This can either be a feature film or a cable movie, because Shakespeare himself would have had trouble coming up with anything this shocking, and because the issues here still boggle the mind. The bookand the movieisnt just about Paternos demise but rather his life before Penn State, his family and the iron grip he held over Penn State football and politics until his downfall. Posnanski, an award-winning sportswriter who has written for Sports Illustrated and The Kansas City Star, had spent a year working on the book when the scandal broke. Sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts of sexual abuse against young boys and is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison. He died shortly after of cancer and many feel of a broken heart and the school had little choice but to raze a fabled statue of Paterno just as the NCAA dropped the hammer with sanctions against the school that included removal of Paternos wins going back to the cover-up. When his former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is revealed to be a pedophile and it comes out Paterno was told and helped hide the scandal, the coach was summarily fired. A man becomes the winningest coach in college football history and builds a powerhouse football program that turns him into a campus deity.
The narrative arc of the movie that will be shopped is obvious. Pacinos manager, Rick Nicita, will produce. The package will be built around Joe Posnanskis biography Paterno, which is now atop The New York Times Bestseller List in its second week. But keep the emails coming!ĮARLIER EXCLUSIVE, FRIDAY 5:30 PM: ICM Partners next week will be taking a package for a movie about former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, with Al Pacino attached to play the man called JoePa by most students at Happy Valley.
Regretfully, that is Paternos enduring legacy now. Had that been the case, I doubt the university would have fired Paterno and later torn down his statue, or that the NCAA would have leveled devastating sanctions against the football program at the expense of current players who had absolutely nothing to do with any of this and who didnt deserve punishment that was delivered to send a clear message about prioritizing what is important. The idea that this just somehow happened, and nobody but Sandusky was to blame, is something I will never embrace. The administration at Penn State chose to protect its cherished powerhouse and lucrative football program, and went against the contract that any institution of higher learning has, which is to protect the young and vulnerable. When I think of great college coaches, I wonder: what would someone like Bobby Knight have done if given the same information? McQueary certainly wasnt vague in his testimony at Sanduskys trial, saying he was sure he had stumbled upon Sandusky engaging in a sexual act with an underage boy. Paterno defenders say that McQueary was vague in describing what he saw, but I fall on the side of those who feel that Paterno was so powerful at Penn State that he could have stopped this in its tracks had he chosen to follow up, or even if he had dialed three numbers: 911. The idea that nobody acted seriously on information given by grad assistant and later assistant coach Mike McQueary that could have stopped a predator convicted on dozens of counts of molesting vulnerable children is unconscionable. I cant imagine these apologists have kids. Some claiming to have clout in Hollywood say they will try to squash this project, and others are critical of me and defensive of the beloved Paterno, claiming he got a raw deal. UPDATE: Rarely have I gotten so many emails on a story that has struck a nerve among former students of Penn State.