Local coaches speak out about a newly-released investigative report with Penn State findings

Little League coaches say safety is priority

Local coaches speak about safeguards for children


Photographer: WPTV
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Posted: 07/13/2012

JENSEN BEACH, Fla. -

Now that the comprehensive investigative Penn State report has been released, concerned parents are reacting.

 

Jensen Beach All-Star Little Leaguers took on Sebastian Thursday afternoon, as coaches kept a watchful eye on the action and their young athletes.

 

Coach Guy Rinier is from Pennysylvania, and said he has many friends who attended Penn State, a proud school, now consumed by a sex abuse scandal and new reports of a longstanding cover-up.

 

"It did surprise me that it was allowed to be carried on as long as it was," said Rinier.

 

Coach Chuck Wilcox is a former FBI agent. He recalled many cases of sex abuse involving people with sterling reputations, people just like Jerry Sandusky, the once-revered Assistant Coach at Penn State, now convicted of child sexual abuse.

 

Wilcox coaches his own son now, and is thankful for safeguards here.

 

"Before any adult can set foot on the field, they have to go through a background check with FDLE by Little League rules," Wilcox said.

 

Penn State is consumed by scandal, in part, because an investigation finds no checks and balances existed there, or they were ignored.

 

Coach Rinier said he's appalled that the Penn State investigative report says the University's former president, Graham Spanier,"failed in his duties."

 

Rinier said leaders, just like coaches, have to live up to high standards.

 

"If Sandusky's organization had been set up like this, he never would have even made it, because we know everybody," said Rinier. "It's a small town. Penn State's big, but to have that covered up is a disgrace."

 

Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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