Penn State’s legendary Football Head Coach Joe Paterno announced that he’s retiring after the end of the 2011 Season. This in the wake of the revelation that Jerry Sandusky, his former defensive coordinator, was involved in inappropriate actions with teen age boys.
Paterno’s decision is not official; there’s no posting on any Penn State website. It comes from an unnamed source. Fox News had this:
The source, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the decision has yet to be announced, said the 84-year-old Paterno will announce his retirement later Wednesday.
Paterno has been besieged by criticism since Sandusky was charged over the weekend with molesting eight young boys between 1994 and 2009. Athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz have been charged with failing to notify authorities after an eyewitness reported a 2002 assault.
Though Paterno is not accused of any wrongdoing, he has been questioned over his apparent failure to follow up on a report of the 2002 incident, in which Sandusky allegedly sodomized a 10-year-old boy in the showers at the team’s football complex. A witness, Mike McQueary, is currently receivers coach for the team but was a graduate assistant at the time.
Joe Paterno’s announcement, if it does come, will be an interesting motivator for his players going into the game against Nebraska this weekend.
Stay tuned.