On Sunday morning, Spanier in a statement announced his unconditional support of Senior Vice President Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley, who have both been charged lying to a grand jury in the case.
"I have complete confidence in how they handled the allegations about a former university employee," Spanier said. Late that night, however, following a private meeting of the trustees, both men stepped down.
"The statement did strike me as overly confident and perhaps a bit premature," said Barmak Nassirian, an administrator with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers. "I figured he must know what he's doing and there must be a reason why he is so unconditionally supportive. "
Some experts have a hard time believing Spanier - a family therapist by training and sensitive to issues such as sexual abuse - would have made such an error.
"He would have very detailed knowledge about these cases and how they need to be handled and why," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education.
"The thing that troubles me about this is the only people really talking is the (attorney general) who has a very strong incentive to tell the story in a way to make their case seem as absolutely strong as possible. The university isn't really talking about this. The legal process in the end will determine the outcome as it should be."
Attorney General Linda Kelly Monday said Penn State Coach Joe Paterno was not a target of the continuing investigation, but pointedly declined to say the same about Spanier.
At the center of the probe is Sandusky who has been charged with sexually abusing boys.
