Will Joe Paterno Get Fired Over Penn State Sex Scandal?
Joe Paterno, the legendary Penn State head coach, could be fired from the university because of the horrid sexual abuse allegations against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.
Inside sources privy to university conversations said that Paterno would not be at the public Ivy school much longer. According to The New York Times, he could be there for a few more days, or perhaps a few weeks at most.
The sources said that the board of trustees of Penn State has made it clear that Paterno would not coach another season at the school. Paterno is the winningest coach in Penn State history. However, bringing millions to school will not spare him from being terminated.
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Paterno is accused of failing to call police when he was told that his defensive coordinator, fellow legend Jerry Sandusky, was caught red-handed raping a 10-year-old child in a university locker room shower.
In 2002, Mike McQueary, then a Penn State graduate student, walked in on Sandusky allegedly sexually abusing a child. He immediately left, and the next day, informed Paterno.
The discrepancy comes here: it is unknown if McQueary related all he had seen to Paterno, or if he communicated a less disturbing turn of events.
Paterno, although he relayed concerns to higher-ups, did not say that Sandusky was definitively having sex with the child. He implied something more like groping or horsing around, which he thought would not necessitate a call to police.
Paterno seems to have gotten off easy for now. The officials he reported to, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, the athletic director and vice president respectively have been brought up on charges of perjury and failure to report sexual activity.
Sandusky was indicted on 40 counts of sex crimes against eight young boys over a 15-year period, but is currently free on $100,000 bail. If he is found guilty of the reprehensible acts, the former coach could be sentenced to life in prison.
Sandusky started a philanthropy in 1977 for children called the Second Mile, which is most likely how he gained access to his alleged victims.
Neither coach could be reached for comment.
