All of this drama started to migrate towards head coach Joe Paterno starting yesterday. For those of you that do not know "Jo Pa", Paterno is 84 years old and has been coaching at Penn State for over 40 years. He has transformed the Penn State football team into a $50 million dynasty. He has spent hours and hours giving back to the university and holds the record for most wins as a coach in college football history. No one expected this news to come at the time it did and all of a sudden Paterno was put under pressure for the first time. Sources say Paterno did indeed know about these molestations but only talked to the Athletic Director and not the police about these actions. Sadly, the board of Penn State had to fire Paterno today in order to clear the slate of a program that toppled to the ground in only a few hours. A couple of hours before his firing, Paterno did tell the media he would be retiring after this season but he will not get to finish the season like he desires to do. After probably a very difficult meeting, the Penn State representatives decided to cut the season short for Paterno and let him loose after 44 years of coaching.
This is a devastating blow to a Penn State football team that sits atop the Big 10 at 8-1 with only three games left. With the Rose Bowl on the line, the players will somehow need to refocus as two of their remaining three games are against ranked opponents.
No words can describe how tragic this situation is. Something that should have been handled years ago had to wait until Tuesday to break out into the news scene. Penn State is left stunned as coach Joe Paterno walks away from a team and a university that he built with his own two hands from the ground up. His legacy is definitely damaged and it is a shame things had to end this way. My guess is that it will take a long time for everyone to forget this and my heart goes out to all those abused boys that have had to live in silence for 20 years.
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