Bears players react to Penn State scandal

The fallout from the Penn State sex scandal reaches into every NFL locker room, including the Bears’ facilities, where Anthony Adams and Robbie Gould had the difficult task Wednesday of dealing with an ugly situation at an institution they respect.

“I put a lot of pride in my school and the coaching staff that was there, so for this to go on it’s heart-breaking,” said Bears nose tackle Anthony Adams, who played for the Nittany Lions from 1998-2002. “It was a complete shock to me.”

The news that long-time defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was charged with sexually abusing at least eight boys over a 15-year period was difficult for Adams to comprehend. Sandusky retired as Penn State’s defensive coordinator after Adams’ freshman season, so he didn’t know the coach very well, but Adams said he never saw any signs of impropriety.

“The man I knew was very respectful,” Adams said. “He did everything the Penn State way. I don’t know what’s going on now, but when he was coaching there at Penn State and he was coaching us, he was always very professional and just somebody who is a role model.”

Because the scandal happened during the 46-year tenure of head coach Joe Paterno, it has tarnished the reputation of the man with an NCAA-record 409 victories and an equally impressive record of having 87 percent of his players graduate. While some are calling for him to resign immeiately, Paterno announced Wednesday that he would retire at the end of this season.

Gould was guarded in his response to questions Wednesday.

“Obviously this is a situation I know nothing about, that doesn’t involve me, and so obviously I’m not going to answer any questions involving the situation,” said Gould, who didn’t enter Penn State until 2001. “But Joe was a great coach when I was there. He’s always been a great coach, and he’ll continue to be a great coach through the rest of the season.”

Gould said the 84-year-old Paterno was more than a coach.

“The biggest part was he made you become a better man,” Gould said. “Being on time for things, making sure that you’re responsible for doing whatever homework or projects or assignments (you have), or helping your teammates out, being held accountable for things that you do obviously is something that we all learned from him. We became better people and better athletes by attending Penn State, and that’s why you go there. I don’t think that will change.”

Adams said in many respects the education he received from Paterno was more about life in general than specifically related to football.

“He had all kinds of sayings,” Adams said. “Most of them didn’t have anything to do with football. ‘A man with no watch doesn’t respect time.’ There were 120-something student athletes (in the football program). If you were late, he’d say, ‘You’re not a minute late; you’re 120 minutes late, because you just took a minute from every player that we have on the team.

“At the time, you’re just going, ‘Why you keep naggin’ and naggin?’ You don’t realize the type of impact (he has) on your life until you leave.”

Asked about allegations that Paterno didn’t do enough to prevent or report Sandusky’s crimes, Adams slowly shook his head and said: “I don’t know man, I don’t know.”

Adams found it difficult to compare the situation with his experiences at Penn State.

“Just for there to be allegations is difficult,” he said. “For Penn State and the coaches to even be in the same … if you see the Penn State logo, and then you see sex scandal under that, it’s just like, ‘Wow.’ Penn State shouldn’t be involved with any of that.”

As unsavory as the situation is, Adams, he still values his business management degree and his years at Penn State.

“I’m still proud of what we represented, especially that we did things the right way,” Adams said. “We did things differently than everybody else. At the time, I didn’t really understand because I thought we were being punished. ‘How come I have to be somewhere 15 minutes early?’ But it was a standard that we set. It was the Penn State way. And I’m still proud of my school.”

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