I have mixed emotions about the firing of Joe Paterno, a legend at Penn State. He fulfilled his legal requirement to report the alleged sexual misconduct by his assistant coach to his superiors. Should he have done more? Hindsight is always 20/20.
Unfortunately, we have not been privy to Paterno's side of the matter as he has not been allowed to address the media. Perhaps he did follow-up with his superiors to see what action had been taken. We just don't know.
The trustees at Penn State no doubt took this action of firing Paterno to insulate themselves from legal liability. It's all about liability these days. And I would think that all the claimants have a legal action against Penn State for not getting the authorities involved earlier. If not a criminal case, they certainly have a civil case.
At the same time I think about my own coaching days at college. If someone reported one of my assistants to me for improper behavior, I would certainly have reported it to my AD. But I would have also confronted the assistant - someone you would see on a daily basis to plan practices & game strategies - & asked more questions about the matter. So I guess I see where Paterno could have done more, possibly. Again, we don't have & may never get Joe's side of the events.
It's too bad that a legacy of winning by Joe Pa for so many years will be remembered in infamy for the actions of a subordinate.
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