The Freeh Report on Penn State and the Sandusky cover-up/scandal comes out tomorrow morning. The early rumors are that it is going to be wide-ranging and scathing. Going after not just the football program, but Penn State and the whole culture at the school. As such, you see groups trying to get ready for it, or try and protect tarnished legacies (and keep trying it seems).
I’m going to read it. I will probably have some things to say about it afterwards. One name I’ll be looking for with some interest is Tom Bradley. The man who at one point seemed poised to be Pitt’s head coach (or UConn’s or Temple’s).
Back in 2010/2011 when Bradley abruptly seemed to be pursuing every available 1-A job on the East Coast, the speculation was that he realized he would not be the guy to succeed Paterno. Or that he had been too picky for too long, and just wanted to be a head coach before he became yet another PSU assistant who was never more than that. That he didn’t want to be like Bud Foster at VT.
Now we wonder and speculate if he was trying to get any job he could because he knew about the grand jury investigations into Jerry Sandusky. That he was trying to get out before the crap hit.
Back when it seemed Bradley might be Pitt’s head coach in 2011, there was actually a fair amount enthusiasm (not to mention weariness after the whole Haywood debacle). A year later, he had no chance of being the DC at Pitt — and it turns out anywhere else.
Tom Bradley’s name has not really been mentioned in most of the Penn State scandal. He got through being the interim head coach. Got showed the door, and has been relatively anonymous. No immediate job opportunities, but no one was surprised given everything that was coming. The smart thing has been to keep his head down and avoid as much media attention as possible.
So for the most part, he’s been relatively anonymous. It almost seemed as if somehow the whole mess was going to miss Bradley completely. That being in the eye of the storm would somehow keep him safe. Except for one thing at the Sandusky trial.
At one point, the accuser said Sandusky did his summer coursework for him. At another, he said he thought former Penn State assistant coach Tom Bradley was “suspicious” when he found the boy and Sandusky in a Penn State shower. “There was one time that Coach Bradley had come in, and I can’t say what his thoughts were, but I think he was suspicious because he stayed in the shower until we left,” he testified.
That little tidbit, along with other former players who have admitted that in the past they had heard rumors about Sandusky.
[Matt] Johnson recalled how, after he left Penn State, Sandusky visited his home once and how he visited his office in New York City, maybe four or five years ago. Not long after, Johnson began hearing rumors about his former coach. But they were hard to believe. Why should he believe them?
The past eight months made him understand.
Acknowledging the existence of the rumors dating back over years. Making it back to former players not even on the campus. Yet the coaches were in the dark? The people around the program and Sandusky in the area? Harder to swallow.
And even Bradley’s friends know the questions are out there — and are not comfortable.
[Rich] Leathery spent his final year at Penn State as part of a most magical run: He was the student athletic trainer for the undefeated 1994 team, from August through the Rose Bowl.
He graduated Penn State, spent 10 years as Dover High’s athletic trainer and eventually took over as athletic director in 2008.
He often returned to Penn State and talked with Bradley.
Though he didn’t know Sandusky well, he spent time around him and never would have suspected what transpired, never saw a red flag.
He wonders if others could have, though.
It’s the unknowing that might always eat at him.
“What did some of the guys know that I knew? What did Tom Bradley know? . . . I don’t know what they knew. I don’t want to pass judgement on any of those guys. I don’t know if they looked the other way.”
He’s right. We don’t know if they looked the other way. We may never know. At the same time, no one can simply take them at their word on this. This isn’t innocent until proven guilty. That’s the law and dealing with criminal accusations. This is something else. This is about trust. This is about reputation and association. Bradley has stayed quiet. Even after he got name-checked at the trial. Whenever he emerges it will be one of the first questions he faces.
In a way, Pitt was lucky to have hired Fraud Graham in 2011. At least, compared to the “what ifs” had Pitt hired Tom Bradley.
Pitt would have been in a position of either having to fire someone for possibly knowing of child molestation and the cover-up. Or having to defend the coach of being part of the cover-up. To say nothing of having to defend Penn State if you choose to defend Bradley
For someone like Tom Bradley, it won’t be over for a while. He was tight with Mike McQueary. As it stands, McQueary is out of coaching, and until the appeals process is over he probably won’t be able to speak to the media about everything. And who knows what he says if he talks. Who knows who else he might say he told about Sandusky. Even if McQueary and Bradley never shared or compared notes on Sandusky, until the point where McQueary does the one-on-one interview or tell-all bo0k that is going to be an open question.
I hope Tom Bradley saved and invested well. Even the Steelers probably can’t touch him right now.
Technically it is possible since there was an investigation and the grand jury was hearing things. But, Bradley was not called. Nor part of any investigation.
My guess is that Bradley knew that the ship has sailed a couple of years ago as far as he relacing JoePa … and that he, along with just about everyone else at PSU, did not think that the situation would reach this magnitude. It’s quite possible that he may never coach again.
Today in his Q&A he claims that Cook and Collier have written ‘dozens’ of articles since the story broke. I only recall Cook’s article where he writes that the healing has begun. Only recently has Collier even summoned the courage to write something negative about Penn State’s handling of the scandal.
Will the PG admit a coverup occurred when the report is released tomorrow or will they continue to be JoePa apologists?
Will Cook be writing about the healing process again or will he finally be critical of JoePa’s handling and acknowledge the Grand Experiment as a failure?
The silence from both Pittsburgh papers is alarming. Are they worried about angering their base of Nitter zombies or do they really think JoePa is still a nice guy after all this?
The PG is nothing more than a propoganda arm of Pedo State.
I’ve stated before on here and elsewhere that I had heard rumors about Sandusky as early as five years ago – and I had been out of the PITT football loop for quite some time before that. If someone like me could have heard it then a ton of others did also.
I’m getting to the point where I don’t give anything anyone associated with PSU says the benefit of doubt any longer. This thing keeps getting worse and worse.
If PITT would even interview Bradley in the future that would be the last time they got any of my money and the last time I’d care about the program at all.
On 93.7 the fan….
As for Cook and his morning cronie Vinnie Rechechi (sp?), they have talked about it almost everyday. Ad nauseum for me actually. When it happened, that’s all they talked about for a good two to three weeks. Now, back in the news, all they’ve talked about the last week.
The three afternoon guys, same thing.
All have destroyed Penn St., gave no quarter. Given no quarter to JoePa the past week, since they found out Joe may have known more than first thought.
All of them salivating waiting for the report to be released in the a.m..
Again, don’t know about the papers, I have 93.7 on all day in my office, they have done nothing but blast Penn State, there has been no sympathy.
I will never be thankful we hired Fraud Graham but it sure saved us embarrassment in one way.
After each of you reads the report, I would be very interested on your comments on the “death penalty” and “PSU Institutional Control.
Hasn’t been non-stop during the trial and since found out that Joe maybe knew more, but it was a topic for discussion everyday during the trial, and has been a topic everyday since the leak that Joe may have know more last week.
With the Pirates doing so well, they do talk about them, have too, first place.
Guess my point is, no, it has not been brushed under the rug on the sports radio here.
It’s going to be a tough day for the Paterno apologists tomorrow. I’m guessing they go into full head-in-sand mode for quite some time.
McQuery (odd last name in retrospect) will work around State College and never be heard from again…look up the name Charles Van Doren for a parallel.
Paterno (or one of his subjects) released an editorial–posthumously — again, Joe is the topic–nothing about defenseless kids–just his legacy.
PSU is a cult..Jonestown times 50..that is what the report will read.
Perhaps SP ought to be given credit for ignoring Bradley.
People in the Pitt athletic department know Curley very well…if 2 people know something, it isn’t a secret. Pitt people knew enough to stay away…
I am looking for someone with the computer graphic skills to reflect the PSU sleek lion with a banana like object in it’s mouth…copyright laws do not protect everything.
The NCAA is missing the point if it steers clear of sanctions on the basis that PSU pedophile hosting is only criminal. All criminal actions bear some civil remedy…ask OJ.
I am an OSU grad and a Pitt fan. So I have a bias. A few weeks ago, I was speaking at a PSU sponsored function and the emcee announced my credentials and told the crowd I had a Pitt car magnet. He also said I had made a poor choice of schools. I looked him dead in the eye and in front of 250 people told him I was glad to debate my loyalties against PSU anytime anywhere and I didn’t have far to look to find
the worst type of conduct from PSU. The crowd went silent and he shut up…for the rest of the night.
Doubt I will be invited back to drink the Kool Aid.
How lucky can a guy get!!
HTP!
“All arrogance with end with an existence rich with tears.”
All arrogance with end with a harvest rich with tears.
PATHETIC!
According to Joe, this is NOT a football scandal. Ummm, Joe; SO WHAT?!?!?!?!?!
This is all about a culture and a leader that allowed a pedophile to run free for a decade to ruin the lives of many innocent children. That culture and leader were allowed to prosper BECAUSE OF FOOTBALL and its over importance to a small community. The “successes” are also tied to the same culture and leader. You can’t have it both ways.
You’re right Joe, this is about much more than football, but that in no way removes the tarnish that this incident paints over all of the “football” accomplishments.
For the record, one person had the power to stop all of this and he did not for fear of what it would do to himself and his program. The buck in State College stopped at Paterno’s desk. I hope the Freeh report makes this clear.
The other being the old Pittsburgh Press. However Collier & Smizik wrote for them as well. We’ve always had to put up being slighted in OUR OWN fricking city but the a-holes who run these papers.
I wish UPMC would just buy the last remaining 2 ragsheets in Pittsburgh. Both you could buy on the cheap as the newspaper business model, as we all know, is a dead business model.
And then ceremoniously fire all the pro-pedophile nitters on both papers. They can all move to Creepy valley and eat Sandusky ice cream cones.
And wax on about how great the old pedo-protector was.
We are Pedo-Protectors !
That is my expectation of the report. The fact that there may have been leaks, indicates there will be different ways to interpret what is written. The nitters will interpret it one way and the non-nitters, the other. Regardless, I do not believe there will be enough damaging information contained therein to allow the NCAA to give a bowl ban for several years and I also believe that it will fall short of outing any particular person or entity. The process, in my opinion has been choreographed by the PR firms and assisted by the Penn State media folks in Pitsburgh.
It is the Penn State culture that failed those innocent boys and their families. It is the culture of Penn State that won’t allow the university to self-impose against its own program for the betterment of the university going forward. The Board of Directors is just as much to blame as they approved large payments to Sandusky, approved an on-campus office for him to continue his molestation, all the while recruiting illegally for Penn State.
My final point is this. Jerry Sandusky is a predator and a molester. These are intimidation crimes and his set-up for perpetrating the crimes was perfect. Jerry Sandusky did not wake up one day in his older years and become a molester. He has done it his whole life. We already know he adopted his own prey. How many football players were victims? That question, when answered, may be the bombshell. The issue is the fraternity of player’s being tough gys. Will any player finally admit what happened to them or will they protect the brand at all costs? So far, it;s been protect, but that’s why you pay millions to PR firms.
What a disgrace to humanity!
END OF STORY.
