They can riot all they want to in State College, Pennsylvania, but the Penn State Board of Trustees made the right call in firing football coach Joe Paterno.
Paterno thought he could prolong his fate early on Wednesday when he volunteered to resign at the end of the season. I wondered how that act would work. The Penn State Board of Trustees took care of it late Wednesday night.
Or by the way, Penn State also fired its president—Graham Spanier.
Paterno is obviously the biggest figure to fall in this mess. He now realizes he should have taken greater measures when informed of the alleged sexual child exploitation involving former Penn State assistant Jerry Sandusky.
Paterno was larger-than-life at Penn State. He no longer receives the title. His rule has ended. The mighty do fall and Paterno went crashing down.
People wonder about Paterno’s legacy. Will this scandal scar it? I don’t know, but at the moment memory is short-term. The stones will continue to be thrown at Paterno for a while. Will he recover? Time will tell.
Meanwhile, the house cleaning at Penn State has only begun. It started with the big boys and will trickle down. People might not recognize the place when it’s over.
We have no model for a situation like Penn State. It’s a sad, sad situation that we will have its own model now.
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