Joe Paterno Fired: Penn State University Loses Identity

Penn State University lost its identity Wednesday with the firing of head coach Joe Paterno on the heels of a sexual abuse case surrounding former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

The man with the most all-time wins in college football lost his job over the phone after a board of trustees meeting by the university.

Let's face it: before Paterno—61 years ago—Penn State was not even on the college football radar. It was largely an agricultural school, and not even close to being a national brand. His mark on the school goes from the athletic fields to the schools multi-million dollar library 

JoePa brought the school two national titles in the '80s and resurrected the program in the past decade—a decade where old school coaches, who coach and recruit the right way, find it as hard to have success as ever before.

Without JoePa, who knows if Penn State ever joins the Big Ten?

He was an advocate of the school in 1950 when he joined his college coach Rip Engle in State College as an assistant coach. He was an advocate of the school early Thursday morning when he greeted hundreds of fans and Penn State students gathered outside his house. As he walked back indoors, he chanted, "We are Penn State!" Joe Paterno loves Penn State.

The scene in Happy Valley for Senior Day this Saturday will not be about Penn State vs. Nebraska—it will be about Paterno. Why? Because Paterno is Penn State; not just Penn State football, but Penn State University.

There is no question that Joe Paterno should have gone to a higher authority when he was told by current receivers coach Mike McQueary that Sandusky sexually abused a 10-year-old boy in the shower in 2002. Sandusky has since been found to have allegedly abused up to 17 victims.

McQueary is still employed by Penn State, Athletic Director Tim Curley has been placed on administrative leave (not fired) and the school did let go of president Graham Spanier alongside JoePa.

Maybe Penn State had no choice. The seriousness of the allegations engulfing the football program and school were probably too much to deal with.

Joe Paterno dedicated his life to Penn State as a coach, teacher and, in many ways, as the father of this school in State College, Pennsylvania.

Sexual abuse of a minor is about as serious as any crime gets in this world, but for a man who committed no crime to be dealt with this abruptly, and this manner, is shocking.

Again, Mike McQueary, who witnessed the locker room incident, has not yet been relieved of his duties as the Nittany Lions receivers coach, while JoePa is gone because he did not go to the police upon hearing about the abuse.

The irony is that, in the end, Paterno was protecting the university by sweeping this scandal under the rug; a scandal from over a decade ago. Paterno made a mistake, and now Penn State, in a PR move, is parting ways with its father in order to protect itself.

Penn State owed JoePa a little more.

After 61 years of service as a coach and as the ultimate humanitarian, he didn't even get one more game.