Firing Joe Paterno Is Absolutely The Right Move

Amid the unthinkable sexual abuse scandal taking place at Penn State University, involving former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, the school's board of trustees did the absolute right thing in dismissing legendary head coach Joe Paterno on Wednesday. Simply put, Paterno had to go and fast.

Joe Paterno or any other decent human beings' response to reports of sexual molestation of children should be to call the police on their own, not pass it off to others. These are not the type of NCAA rules violations that were committed at Ohio State or USC, this is a grown man (Sandusky) allegedly committing perhaps the most heinous crime one human can inflict on another, besides murder. Sandusky is accused of literally raping young, defensiveness boys in Paterno's Nittany Lions football complex, among other locations.

Authorities claim that Sandusky sexually abused eight boys between 1994 and 2009, with more potential victims coming forward in the days since charges were first levied over the weekend.

The first hint of despicable behavior took place in 1998, after a school janitor passed along information to school administrators.

Paterno was reportedly told directly about these acts by Michael McCreary way back in 2002. The former Penn State QB, who was a graduate assistant at the time, is now a full-time assistant coach at the university.

Despite these claims, Sandusky continued to have access to his university office, provided to him after his 1999 retirement from coaching and was allowed free reign within the athletic facilities, even to the point that he could use them for his youth charity whenever and however.

Despite what Paterno may have heard, he elected to maintain business as usual.

How many boys' lives continued to be ruined because Paterno and others at the school at worst, covered this up and at minimum, looked the other way? Whatever the situation, a group of powerful people felt that protecting the good name of Penn State University was more important than protecting the well being of children, many children in this case.

In reality, Joe Paterno has no superiors at Penn State. He is a million times more powerful than any athletic director, vice president or president that has ever worked for the State College, Pennsylvania institution. If Paterno was truly the righteous man he claimed to be all these years, he would have acted on his own, as opposed to passing it off to those beneath him.