Penn State Scandal: Horrific Story Leaves Huge Blemish on Joe Paterno's Legacy

This is the darkest hour in the history of Penn State.

Not just athletics, the entire university.

The football team is ranked No. 12 in the latest BCS poll...but nobody cares.

The whole world is wondering aloud how football coach Joe Paterno, who is the face of Penn State, could let his defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky off the hook.

Paterno was informed about sexual misconduct between Sandusky and a 10-year-old boy in the Nittany Lions showers back in 2002 from a graduate assistant, and nothing came from it.

Allegations say that Sandusky had sexual relations with dozens of young boys. He used his charity, Second Mile, which helped underprivileged kids get access to Penn State's facilities.

The story is so disgusting and outrageous, heads need to roll. Athletics director Tim Curley is being placed on administrative leave at his request and senior vice president for business and finance Gary Schultz will step down. Paterno needs to follow them.

Bill Lyon of the Philadelphia Inquirer sums up the case to fire Paterno very well:

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Joe Paterno is done. Paterno cannot and should not survive the mess that has engulfed his football program and cast doubt on the ethical underpinnings of a university administration that has always claimed higher moral ground than other schools.

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I'm not saying Paterno is okay with anything that happened, but the way he has handled this is horrifying. This is something you can't sweep under the rug. This is something the FBI needs to aware of, let alone the local police. Sandusky is going to be in jail for a very long time because of what he did, and Paterno needs to be held accountable for allowing it to happen under his watch.

He is the most prominent state employee in Pennsylvania for years and should be held to the highest of standards. His failure to notify authorities about a member of his coaching staff committing multiple felonies is simply inexcusable.

There were few scenarios for Paterno not to leave his post in a blaze of glory...but this is a worst case situation at this point. Think about all of the kids that could have been saved if Paterno had been more proactive. Even scarier, the gory details have yet to be fully released.

It's sickening, no other way to put it.

The school that resides in Happy Valley sure isn't in a very good mood right now.