For normal Penn State students, an underage drinking offense usually carries a nominal penalty -- a fine and the loss of driving privileges in Pennsylvania for a few months. But for Andrew Quarless and Willie Harriott, an underage drinking offense nearly cost them their Penn State football careers, too.
"I had told them both to get going," Joe Paterno said during his weekly teleconference Tuesday.
But team captains Anthony Morelli, Dan Connor and Terrell Golden pleaded with Paterno for leniency, and the 80-year-old coach relented.
"They said [to me], 'How about we let them back on, and you do some other things to them,' " Paterno said. "And I said, 'Well, OK.' "
Quarless, last year's starting tight end, and Harriott, a reserve cornerback, will miss today's season opener against Florida International. Paterno may even keep them out for three or four games, he said.
Considering Anthony Scirrotto and Chris Baker are both listed as starters -- even as they await an October trial for their alleged roles in a downtown apartment brawl in April -- Paterno's discipline against Quarless and Harriott almost seems like overkill.
But it's not -- at least if you listen to Paterno's reasoning.
After spending 42 years as Penn State's head coach, Paterno has guided his football team through a gamut of uncomfortable legal situations, ranging from assault, rape and other unattractive allegations levied upon his players.
Through them all, Paterno has acted rationally, handling each case as it comes, tentative to apply a blanket rule for all offenses. It's not fair to appraise each situation the same, Paterno believes. And if the courts are involved, Paterno usually waits for judges and juries to decide an individual's punishment before he considers levying one of his own.
But never has that case-by-case system been so evident as it has this offseason.
Several Penn State football players were involved in the apartment brawl, police reported. Six players were charged, but four were later exonerated.
Still, with so many players implicated in the fight, Paterno felt it was a team offense and warranted a team punishment. So, Paterno will make the entire team clean Beaver Stadium after each home game this season.
In Quarless and Harriott's situation, the underage drinking citations represented individual offenses, making individual punishments appropriate, Paterno believes.
"Quarless and Harriott is a whole different thing," Paterno said. "It's an incident that both of them got involved in on their own, and I'm trying to handle that differently than I would the other one."
While you may not agree with Paterno's decision, you at least have to admit it's rational. And if you don't want to even at admit that, at least admit Paterno's gut feeling about these types of situations is usually correct.
Take the Rashard Casey situation, for example.
Casey, a former Nittany Lion quarterback, was accused of assaulting an off-duty Hoboken, N.J., police officer outside a nightclub on May 14, 2000. Despite criticism, Paterno maintained Casey was innocent and refused to suspend him, instead keeping him in the starting lineup.
Eventually, a grand jury dropped all the charges against Casey.
"I ... want to commend Coach Paterno for his handling of this situation," Penn State President Graham Spanier said after charges against Casey were dropped. "We all try to make the right calls. And in the business of coaching or university administration, judgments have to be made. Joe Paterno has always stood for integrity in intercollegiate athletics, and this will continue to be the case in the future."
Seven years later, Spanier's prediction has held true. Paterno's decision not to suspend Scirrotto or Baker can be questioned, but it's the correct one.
Paterno had more leeway with Quarless and Harriott because there was no trial involved. With Scirrotto and Baker, it's only fair to wait. And if Scirrotto and Baker are convicted, it's unlikely they'll be suiting up for Penn State this season, or maybe even ever again. Paterno wouldn't stand for it.
"Every situation is different; every kid is different. He just can't look at them all with one broad stroke," team spokesman Guido D'Elia said. "That just wouldn't be doing them any justice or teaching them any lessons based on who they are or what they experienced. ...
"... Here's a guy who's the last of the genuine, and that's just the way he sang," D'Elia continued. "Not everybody's the same, and you've got to look at that."
In the end, that certainly sounds reasonable.
Andrew Staub is a senior majoring in journalism and is The Daily Collegian's sports editor. His e-mail address is aes258@psu.edu.
