Graham Spanier was an ambitious gregarious, university president at Penn State. He was everywhere. However, at the moment his university needs him most, Graham Spanier is nowhere to be found. He released a startlingly insensitive statement then disappeared into the ether. From Dan Wetzel:

The campus is overrun with anger, accusation and satellite trucks. Across the country Penn State is the center of the ugliest scandal college athletics has ever seen. The whole thing is a disaster, hour by hour sinking even deeper and deeper.

And Graham Spanier is suddenly nowhere to be found.

Not a spoken word from Mr. President. Not a single interview with the media he once courted. Not a speech. Not a rally. Not a meaningful explanation to his students and alumni.

Penn State is desperate for a leader, desperate for some stability, desperate for an adult to stand up tall like the school always thought it would and Spanier is somewhere under a desk, hiding.

Paterno’s press conference was cancelled. Guessing this was because no media member planned to stick to football questions. No one will step forward. No one will take responsibility. The only Penn State figure to address a question in any fashion thus far has been Sandusky himself. A doddering patriarch papering over an incredible leadership vacuum is the reason the university failed to respond adequately to allegations of child rape initially. The cowardice of Spanier and others, juxtaposed with the courage of the children who were victims is startling.

The only present Penn State figure with the fortitude to speak out was quarterback Matt McGloin. Alas, McGloin did not speak out. He was another victim of the nefarious twitter hacker.

Fortunately, the local media are not pulling punches.

[Photo via Getty]