It is fitting and appropriate that Joe Paterno was fired tonight by Penn State. The winning head football coach at one of the nation’s proudest programs simply could not take the field with the Nittany Lions against Nebraska on Saturday. Earlier in the day Paterno tried to cut off the school’s move by agreeing to resign at the end of the season and telling the school it should not consider his tenure anymore:
At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can.
It is fitting and appropriate that Joe Paterno was fired tonight by Penn State. The winning head football coach at one of the nation’s proudest programs simply could not take the field with the Nittany Lions against Nebraska on Saturday. Earlier in the day Paterno tried to cut off the school’s move by agreeing to resign at the end of the season and telling the school it should not consider his tenure anymore:
At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can.
That was a load of crap. He wanted to extend his records, go out his way; That trumped what would have made it easier for everyone: An immediate resignation. The school did the right thing by taking the action Paterno should have taken this morning. When you don’t do everything you can to stop a pedophile on your staff, and knowingly allow him to use facilities and coach youth camps, you have lost every right to do anything the way you want to do it
Some of the students at Penn State are doing no one any favors by rioting in response to Paterno's firing. Years from now, when they are sitting at their 12-year-old son's football game, they will look back with shame on the day they put winning football games ahead of the right thing to do. You want to see how adults with kids react to this scandal? Watch Matt Millen cry on ESPN in the video below.
This should be a lesson for everyone in sports. If the winningest FBS coach in history can be taken down by a scandal like this, you can too.