyalty to an employee are both wonderful, admirable things, but left unchecked they can lead to problems all too apparent in the relationship between Paterno, Sandusky, and Penn State University.
I agree with the sentiment about the “too important” to question/terminate/accuse/etc. It has a lot of practical crossover ion businesses big and small. However, as many good things as Paterno may have done in his life, I was angry when I saw his memorial and people were celebrating him and his life. If even one little boy was hurt because he failed to act, in my book that erases every good deed and all good intentions. There is no excuse. In my book, I hope he found repentance from his maker; because Lord knows if it was my kid, he wouldn’t have made it the three months he did.
Since the accused is Jerry Sandusky, the focus of article should be directly around what management’s respond was to the allegations and what management and employees should do in such situations to report such acts. The easy and eye-catching headline is to make the nationally known head coach the villain.
So we had an incident where an employee (McQueary) informed his supervisor (Paterno) of inappropriate conduct by an ex-employee of three years (Sandusky) of “horsing around” with a young child in the shower. The supervisor with hearsay knowledge notified his supervisor and the head of campus police, and the president of the university was then informed.
How should employees, supervisors, and senior management handle such situation in the work place? What is the role of internal security/ police. I was hoping to learn that point from reading this article, not one using Paterno’s name 23 times to get attention.
I feel sateifisd after reading that one.
I have tried, but I cannot understand why people have condemned Joe Paterno. It’s not that I am turning a blind eye to what appears to be serious, abhorrent crimes – the very thought of abusing a child in any way, shape, or form makes my skin crawl – I firmly believe that people who commit such heinous acts should be tortured in kind. What I do not understand is what some people think that Joe failed to do.
Joe had no firsthand knowledge. The act in question was long over by the time Joe heard something about it (and it still isn’t clear exactly what Joe was told). Sandusky was not an employee. Joe had been told over and over again to let law enforcement professionals handle the missteps of his football players. So, Joe did what he had been told to do – he told the person who witnessed the act to report it to the Athletic Director.
Now, if the witness had come to Joe and said that the act was happening right then, then I would have expected Joe to jump up and run to the shower room – calling the police on the way. Of course, the question remains why the witness did not do that the previous night.
Based on the information we have been given, the fault lies mainly with the despicable man who is accused of abusing children – but, a fault of omission lies with the witness and with Graham Spanier also. So, why has the media focused on Joe? Because he is the name that is known nationwide – Spanier certainly is not a household name. It is time that we all took a deep breath and thought about the facts, not the assumptions and headlines that have been developed to sell magazines and fill air time.