On the Penn State Fiasco

It's easy to be disgusted when you read about the Penn State sexual abuse. Why, one might ask, would someone willingly ignore reports of heinous, despicable sexual abuse of a child? Someone as “good” as Joe Paterno is reported to be? The hero coach, a model of highly invested and supportive, team building and winning behavior. As a thinking, feeling adult, it seems so obvious what the right choice would be. Report it to the police. No matter what university officials might have you do.

So why didn't it happen? Why are good people likely to do not so good things? Well, when it comes to protecting friends, protecting programs and sports and instituions that their lives have been dedicated to, when it comes to winning... sometimes the “right thing” goes out the window. And it all seems justifiable. I mean, what if the reports weren't true? Then you'd have potentially ruined a man's reputation and blighted the nearly flawless reputation of an institution – Penn State football.

It happens all the time. The sport, the institution, takes precedence over the health and well being of human beings, even if they're children. It happened in the Catholic Church. Wall Street. Enron. Government agencies. Abuse in other sports abounds. There are 79 permanently banned coaches in the sport of gymnastics. Recent investigative reports in the OC Register identify two revered coaches who have long standing histories of sexual abuse of their athletes. One, Doug Boger, was actually on the banned list and found himself a job at an unaccredited gym. The owner coach didn't care about his history. The parents either didn't know or didn't care. Because they thought he'd take their daughters to Olympic glory and Wheaties boxes. Winning mattered more. USA Gymnastics was slow to act amidst reports of abuse, again, protecting the coach and the sport from “bad PR” rather than investigate within the fullest extent of the law. To protect the children.

Pediatricians and other health care workers are required by law to report any suspected abuse of children. They are punishable under the law if they fail to do so. They can lose their licenses to practice. They can lose their livelihoods. Teachers are held to a similar standard. So why aren't coaches? They arguably spend more time with the kids they coach than doctors or school teachers. But they somehow exist outside the law. Reporting the issue to the university president was enough? He pushed it aside. It wasn't enough. I'm sure Paterno feels somehow “covered” by that reporting. But it led to nothing. Ethically, he is not in the clear, even if he is in the eyes of the law.

The solution therefore must be legally mandated guidelines regarding the treatment of young athletes by coaches. Adults cannot be compelled to “do the right thing”. We have more than enough proof of this. They must be legally required to. And children themselves must be educated and encouraged to speak up when there is inappropriate or abusive behavior. All too often a child in a coach/athlete (mentor/mentee) relationship feels powerless. He questions his own rights in the situation, his own take on the experience. He is threatened by the power, enthralled by the coach, is unable to come to his own defense. And the lingering affects will last a life time. And it's not ok.

Parents must demand it. The good coaches must come to the defense of their beloved sports by requiring that the “bad coaches” are held to task. And we all – all of those of us who believe in the absolute protection of the child - must insist that coaches are developers of children first, champion builders second.