The End Of The Joe Pa Era?

From ESPN: Support for Joe Paterno among Penn State's board of trustees Tuesday was said to be drying up, threatening to end the 84-year-old coach's career amid a child sex-abuse scandal involving one-time heir apparent Jerry Sandusky.
A source with knowledge of internal discussions at Penn State told "Outside the Lines" reporter Steve Delsohn that "the support on the board of trustees for Joe is eroding."
"But what that means and how much that support has eroded remains to be seen," the source said.
The Associated Press, citing a person familiar with the trustees' discussions and who used the term "eroding" said it was unclear what the consequences for Paterno will be and that a decision could be rendered before the board meets on Friday.
Penn State president Graham Spanier also has lost support among the Board of Trustees, the person said, but again, how much was unclear. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Earlier Tuesday, The New York Times reported that the board has had discussions about Paterno's departure and how to manage it. The newspaper, citing "two people briefed on conversations among the university's top officials," said that Paterno's exit could come within days or weeks.
Paterno's son, Scott, said his father hasn't spoken with Penn State officials or trustees about stepping down.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7207730/penn-state-nittany-lions-sexual-abuse-case-support-joe-paterno-eroding
The reason Jo Paterno may go: Fox 29 has learned the number of child-abuse in the Penn State sex-abuse scandal involving ex-coach Jerry Sandusky has more than doubled in the past day, and is closer to 20 victims.
There were eight victims named in the grand jury presentment and 40 charges leveled against Sandusky, a long-time assistant to Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno. Paterno was not named in the grand jury finding as violating any laws.
Sources tell Fox 29 since a press conference on Monday, the number of potential victims has more than doubled in the case.
Sandusky was arrested in the case and made bail, while two Penn State administrators face charges related to how an alleged crime was reported in the case to police and investigators.
On Monday, state officials publicized two phone numbers for past victims to call, and within a day, it seems investigators have new leads.
Also on Monday, Pennsylvania state attorney general Linda Kelly said the Sandusky case was consideried an on-going investigation and more charges could be coming.
Sandusky is charged with sexually abusing at least eight young boys he met through The Second Mile, a charity he founded in the late 1970s.
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/sports/local_sports/exclusive%3A-victims-double-in-penn-state-case-110811
Simply put, this could be one of sports biggest scandals of all time and unfortunately, Joe Paterno got caught up in it.
Paterno says he knew of 1 case where someone reported to him that Sandusky raped or had sex with a child. While technically, he may not have violated any laws, what about the morality of what Paterno did? When someone says your assistant raped a child, what would be your extinct? Tell the school president or call the police? Would fire the person involved?
The two Penn State administrators won't be convicted because they are not mandated reporters and the statue of limitations have run out, but morally, they had to do more and the same with Paterno.
This is what got the Catholic Church in trouble- people hid the child abuse and the abuse continued.
Should Jo Pa be fired given his years of service? Absolutely. Paterno ran Penn State and he was Sandusky's boss. He should have called the police at the first sign of trouble. He should have fired Sandusky immediately after he heard the allegations. But like the Catholic Bishops who knew about child abuse- they hid the abuse and it backfired when it came out. Joe Pa knew about the abuse and passed it on to an administrator and it backfired.
Paterno ran a clean program for players, and all but one coach, bu it only takes one person to blow up a program.