Image via WikipediaJoe Paterno's 46 years as head coach of the Penn State football team came to an abrupt halt Wednesday, caught up in the scandal created by the arrest of his former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on child molestation charges. First Paterno announced his retirement, with the intention of coaching the remainder of the Nittany Lions' regular schedule. But the school's board of trustees wouldn't let him do that, citing his failure to adequately inform higher-ups and law enforcement about the alleged abuse. They replaced him with Tom Bradley, who takes over on an interim basis.(For more on the scandal, please see The Bludog Chronicle at http://thebludogchronicle.blogspot.com/.)
Paterno has coached the Nittany Lions since 1966, winning 409 games in his career (more than any other coach) and two national championships. He is the reason why Penn State joined the Big Ten conference, why Beaver Stadium now seats more than 100,000, why players from all over wanted to play for him, and why (until now) the athletic program was as squeaky clean as the football uniforms.
But Paterno is now 84 years old. Because of injuries, he recently did his coaching from the press box instead of the sidelines. Questions have been raised about when and if he should have retired. Before the scandal, the university couldn't bring itself to tell Paterno to please step aside, partly because students and well-heeled alumni would react badly if they did.
Now it's too late. Joe Paterno's legacy has come crashing down because he hung around too long, and has come to believe that he was Penn State football. Then stuff hits the fan. Nobody knew it would turn out like this.
UPDATE: Paterno died January 22 at the age of 85, due to complications from lung cancer. Granted, this is not the way for a coaching legend to go, given his alleged role in the Sandusky scandal. Instead, this just made things a whole lot murkier.
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