After a nationwide onslaught of negative response from most every media outlet, including social media sites like Twitter, Penn State trustees fired football coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier.
The anticipated move comes after questions evolved regarding how officials handled sex abuse allegations surrounding former coach Jerry Sandusky. (story and mugshot here).
This next step in the massive overhaul came hours after Paterno announced that he planned to retire at the end of this season; his 46th with Penn State.
“I’m out of it maybe now…the phone call put me out of it.”
“Maybe now?” No Joe Pa, you are officially 100% out of it and there may lie the problem. According to reports, Paterno may have never grasped the severity of the accusations on Sandusky that were brought to his attention in 2002 by then assistant, Mike McQueary.
During the press conference announcing the firing, the board of trustees explained they “decided it is in the best interest of the university to have a change in leadership to deal with the difficult issues [the school] was facing.”
Replacing Paterno on an interim basis will be defensive coordinator Tom Bradley while Rodney Erickson will act as interim school president.
Paterno said he was disappointed with the board’s decision and urged the students to remain calm.
According to sources close to the process, Paterno received an envelope at his home just 15 minutes before the board of trustees stepped in front of the microphone to make the announcement. Paterno was instructed to call a number and when he did, he was informed he was fired.
What an impersonal way to end a 46 year tenure that many have called one of the most impressive legacies in sports history.
Nonetheless, most feel it is deserving and by the time more layers of this raunchy onion gets peeled back, the more it’s going to reek.
After the news hit, thousands of PSU students surrounded the campus, some rioting and over-turning a media van, others chanting, “We want Joe back!”
Maybe you do, but the vast majority of the country doesn’t so it ain’t happening.
Used with permission of the author.
Jay Donetelli is a Tampa-based freelance sportswriter and contributor to Sports Climax. With an opinion sharper than an Ovechkin skate blade with the sting of an Ali jab, Donetelli has a loyal cult of readers who have found a way to love him.
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