Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publications, 2021
Case 13.3: Penn State Sexual Abuse
Scandal
Case Synopsis and Analysis
Joe Paterno was the head football coach at Penn State for 46 years and during that time, the
Nittany Lions racked up 409 victories and he was the most victorious coach in NCAA
football history. In 2011, a child sexual abuse scandal involving a former Penn State assistant
football coach brought down the coach, athletic director Tim Curley, the storied Penn State
football program, and university president Graham B. Spanier.
In 1977, Jerry Sandusky, the coach at the center of the child abuse scandal, established a
nonprofit organization called Second Mile, a home devoted to helping troubled boys.
Sandusky’s position and association with Penn State gave the charity credibility, but Second
Mile ultimately proved to be a cover and conduit for Sandusky’s sexual abuse of boys.
Many awful accounts of sexual abuse were reported, but little to no action was taken toward
Sandusky. The FBI directed Agent Freeh to investigate and this outlined e-mails and other
documents suggesting that Spanier, Paterno, Schultz, and Curley all knew for years about the
sexual nature of the accusations against Sandusky and kept these allegations under wraps.
The report stated that Paterno, especially, “was an integral part of the act to conceal” (Keller,
2012). Ultimately, Freeh’s report concluded that the reputations of the university and its
exalted football program were “more important to its leaders than the safety and welfare of
young children” (Keller, 2012).
Joe Paterno died in January 2012. Six months later, Sandusky, the assistant coach he
Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publications, 2021
Learning Objectives:
• Students should be able to apply principles of followership to leader behaviors.
• Students should learn to apply Kelley’s typology to better understand the concepts
of followership.
Answers to Questions in the Text:
1. How would you describe the followership at Penn State? Whom would you identify
as the followers? Who are the leaders?
2. Using Kelley’s typology, how would you describe the follower styles for Schultz and
Curley? What about McQueary?
The followership style of Schultz and Curley appear to be near the “Bystander” stage.
The text states that bystanders “are aware of the leader’s intentions and actions but
3. How did followers in this case act in ways that contribute to the power of destructive
leaders and their goals? What was the debilitating impact their actions had on the
organization?
4. Based on Lipman-Blumen’s psychological factors that contribute to harmful
leadership (Table 13.3), explain why those who could have reported Sandusky’s
behaviors chose not to.
1) Our Need For Reassuring Authority Figures.
3) Our Need To Feel Chosen Or Special.
5) Our Fear Of Ostracism, Isolation, And Social Death.
6) Our Fear Of Powerlessness To Challenge A Bad Leader.
There are many psychological reasons why a person would ignore this situation, none
of which match the concepts of ethical leadership. The basic theme as to why they
5. Based on the outcome, where did Paterno’s intentions go wrong? In what ways could
followers have changed the moral climate at Penn State?
6. In the end, who carries the burden of responsibility regarding the failure of Paterno’s
program—the leaders or the followers? Defend your answer.
Potential Teaching Approaches:
Below is a way to structure a class based on Followership and Case Study 13.3:
Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publications, 2021
• Hold a lecture on followership.
Exercises for this case study:
1. In small groups, ask students to search for and find two to three recent articles
regarding this case. Ask students to outline and discuss three recent revelations
related to Penn State football. What has happened at Penn State in recent times to
change the culture? Discuss whether or not this can happen again. Why do scandals
2. In a brief essay (200–250 words), explain what went wrong with this situation. Why
did followers (potentially good people at the time) choose to ignore this issue?