One of the greatest coaching careers in all of sports came to an end for all of the wrong reasons. After announcing the he was going to retire, Joe Paterno, the legendary coach at Penn State, was fired late Tuesday night in midst of scandal.
In his career, Paterno has a record of 409–136–3, including two successful national championships. However, with the current sexual abuse scandal rocking the school, his unbelievable numbers mean almost nothing with what is taking place.
To make a long story short, Paterno’s long-time defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, has been charged with sexually abusing eight boys in the past 15 years.
The reason Paterno gave for retiring after this year was that he regrets not doing more and did not want the Board of Trustees to talk about him.
“At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status,” said Paterno in his statement. “They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can. This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.”
It is hitting some of his players very hard, and cornerback Stephon Morris could not believe it when he saw his coach break down.
“I still can’t believe it,” Morris said to reporters outside the football complex. “I’ve never seen coach Paterno like that in my life.”
The players all said that Paterno’s main message to the players was short and simple: beat Nebraska.
Saturday will be the last home game of Joe Paterno’s coaching career. This is a day that was supposed to go down as one of the greatest leaving ceremonies in all of sports. However, it will not have this feeling at all.
What Paterno was able to do on the field will never be questioned. He will go down as one of the most successful coaches in all sports. However, his legacy, which was once one of the greatest, will never be the same. This scandal will not only haunt Paterno and Penn State, but the whole college football world.