Athletic Director Sandy Barbour apologized for bashing the hockey team’s 409 stickers on a radio show tonight, saying she just wanted Penn State to make sure it “got it right” in regard to celebrating the restoration of Joe Paterno’s wins.

Speaking on WBLF’s “Zone Coverage,” Barbour said she was the one who was “inappropriate and insensitive” for tweeting about such an important matter.

“First of all, I want to apologize for the tweet,” Barbour said, according to a transcription by PennLive. “This is far too important a subject to vet on a casual; or in social media. I’ll use my own words. It was inappropriate and insensitive of me to do that from a tweet standpoint.”

Here’s her full explanation:

“But from the standpoint of my concern, and why I’ve had conversations with our coaches about this, is because this is a moment to celebrate, and I knew before I came to Penn State [from California] that 409 meant success with honor, that 409 means far more to this community and this university than wins. But, having come from the outside, I know that’s not necessarily what everyone else knows and thinks, and frankly, in my five months here, I have learned so much more about Penn State and what an incredible place it is. I want the rest of the world to see and feel the things I have seen, and I thought it was incredibly important in this moment that we pause to make sure we got it right.”

Coach Guy Gadowsky was grilled on radio for the team’s decision to wear to stickers yesterday, and Barbour said she spoke to Gadowsky, saying didn’t intend to “denigrate you guys or your coaching staff.”

“I understand what they did. They celebrated, and I get that, but again, once I talked to him about pausing and what are kind of all the things that have to be considered here, he was totally, totally on board,” Barbour said. “I don’t want him to beat up about this. He also got killed by the advocate’s side of this, and I think just as we have to understand and be sensitive to the victim side, there also has to be some understanding of why we would celebrate.”

Barbour’s thoughts on when Penn State will honor Joe Paterno were similar to those on the stickers. She said Paterno should be honored, but Penn State needs to be deliberate in deciding how and get it right.

Kevin will have more on all of this tomorrow.

Image: Katie Fiorillo