Penn State fires president Graham Spanier and head football coach Joe Paterno amid child sex-abuse scandal
The Philadelphia Inquirer
November 10, 2011
Pennsylvania State University head football coach Joe Paterno and president Graham B. Spanier were fired Wednesday, toppled by questions and withering criticism over the way they handled allegations of child sex-abuse by a former coach.
Paterno had announced earlier in the day that he would retire at the end of the current season, his 46th as head coach. But university trustees decided he could not stay.
The developments marked a spectacular and swift downfall for both men, but it was the coach, not his boss, who over decades had come to embody the institution.
No Division I-A coach has more wins than Paterno, a fall fixture for the legions at packed Beaver Stadium and generations of college football fans across the country.
Ultimately, neither he nor Spanier could withstand the backlash that started when longtime defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was charged Saturday with molesting eight boys, and two administrators were accused of covering up one of his assaults.