Paterno Fired

Paterno leaves behind an unfillable legacy,
but a tainted one at that.

Just hours after releasing a statement that he would make his retirement effective at the end of the NCAA football season, legendary head coach Joe Paterno, along with university president Graham Spanier, has been fired.

The decision comes from Penn State University's Board of Trustees amid the child sexual abuse scandal that has circled the campus for nearly a week, all thanks to former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

Over the weekend Sandusky was charged on 40 criminal counts of sexual abuse, putting a dark cloud over Happy Valley.

This decision closes a chapter in one of the greatest coaching in sports history. Paterno leaves Penn States as the NCAA's all-time leader in wins (409), bowl appearances (37), bowl victories (24) and would have coached the most games in Division I history Saturday, but instead will remain in a tie for the all-time lead with Amos Alonzo Stagg, coaching 548 games in his career.

He remains the only coach in Division I history to total more than 400-plus victories in a career.

Paterno has been the face of the university for over six decades and coached the Nittany Lions for 46 years. 31 of the current coaches in the FBS had yet to be born when the 84-year-old coach begin his tenure in State College. As for Spanier, his 16-year run as university president has come to an end and, just like Paterno, will have to forever live with the information he did nothing with.

Tom Bradley, who oddly enough replaced Sandusky as the team's defensive coordinator following his retirement, was named Penn State's interim head coach.

For a man that has a statue and preached morals, ethics and integrity for more than half of a century, ultimately fell short of his own principles. For Paterno, it's not just an end of an era, but the end of a lifestyle.