A few random points:
The Central PA bubble (and I'd extend it out to much of the state) is real. Yes, not everyone in PA lives Penn State. But, you have a large critical mass of people who do. If you weren't outside the bubble when this happened, you have no idea what it was like. When people say they thought the university should have been shut down completely, not just the football program, and burned to the ground, they meant it. It was THAT BAD. The possibility of getting kicked out of the B1G was real , people were so upset (yeah, I know, a lot of you would love to have been kicked out, but trust me, NO OTHER CONFERENCE would have taken us at that point).
People will be offended by a lot of things. And they will forgive a lot of scandals. But there is one line you don't cross in this country, and that is child rape. Sandusky could have been a serial killer and it wouldn't have been as bad as it was.
As if being accused of covering up the granddaddy of all sins wasn't enough, it was why. Not to protect the university's reputation (which would have been bad enough), but to protect football. A game. A game that many people feel has gotten too big and too commercial and too corrupt as it is. This just fed into that narrative, reinforced what they already believed. Like if a huge investigation claimed to have definitive proof that SEC schools handed bags of cash to recruits. Everyone on this board would be quick to believe it and denounce it without reviewing the investigation.
Most people outside of Penn Staters have followed this in any detail. They don't see the ridiculousness of Baldwin's presence in the Grand Jury room, but trying to claim she wasn't representing them. They don't know what Fina said about Joe not being a part of it. They don't ask why the Second Mile wasn't investigated. They don't see how Sandusky didn't have a fair trial. This is what they know: the grandstanding AG when charges were brought and what she said. Joe was fired (so he must be guilty), no one at PSU. They know the BOT didn't defend the university and that the university settled with Sanduskys victims again, they must be guilty. And they know what Freeh said, and the university didn't defend themselves. To them, it's very cut and dry, and there's no grey area.
We love nothing more in this country than to tear down our heroes. We love to prove that the powerful and rich are no better than us. After all, it's Murica, everyone is equal, our leaders just think they're better than us. The AG served up one of the biggest heroes on a plate, and not only tore him down, made him a hypocrit in the eyes of the public.
The press loved the above narrative, and went with it blindly. Fact checking be damned.
The university, in a move not to come across as callous to the victims, lost complete control of the narrative, and didn't even seem to try to get it back. And anything that did find out, seemed only to reinforce it.
For reasons only they know, the BOT let football take the fall. Maybe they were covering their own asses, as has been discussed. Maybe some personal vendettas came into play. Maybe they were protecting the university as a whole, and scapegoated Joe and the football program. People "in the know" have said for quite some time that while some people eventually will come out of this looking better, others will look worse. Maybe they thought they were protecting the university itself by deflecting blame. It's possible. We don't have all the facts yet. And remember our accreditation with Middle States was being challenged when this happened as well, and we were being investigated for Clery Act violations. What happened to football and athletics would have been small potatoes if we lost the accreditation. That could have ruined the entire university.
Those of you saying we shouldn't have signed the consent decree... well, I honestly don't know. Barring any new information coming out, I personally believe the wrong people were punished, and that people and programs were scapegoated. That said... let's assume that Penn State said no and didn't cooperate. At that point he NCAA has to take control, they can't be seen as weak, and remember the public wants the university shut down completely. So they impose the death penalty. Let's say a judge issued a stay. You know the court probably grants a stay while the case is litigated. Now, my guess is the NCAA drags this out as long as they can. They would probably still be delaying and fighting. Even without sanctions, Penn State would be trying to recruit with the threat of the death penalty over its head. I have a feeling the program would have went in the shitter because of that. Those of you who think it would have been over quickly are delusional. In the meantime, you greatly underestimate how the university and how the team would have been treated. Once we lost the narrative and it got to Freeh, for us to say no, you can't punish us, EVEN IF WE WERE RIGHT, wouldn't matter. At that point we would have been the cultists who protected football over children, and now we still didn't get it by fighting punishment. The ref who said "you're lucky to be playing" would have been the least of our concerns. You've heard the expression "dead right?" We would have been the poster children for that. The live to fight another day is a good analogy. Although it would appear to not be the strategy the BOT and admins are following.
Where the Board went wrong with its "move on" mantra was misunderstanding 1. The alumni's depth of connection to the university, and to Joe specifically, 2. The alumni's desire to find out what really happened, punish those who were guilty, 3. The alumni's commitment to finding the truth, no matter where it leads, and even if that leads to more disappointment.
I believe people and departments were scapegoated, and I want to know the truth. I do worry about where it leads, but am prepared to deal with it. I want guilty parties punished, and reputations restored as much as possible. But as much as I think the BOT and Adminstration have mishandled this from the beginning, to say that we should have fought the NCAA and not signed the decree ignores the fact that our opportunity to minimize any damage had passed back in November through January.