Just now catching up on this thread. It seems there's been a few examples of memory issues among some posters here and there, several with regard to things that happened in early November 2011.
If you are interested in the statements issued back then, along with links, I put them all in this blogpost:
https://jmmyw.wordpress.com/2016/03/04/when-the-scandal-broke-revisiting-november-2011/
And here is brief snip from the middle of that blogpost:
Recapping Early November 2011
On Saturday November 5, 2011, Sandusky was arrested and Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly publicly released the Grand Jury Presentment.
The presentment created the false implication that Mike McQueary saw an anal rape and reported that to Joe Paterno.
On Sunday November 6, 2011, Joe Paterno released a statement attempting to correct that false implication stating, “
It was obvious that the witness was distraught over what he saw, but he at no time related to me the very specific actions contained in the Grand Jury report.”
On Monday November 7, 2011, Attorney General Linda Kelly held a press conference detailing the charges against Sandusky. She stated that Paterno was a cooperative witness and was not considered a target of the investigation. One reporter asked her about the implication in the presentment that Paterno was told explicitly of an anal rape. This presented her with an opportunity to correct the false implication; however, she chose to say she couldn’t share more than what appears in the presentment.
After Linda Kelly took questions from the media, and the press conference was over, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan went back to where the reporters were gathered. He was asked about Paterno’s responsibility. Rather than stick to what the legal requirements were, Noonan chose to question Paterno’s morality.
On Tuesday November 8, 2011, roughly one hundred members of the media gathered for Paterno’s regularly scheduled press conference. The Penn State Board of Trustees cancelled it.
A half hour later the New York Times published an article citing two sources with information that the Penn State Board of Trustees was planning Paterno’s exit. (A former assistant managing editor at the New York Times was a member of the Penn State board.)
That same article also cites a source that claims Paterno was explicitly told of an anal rape, refuting Paterno’s denial two days prior.
By mid-afternoon Tuesday, ESPN’s coverage of the scandal finally found the right moral outrage, according to independent ombudsman Kelly McBride, one of the country’s leading voices on media ethics. She also wrote that the mob of normally vitriolic web commenters were “
right to take up its virtual torches and pitchforks.”
Late Tuesday evening, the Penn State Board of Trustees issued its first statement on the scandal, and “
aligned itself with the anger the public is expressing over this incident.” They committed to forming a committee to conduct a “
full and complete investigation of the circumstances that gave rise to the Grand Jury Report,” and, “
to determine what failures occurred.”
On Wednesday, November 9, 2011, Joe Paterno released a statement in the morning expressing his sorrow and announcing his retirement effective at the end of the season. A source close to Paterno said it was the coach’s decision to retire and that he has had no contact with the board of trustees.
Late Wednesday evening, the Penn State Board of Trustees met behind closed doors before holding a press conference where they announced Paterno was fired.
The board fired Joe Paterno without ever speaking to him. When questioned, Vice Chairman John Surma justified the firing “
in consideration of all the facts,” which he said amounted to nothing more than what was in the grand jury presentment and whatever the media had written.
