Joe Paterno Must Go ... Now?

It is looking increasingly likely that Joe Paterno will be forced out over his response to knowledge that a former assistant coach may have been having inappropriate sexual contact with minors. People from all walks of life have been calling for his firing. We don’t know what he knew, except we know that he did not have any first-hand knowledge of transgressions. The legal process is far from having run its course, and it seems highly unlikely that its course will ever intersect with Paterno. Paterno passed on what he knew to his superiors. It is clear that there wasn’t a good system for handling suspicions of these kinds. Still, apparently it is the moment to fire Paterno from his job of nearly fifty years. If the proper response to serious accusations is to immediately fire every one that could be involved, then this is proper. If quick action is always the way to go, then fire away. If he has annoyed you and/or you wanted him to leave because you thought it was best for the program to start fresh long before any of this came out, then by all means call for his firing because of this transgression. Some professional screamer from Happy Valley was on a national sports radio show this morning … screaming. He was livid. He didn’t think Paterno should coach another game. When talking about what he would ask Paterno at a news conference, he said you have to be careful because Paterno doesn’t understand questions anymore and never really felt it necessary to answer them all anyway. I am sure he is not jumping for joy that someone was molesting young boys, but I am almost equally sure that he smiled a little about this opportunity before he seized it. I have a hard time not seeing this call for Paterno’s head as a witch hunt. Some folks are seizing an opportunity to get rid of someone that they had no chance to get rid of a week ago. Others are just reacting to react. Whenever there is the hint of a scandal, we are out looking for some folks to take the fall. We need someone to blame … immediately. The hell with details. The hell with context. The hell with a fifty year relationship. It may well turn out that Paterno knew what was going on and decided to do as little as possible. It may well turn out that Paterno should be fired. I just don’t think most of those calling for his head have any idea how it will turn out, and that is a problem.