STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — It took just over a minute for someone to ask coach Joe Paterno about suspended tailback Austin Scott following Penn State’s convincing 38-7 win over No. 19 Wisconsin on Saturday.
JoePa wasn’t pleased.
“I don’t want to get into it. We just won a football game, OK, and you guys want to talk about all that other stuff,” Paterno said during the postgame news conference in response to a question about Scott’s status with the team.
Authorities on Friday charged Scott with raping a woman early on Oct. 5. Scott had been suspended from the team on the day of the alleged attack.
Scott’s lawyer, Joseph Amendola, said in a statement distributed to several news outlets Friday night that Scott was innocent and had been falsely accused following a consensual encounter.
“Austin regrets any embarrassment that this has brought Penn State, his team or Coach (Joe) Paterno and he especially regrets the heartbreak that this has brought to his family,” Amendola said in the statement.
Paterno on Saturday was perturbed with the question about Scott.
“I’m not even going to make a comment on it,” Paterno said. “I had a bunch of kids play a good football game today against a good team. That’s what I thought we ought to talk about.”
The Nittany Lions have faced a rash of off-field issues lately. Paterno has said he is also looking into the possibility that a couple of players may have been involved in a fight.
Four players have been cited for underage drinking over the last two months.
“We talked it out and decided on a couple of things and I think that as I’ve said from day one, they’re basically a good group of kids,” Paterno said.
And the Nittany Lions are still cleaning Beaver Stadium on Sundays after home games as part of a punishment being served by the whole squad after several players were involved in an off-campus fight in April.
Safety Anthony Scirrotto and defensive tackle Chris Baker are awaiting trial in December on criminal charges in connection with that altercation.
“A couple of guys made mistakes. They’re growing up, let me put it that way, they’re growing up, slowly but surely,” Paterno said. “Slower than I’d like, but at least they’re growing up.”
Source: www.sportingnews.com
