The case of Jerry Sandusky over the serial raping of young boys while a coach in Penn State's football program ended Tuesday as it began: in denial and delusion. "In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged disgusting acts," Mr. Sandusky said in a call from the jailhouse to the Pennsylvania State radio station Monday night. "My wife has been my only sex partner, and that was after marriage."
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Mr. Sandusky repeated the gist of that bloodcurdling statement on Tuesday before Judge John Cleland of the Centre County Court in Pennsylvania, who sentenced him to 30 to 60 years in prison on 45 convictions of raping, abusing and assaulting 10 boys over many years. University officials, including the former head coach Joe Paterno, looked the other way or covered up the crimes to protect a football program that brings in tens of millions of dollars a year.
"Before you blame me, as others have, look at everything and everybody," Mr. Sandusky said. He claimed eight young men were motivated by "attention, financial gain, prestige" when they took the witness stand to describe acts of rape and abuse about which they had been so traumatized and ashamed that it took them many years to tell their stories. This, of course, is the man who was asked on television by Bob Costas if he was sexually attracted to young boys and had trouble denying it.
One of Mr. Sandusky's victims was a young boy who was sodomized by Mr. Sandusky in the Penn State football shower room, according to testimony by Mike McQueary, a former assistant coach. Mr. McQueary did nothing to stop the attack. He reported it the next day to Mr. Paterno, who kept it from the police. Another was Mr. Sandusky's adopted son, who did not testify in the trial but said later that he was sexually assaulted by his adoptive father.
Mr. Sandusky began his jailhouse statement by calling this "the worst loss of my life," as if it were just another football game.
This is not the end of this case. Two other Penn State officials are facing criminal charges for not reporting the attacks, and Penn State has been fined and sanctioned by the N.C.A.A. and other collegiate football groups. The university board, to its credit, fired Mr. Paterno, who died early this year, and the college president at the time, Graham Spanier. The board commissioned Louis Freeh, the former F.B.I. director, to examine the university's behavior, and he produced a damning account of negligence, indifference and incompetence.
It's not clear how Penn State intends to carry out Mr. Freeh's recommendations. In a recent meeting at The Times, Karen Peetz, the chairwoman of the Penn State board of trustees, and Rodney Erickson, the current president, said they are "taking all recommendations under advisement" but indicated there were some — they would not say which — they might reject.
Ms. Peetz and Mr. Erickson did not deny the seriousness of the crimes or the catastrophic failures of management and leadership that were revealed. But they denied the obvious truth that football has been too dominant in Penn State's culture, with terrible consequences. They said Penn State had not yet created the crime-reporting protocol that is required by federal law.
Asked about lessons Penn State has learned, Mr. Erickson said that "bad things can happen in good places" and child abuse happens everywhere. That is true, but has little relevance for Penn State.
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