Column: At the conclusion of an emotionally-charged week, Penn State football hosts Nebraska at Beaver Stadium and for the first time in 45 years, Penn State fans don't have Joe Paterno to look to as head coach. The game and all the surrounding events in Happy Valley will begin the answer the question: Who is Penn State?
Friday, Nov. 11
Report: With two Penn State employees fired, and two more no longer serving in their positions, Anthony Schneck examines who are the principle figures in the Jerry Sandusky case.
Video: Penn State interim president Rodney Erickson gives a video address, saying "although we cannot go back to business as usual, our university must move forward."
Analysis: Though Joe Paterno and Graham Spanier have been fired, Tim Curley is still employed by Penn State University. Bison Messink tries to make sense of why Tim Curley hasn't been fired by the University.
Report: New Penn State interim head coach Tom Bradley holds press conference, but ducks questions about Jerry Sandusky scandal. Bradley was Sandusky's successor as defensive coordinator.
Report: A recruiting letter written by Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary was recovered, in which McQueary boasts to Penn State football recruits that the program has been free of scandal. McQueary testified to the grand jury that in 2002 he witnessed Jerry Sandusky having sex with a boy in team showers.
Report: Joe Paterno's weekly press conference was scheduled for 12:30 p.m. The night before, Penn State Sports Information Director Jeff Nelson emailed media, directing them to keep questions focused on the football game against Nebraska. This audacity caused a furor in the media, as hundreds of reporters flocked to Happy Valley to attend the press conference, vowing to disregard the directive not to ask about the Jerry Sandusky scandal and cover up. Seeing that a train-wreck was coming, then-Penn State President Graham Spanier canceled the press conference less than an hour before it was scheduled to begin.
Opinion: Penn State's handling of the press conference was another sign that the University was either brazenly denying the severity of the scandal, or ignorant of the severity of the scandal, or both. The appropriate response from Paterno should have been to resign immediately and the appropriate response from the University should have been to cancel the season.
Report: Since the news of Jerry Sandusky's arrest came on a Saturday, this was the first business day after the story broke. Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly held a news briefing and the public and the media tried to wrap their heads around the case. With two Penn State administrators already stepping down from their positions, calls for the firing of PSU President Graham Spanier began to spread.
Report: Former Penn State football beat writer Kim Jones gave a passionate and candid radio interview to Mike Francesa on WFAN New York. Jones was the first, and for quite a long time the only person with any inside knowledge of Joe Paterno and Penn State football who spoke openly and honestly about the scandal. Jones gave interesting insight into Penn State's closed-off football program that operated much like a family. Jones also highlighted startling revelations from the grand jury report.
Sunday, Nov. 6
Late Sunday night, Tim Curley resigns from his position as Athletic Director, citing a desire to devote himself full-time to defending himself against perjury charges. Another PSU administrator, Gary Schultz, was also charged with perjury and retired from his position.
Saturday, Nov. 5
Report: The Pennsylvania Attorney General's office dropped a bombshell when it released a 23-page grand jury report with graphic detail and evidence about Sandusky's decades-long sexual abuse of eight specific victims. Sandusky was arrested on 40 criminal charges. Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and another high-ranking PSU administrator, Gary Schultz, were charged with perjury. It was immediately apparent, based on evidence in the grand jury report, that people in some of the highest positions of leadership at Penn State knew about Sandusky's sexual abuse as long ago as 1998 and had engaged in large-scale institutional cover up.
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