Penn State Scandal: Is Cancelled Press Conference a Sign Joe Pa Is Done at PSU?

The college football world was let down once again today as Penn State cancelled the Joe Paterno press conference, which makes everyone wonder what is going on behind the scenes at Penn State. 

Is this the end of the Joe Paterno era? 

According to Pete Thamel and Mark Viera of the The New York Times, it appears that Paterno will no longer be the head coach at Penn State. 

This story has reached new heights as the days go on, and it's going to be very difficult to see a different coach on the Penn State sidelines. 

At first, I was going to discuss how the cancellation of the press conference was out of Paterno's hands, and how he should take a stand and speak up. 

Now that he is likely to be done as head coach, it's clear that Paterno knew more than he said he did.

Former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky allegedly used the charity program as a cover to molest young children, and witnesses saw him doing such things at Penn State.

In 2002, a graduate assistant saw Sandusky molesting a young boy in the showers, and instead of calling the police he told school officials. 

Paterno also passed the information along instead of reporting it, and then athletic director Tim Curley and and vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz covered the story up. 

Those two have since stepped down from their positions after being charged with perjury and failure to report. 

Since Penn State decided to cancel the press conference, it was an indication that the school wanted to avoid questions about the scandal, even though they made it clear the presser was to be about just football. 

There's no denying that Paterno should have done more once he learned what Sandusky had done. 

The 84-year-old coach helped brand Penn State, and going out like this is just awful.

I admit that I was wrong because I truly thought the Nittany Lions would do everything they could to protect Paterno and make sure he stays on as head coach. 

However, too much is going here, and apparently Penn State feels it must get rid of Paterno to make amends. Everybody knew he was on the downturn of his career and has been for quite some time, but recent news has forced the Nittany Lions to make quick decisions 

Is forcing him to end his career right now the best decision though?

It's a tough call, but this situation wasn't going to go away anytime soon, especially since Penn State cancelled the Paterno press conference.  

We'll see how this story continues to develop, but it looks as though Penn State will soon begin a search for a new head coach. 

That's going to be a challenge, as the atmosphere around the Nittany Lions program is in bad shape.