[onewhippedpuppy]

One thing to consider regarding the history of JoePa would be the severity of past program issues. The example given by Supe above is a perfect starting point. A group of college football players getting drunk and causing trouble is nothing noteworthy, anything short of them seriously injuring or killing someone wouldn't even be worthy of national news. It's easy to write off such an incident as "boys being boys" and go on with life. But this issue is exponentially worse.

Even if JoePa had called the police immediately after hearing of the incident, his football program would have been tarnished for years to come. This wasn't someone on the periphery of Penn State football, this was his DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR raping young boys. It would have had a significant impact on his program recruiting, as well as reflected horribly on JoePa himself. As the saying goes, perception is reality.

So Joe was facing an issue that, if exposed to the public, would have had a very real impact on his football program and coaching career for years to come. Perhaps the risk of tarnishing his reputation was enough motivation to simply let the matter pass with a sigh of relief?