As we all are aware, a week ago, the largest college sports scandal in history was brought to public and media attention.

Allegations brought against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky have blown up every news and online social media outlet, with new bits and pieces of information regarding the scandal being revealed by the hour.

Shortly after the news of the scandal was brought to attention, much of the scrutiny was dumped onto Joe Paterno.

For so long he has been on the top of the pedestal in college sports for having integrity and purity, in a college world that has players knowingly committing NCAA violations (Ohio State) and schools that have benefitted from “over-generous” donors (Miami).

Following the release of the scandal and the public response to the allegations, JoePa released a statement, which was not authorized by the University, on the state of his future at Penn State.

“I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season. At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can.”

In reality, Paterno did not make things easier for his respected university. If anything, he made it harder for the Board of Trustees, who had been handling the whole situation terribly since the news broke out.

The school did not want Paterno to talk; yet, Paterno found ways to talk to the media in hopes of taking steps to clear his name. While trying to save their own image, on top of the fact that if he stayed it would have been a huge distraction to the team, leaving the university no choice but to relieve Paterno of his coaching duties.

Penn State University went into frenzy following the sudden release of Paterno, with students flooding the streets of campus in shock, disbelief, and anger to hear their coach, who has been a part of Penn State football since 1949, had been fired.

News vans were tipped over, windows were smashed in, and protestors reportedly were throwing rocks at officials trying to restraint the rowdy, over-aggressive (and probably drunk) students with pepper spray.

This raises the question of what were Joe Paterno’s obligations after receiving information that one of his former coaches and friend, was not only sexually assaulting underage boys, but also allegedly committing the heinous crimes on campus.

Authorities are not targeting JoePa since he did do the legal minimum by addressing the information given to him from Mike McQueary to his superior.

Even though JoePa met his legal obligations, unlike Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, he did not meet his moral responsibility.

He received news that a coach on his staff, regardless of if he was his long-time friend or not, was sexually assaulting children, and did the minimum of actions to get by without being prosecuted by the law.

On November 18, the NCAA announced it was going to investigate the scandal.

NCAA president, Mark Emmert, stated that as a sanctioning body, they “have rules and bylaws that — while they were never written to address anything quite like this of course — speak directly to the control those institutions have to maintain over their athletic departments and their programs. And they speak very directly to ethical behavior of people in those programs and we’ll apply those bylaws, and if the allegations hold up, then we’ll act accordingly.”

Emmert cited an NCAA bylaw that states coaches or athletic staffers must “do more than avoid improper conduct or questionable acts. Their own moral values must be so certain and positive that those younger … will be influenced by a fine example. Much more is expected of them than of the less critically placed citizen.”

It is safe to say that within the university and the football program, Joe Paterno had the most power on campus.

For a person with his stature, much more definitely should have definitely been expected from him. In a time when the school needed someone to take control over the issue, JoePa failed.

Joe Paterno did great things for Penn State; no doubt, he is a living legend. He collected 409 wins as a head coach, becoming the all-time winningest coach in FBS history.

He owns the record for most bowl appearances (37) and bowl wins (24), and has led his team to national championships in 1982 and 1986.

Off the field, Joe and his wife, Sue, have generously donated to the school over the years. For more than 60 years, Joe Paterno was Penn State football.

It is sad to see his final exit be like this. The legacy Joe Paterno has built for many years has been tarnished due to a man’s perverted actions with young boys and the mishandling of that information.

Yet, within the college football world, he still has respect from many fellow coaches and former players who have played for him and have been around him for the many years he has been around the game.

At Pennsylvania State University, Joe Paterno’s name will always be remembered, but unfortunately so will the scandal that played a part in his release.