Joe Paterno Should Be Fired

I never thought that I would say this, but Joe Paterno should be fired!  For years everyone and their brother has loved Joe Paterno and what he has represented in college football.  I always believed that he was a true mensch.

Paterno has been the coach at Penn State since 1966.  He has won 409 games and 2 national championships.  It was announced today that he will retire after the season ends.  He is getting off easy by retiring.  I realize that there are only a few games remaining this season, but he should be relieved of his coaching duties immediately and not given the option to retire.

This whole situation is a pathetic disgrace. Former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky has been charged with molesting eight boys over 15 years, including at the Penn State football complex.  To make matters worse, Paterno did little to stop Sandusky after a graduate assistant came to him in 2002 after allegedly having seen the former assistant coach molesting a 10 year old boy in the Penn State showers.

Joe Paterno realizes that he made the mistake of his life by not doing more to ensure that Sandusky would never commit such a horrid crime again.  Paterno said,  "with the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more." Paterno met his legal obligation by reporting the incident to his superiors at the university, however, when further actions were not taken against Sandusky Paterno should have used his common sense and taken further steps when university officials failed to act. 

To retire with an organization is an honor, to be fired is an embarrassment.  In Joe Paterno's case, despite being a beloved icon for so many years, he made an inexcusable mistake that should lead to his immediate termination.  Joe Paterno figured that he had done enough by reporting Sandusky's actions to university officials.  When it comes to the horrific crimes that Sandusky committed, there is no limit to what kind of punishment he deserved.

It is a shame that such a great coach will have an image that will forever be tarnished now because of his poor judgement.  Sure he didn't commit the crimes, but knowing about them and not taking further action to ensure that a monster like Sandusky is not locked up for good, seems almost as bad.  Sometimes we are more focused on maintaing an image than doing what is right in life. 

It is amazing that it has taken this long for these stories to surface.  Power and money sure help sweep things under the rug, and can make many people forget what really happened.  I feel for the children who Sandusky molested most.  These were normal young men whose lives were forever changed because of a pedophile who should have been put away a long time ago.

So what is the moral of the story?  More than anything this proves that no matter how powerful of a person you are, and despite seeming like a genuinely nice person, you can be rather evil.  Sandusky is one of many individuals who are in a position of power who end up turning out to be a real sick puppy.  I hate to say it but the line forms to the left.  Just because someone is a college football coach, doctor, police man, priest, or actor doesn't mean they can't be a bad person.  After all they are human.