Joe Paterno Fired Video: Watch the Shocking Announcement of JoePa's Firing

Plenty of people out there thought Joe Paterno's offer to retire at the end of the season was going to be good enough.

Evidently, none of these people are members of Penn State's Board of Trustees. They met on Wednesday night to discuss JoePa's fate, and ultimately announced their decision shortly after 10:00 p.m. local time.

In the words of John P. Surma, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees: "Joe Paterno is no longer the head football coach, effective immediately."

JoePa's career at Penn State started in 1950. Over a period of 61 years, he forged a legacy unlike any in American sports. At the end of it all, it took just 11 words to end his career.

Surma did not pull any punches when it came to revealing the reasons for JoePa's firing. He made it clear that the university strives for "honesty," "integrity" and "the highest moral standards in all of our activities."

This time last week, such things were synonymous with Paterno; then came the allegations of child sex abuse against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. With them came the revelation that Paterno has known about Sandusky's crimes for years.

In particular, he was told in 2002 that Sandusky had sodomized a young boy in the locker room showers, and all Paterno did was run it up the ladder to his superiors (and not the authorities).

He could have done more; because he didn't, Sandusky was kept out of handcuffs for close to a decade.

As soon as all of this came to light, it was immediately obvious that there was going to be no happy ending for Paterno. One way or another, he was going to pay. Not surprisingly, he paid with his job.

Given the sheer magnitude of this situation, that's a small price to pay.