(Image Source: USA Today)


You're watching multi-source sports analysis from Newsy.

BY AUSTIN FAX

ANCHOR JIM FLINK
 

As if things couldn’t get any worse for Joe Paterno and Penn State -- a new report alleges the iconic football coach might have abused his power at the school.

According to the Wall Street Journal -- former Penn State official Vicky Triponey (Trip- OH- knee) butted heads with Paterno on several instances where she believes the coach interfered in the disciplinary process.  Triponey tells the Journal....

“...’There were numerous meetings and discussions about specific and pending student discipline cases that involved football players,’ which she said included ‘demands’ to adjust the judicial process for football players. The end result... was that football players were treated ‘more favorably than other students accused of violating the community standards as defined by the student code of conduct.’”
 

Triponey resigned in 2007 after six Penn State players were charged by police for forcing their way into a campus apartment and allegedly beating up several students, one of them severely.
USA Today’s Kelly Whiteside says Triponey's account of the pressure she faced sheds light on the influence the football program had on the university.
 

“Paterno was larger than life, even cast in bronze. His power and influence was so great, no one dared to confront, and certainly not defy, the legend. [T]hen-president Graham Spanier told [her], "Vicky, you're one of the handful of people who have seen the darker side of Joe Paterno."

And although some suggest the story could further compromise Paterno’s legacy -- a writer for the New York Times says, the culture at Penn State didn’t start and stop with Paterno.

“[President Graham] Spanier and his administration had a history of circling the wagons in the face of criticism or scrutiny, fitting into what many say was an insular Penn State culture that preceded his tenure. It occurred when high-profile Penn State employees came under fire, when student actions threatened to embarrass the university, and when people sought to obtain information that almost any other public institution would be required to release.”

And in an interview with ESPN -- former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden says this isn’t just a Penn State problem. ALL football coaches have too much power.
 

“There’s no doubt about it. There is no doubt about it. I had it at Florida State. And anybody who has coached as long as he did at Penn State and some of these other programs. And then the money they are making! The power comes with it. I’ve always heard, and it’s pretty dad gum true, you wanna check your character, get a little power. “



Paterno has released a statement denying Triponey’s accusations.
A spokesperson says, "the allegations are out of context, misleading and filled with inaccuracies.”