Joe Paterno Retiring: Reports of Retirement Flood Twitter with Reaction

Joe Paterno's tenure at Penn State is over. 

According to the Associated Press, the longest tenured head coach in college football will retire at the end of the season.

This news does not come as a shock in light of the Jerry Sandusky scandal that has rocked the very fabric of the University to its core. 

Paterno is expected to coach the team for the rest of the season, though in my opinion that would be a mistake for both him and Penn State. Nothing is going to be about the team on the field as long as he is still running the show. 

Still, it's his decision apparently and he is going to see things through to the end. 

As is often the case in today's world when news breaks, Twitter has just been flooded with reaction from anyone and everyone regarding this whole situation. 

Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News and contributor to ESPN's "Around the Horn" put this whole retirement situation in perspective. 

Paterno was in the last year of his contract and there had been speculation that he would retire at the end of the season, so it's not like he is doing something because the University is in trouble. 

A fan with the Twitter handle nyyhater did his best to sum up what the overwhelming majority of the country is thinking today. 

Regardless of what we all thought before, Paterno is not the good man that we thought him to be. He did what was in the best interest of the school and his program instead of protecting human beings. It's disgusting.

Speaking of bad people, where is the NCAA during this whole thing? ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose, whose Michigan team was stripped of victories for mundane recruiting violations, calls out the hypocrisy of this entire organization. 

Michele Steel, who covers sports at Bloomberg television, posted Paterno's official statement regarding the retirement. Here are some portions that jumped out:

Yeah, Joe, the Board of Trustees should spend some more time talking about what your status with this team because you should not be allowed to finish the season. 

"The benefit of hindsight..." There should not have been any hindsight or wishing that you had done more. When you were informed of what happened, you had an obligation to alert the authorities immediately. You failed to do that, so you are an accessory to this whole thing. 

Friends of the Program is wondering the exact same thing that I am and I would imagine most of the country is after seeing that statement. 

Maybe we just don't get it, because the Penn State fans are still in love with Paterno. I don't exactly know why, but they are doing all they can to support him right now. 

Pat Forde, who is one of the best in the business, gets to the heart of the matter.

Is it just because Paterno is their head coach, so they feel they have to support him?

The nonprofit organization Kidsafe has no idea what Paterno has done that should warrant letting him coach the final three games of the season, and I wholeheartedly agree. 

It doesn't matter how much of a "legend" he is, he does not have any rights or privileges in this instance. He does not get to go out when he wants to. He should be done right now. He should have been done two days ago when this whole situation came out. 

Barb Adams, a self-described housewife and blogger, made a perfect statement about why Penn State and Paterno are on a downward spiral right now. 

Paterno was Penn State. He was bigger than any other individual person at that University. He made that school relevant, and now he is going down and the program is coming with him. 

Nittany Nation, which is the official name of Penn State's student section at basketball games, seems to be locked in its own little bubble because they believe his legacy is intact.

I don't know how you can think that at this point in time, but maybe those people are so insulated that they don't want to see the gravity of this whole thing.

Paterno was a great coach for a long time but his legacy will forever be attached to Jerry Sandusky and his failure to do more given the information he knew.  

To those that believe that Paterno did his job, Brave Kids Voices offers up this explanation. 

If you have this information, how do you not tell the proper authorities? Paterno told his superiors but that's not enough. If this was someone in your family who had been victimized by Sandusky and you found out someone knew and did virtually nothing, wouldn't you want to see them brought down?