Frank Spaziani (AP)

During his weekly Thursday sit-down with Boston College football coach Frank Spaziani, WEEI’s Jon Meterparel discussed the Penn State situation. Spaziani played under Joe Paterno at Penn State in the late 1960s and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant there in 1969.

“That situation up there is a tragedy on many, many, many levels,” Spaziani said. “My thoughts throughout the whole thing have always been with the victims and their families. My prayers and heart go out to them. The rest of this stuff is superfluous, really, to the major point of the whole tragedy.”

Jerry Sandusky, who has been charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of boys over a 15-year span, was a Penn State graduate assistant one year when Spaziani played, and he was the team’s defensive line coach during Spaziani’s year as a graduate assistant.

Asked if he knew Sandusky, Spaziani said: “I had a conversation with him, yes.”

Spaziani indicated that he saw no signs that Sandusky could be capable of the behavior of which he has been accused.

“Does anybody have any inkling of any activities of this nature?” Spaziani said.

The BC coach acknowledged that he read the indictment against Sandusky, but he said his thoughts remain with the victims.

“What went through my mind [reading the indictment] is we have a chance here to take a stand against some hideous, evil behavior in this country,” Spaziani said. “Although it’s being centered around State College, this is a world-wide problem. This is a problem we need to address as a society. We can make some headway. That’s what we need to do.”

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