Football coach Joe Paterno and the Penn State President Graham Spanier were fired effective immediately by the Board of Trustees of Penn State University last night. It's about a decade overdue based on the facts and circumstances of the case released to date.
Penn State students rioted, overturning a news van and causing miscellaneous damage in the process. Why? That's how you support Coach Paterno, who didn't do enough to stop an alleged child predator and molestor who was his coach for years? Sorry, but Paterno made this mess by not doing the right thing morally or ethically. Moreover, think about what Paterno didn't do and admitted was his greatest regret - not standing up for the kids who were abused.
And I'm sorry, but the university sacking the president and Paterno is insufficient. Those who were sacking should themselves be sacked (to turn to Monty Python). There should have been a complete housecleaning of all those related to the Sandusky incidents.
Try reading through the grand jury report. If the students on campus had bothered to read what the grand jury had determined, they would have taken a completely different tact.
Moreover, it appears that the university didn't even bother to inform Paterno personally - instead delivering him a letter informing him of the firing (just hours after Paterno said that he would be resigning at the end of the season in hopes of avoiding this kind of ignominious end). That's bad form on the university if true, but par for the course for the university that has botched pretty much every aspect of this case from the moment it was informed of the potential abuse.
According to CNNSI, this scandal will cost the university millions. I think it will do a whole lot more than that. The football program, which was one of the biggest revenue sources for the university (and one of the largest in the nation), will cease to exist in the form that it did during Paterno's tenure. That's a huge revenue hit, which will affect every aspect of school operations.
$52+ million in revenue after expenses. Every year. Expect no more bowl appearances, players will look elsewhere for football programs that aren't tainted by scandal, and other athletic programs in the school will be adversely affected as well since the funds from the football program helped support lesser sports as well.
It will affect the endowment, and it will mean that school boosters and alumni will not give as they did prior to the scandal.
The scandal may not be a fatal blow, but it will be a crippling blow to the university and its national standing and reputation.
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