King Kaufman's Sports Daily
NOW leader is right: Paterno's comments on sex assault are "appalling." But resign? Let's get a grip.
Read more: Sports, Rape, National Organization for Women, Football, College Football, King Kaufman, Sports Daily
Jan. 10, 2006 | I've been saying for a few years that Penn State football coach Joe Paterno ought to resign, and now that someone's making headlines saying the same thing, I couldn't disagree more.
The president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Organization for Women called last week for Paterno to apologize and resign in the wake of remarks he made about an alleged sexual assault prior to Penn State's Orange Bowl game in Miami against Florida State.
Joanne Tosti-Vasey said she was appalled at Paterno's comments, that they represent an institutional insensitivity that endangers women at Penn State, and that e-mails she'd sent to Paterno and the university's president had gone unanswered.
Paterno, 79, just finished his 40th year as head coach of the Nittany Lions. Before the Orange Bowl, he was asked about Florida State linebacker A.J. Nicholson, who had been sent home after being accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman at the team's Hollywood, Fla., hotel. Nicholson hasn't been charged, though police say the case is open.
Here's what Paterno said: "There's some tough -- there's so many people gravitating to these kids. He may not have even known what he was getting into, Nicholson. They knock on the door; somebody may knock on the door; a cute girl knocks on the door. What do you do?
"Geez. I hope -- thank God they don't knock on my door because I'd refer them to a couple of other rooms. But that's too bad. You hate to see that. I really do. You like to see a kid end up his football career. He's a heck of a football player, by the way; he's a really good football player. And it's just too bad."
Appalling is a pretty good word.
The university's official response was the oft-used dodge that Paterno's comments had been taken out of context. If there's a context in which those two paragraphs aren't appalling, I haven't run into it. But that response is to be expected. Pennsylvania State University is not about to do anything but back its most famous and powerful employee, who also happens to be a huge donor.
Paterno's public image alternates between gruff and impish old man. He was pretty clearly trying to make a self-deprecating joke there about how "cute girls" aren't likely to knock on his door.
But the gist that comes through loud and clear is that if something happened in that hotel room, this poor 230-pound linebacker was the victim, that women are to blame for their own sexual assaults by athletes. Paterno expressed concern for the plight of the linebacker but none for the victim of an alleged sexual assault.
He asked, "What do you do?"
Well, Joe, I'm an avid reader of Miss Manners, so I'll make a list for you. I'll mail you the whole thing later, but it starts, "1. Don't rape her."
But I don't think JoePa should resign.