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Paterno fired by Penn State
trustees
November 10, 2011
STATE
COLLEGE, Pa.—For the first time
in almost a half-century, someone other than Joe Paterno is calling the
shots
at Penn State.
The
winningest coach in major college
football history was unceremoniously dumped Wednesday night along with
Penn
State president Graham Spanier, fired in phone calls by a board of
trustees fed
up with the damage being done to the university’s reputation by a child
sex-abuse scandal involving Paterno’s one-time heir apparent.
“Right
now, I’m not the football
coach. And I’ve got to get used to that. After 61 years, I’ve got to
get used
to it,” the 84-year-old Paterno said, speaking outside his house. “Let
me think
it through.”
Paterno
had earlier in the day
announced his intention to retire at the end of the season, his 46th.
It
didn’t matter.
“I’m
not sure I can tell you
specifically,” board vice chair John Surma replied when asked at a
packed news
conference why Paterno had to be fired immediately. “In our view, we
thought
change now was necessary.”
As
word of the firings spread,
thousands of students flocked to the administration building, shouting,
“We
want Joe back!” and “One more game!” They then headed downtown to
Beaver
Avenue, where about 100 police wearing helmets and carrying pepper
spray were
on standby. Witnesses said some rocks and bottles were thrown, a
lamppost was
toppled and a news van was knocked over, its windows kicked out.
State
College police said they had no
immediate information on the number of arrests.
The
decisions to oust Paterno and
Spanier were unanimous, Surma said. Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley
will
serve as interim coach, and the university scheduled a news conference
with him
for Thursday morning. Penn State hosts Nebraska on Saturday in the
final home
game of the season, a day usually set aside to honor seniors on the team
Provost
Rodney Erickson will be the
interim school president.
Paterno
had come under increasing
criticism—including from within the community known as Happy Valley—for
not
doing more to stop the alleged abuse by former defensive coordinator
Jerry
Sandusky, who has been charged with molesting eight boys over 15 years.
Some of
the assaults took place at the Penn State football complex, including a
2002
incident witnessed by then-graduate assistant and current assistant
coach Mike
McQueary.
McQueary
went to Paterno and reported
seeing Sandusky assaulting a young boy in the Penn State showers.
Paterno
notified the athletic director, Tim Curley, and a vice president, Gary
Schultz,
who in turn notified Spanier. Curley and Schultz have been charged with
failing
to report the incident to authorities, and Pennsylvania Attorney
General Linda
Kelly earlier this week refused to rule out charges against Spanier.
Paterno
is not a target of the
criminal investigation, but the state police commissioner called his
failure to
contact police himself a lapse in “moral responsibility.”
Paterno
said in his statement earlier
Wednesday that he was “absolutely devastated” by the abuse case.
“This
is a tragedy,” Paterno said. “It
is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight,
I wish I
had done more.”
The
Penn State trustees had already
said they would appoint a committee to investigate the “circumstances”
that
resulted in the indictment of Sandusky, and of Curley and Schultz. The
committee will be appointed Friday at the board’s regular meeting,
which Gov.
Tom Corbett said he plans to attend, and will examine “what failures
occurred
and who is responsible and what measures are necessary to ensure”
similar
mistakes aren’t made in the future.
In
Washington, the U.S. Department of
Education said it has launched an investigation into whether Penn State
failed
to report incidents of sexual abuse on campus, as required by federal
law.
“The
Penn State board of trustees
tonight decided it is in the best interest of the university to have a
change
in leadership to deal with the difficult issues that we are facing,”
Surma
said.
“The
past several days have been
absolutely terrible for the entire Penn State community. But the
outrage that
we feel is nothing compared to the physical and psychological suffering
that
allegedly took place.”
Sandusky,
who announced his retirement
from Penn State in June 1999, maintained his innocence through his
lawyer.
Curley has taken a leave of absence and Schultz has decided to step
down. They
also say they are innocent.
.Sandusky
founded The Second Mile
charity in 1977, working with at-risk youths. It now raises and spends
several
million dollars each year for its programs. Paterno is listed on The
Second
Mile’s website as a member of its honorary board of directors, a group
that
includes business executives, golfing great Arnold Palmer and several
NFL Hall
of Famers and coaches, including retired Pittsburgh Steelers stars Jack
Ham and
Franco Harris.
The ouster of the man
affectionately known as
“JoePa” brings to an end one of the most storied coaching careers—not
just in
college football but in all of sports. Paterno has 409 victories—a
record for
major college football—won two national titles and guided five teams to
unbeaten, untied seasons. He reached 300 wins faster than any other
coach.
Penn
State is 8-1 this year, with its
only loss to powerhouse Alabama. The Nittany Lions are No. 12 in The
Associated
Press poll.
After
19th-ranked Nebraska, Penn State
plays at Ohio State and at No. 16 Wisconsin, both Big Ten rivals. It
has a
chance to play in the Big Ten championship game Dec. 3 in Indianapolis,
with a
Rose Bowl bid on the line.
Paterno
has raised millions of dollars
for Penn State in his career, and elevated the stature of what was once
a
sleepy land-grant school. Asked why he was fired over the phone, Surma
said,
“We were unable to find a way to do that in person without causing
further
distraction.”
At
Paterno’s house, his wife, Sue, was
teary-eyed as she blew kisses to the 100 or so students who gathered on
the
lawn in a show of support.
“You’re
all so sweet. And I guess we
have to go beat Nebraska without being there,” she said. “We love you
all. Go
Penn State.”
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