^ yes, he did, but I thought they would at least let him do one more game for the seniors before letting him go to the dogs. But just thinking back to the previous coaches who have been fired for other stuff, it shows that the universities have an agenda: if they don't like him, they will fire him when he screws up. (Bowden, Leach, Locksley, Stoops, etc.) However, they had to show that he wasn't in control of the situation, and in the end they did what was right.
Now, before you do going off, remember coaches rarely last long and despite everything they have shown that once you past a certain age, they will go on releasing people at will. Now, I have read through past stories and the main reason has been, they cannot stand the current era. Many would have been fired for anything stupid.
Joe Pa did something "morally wrong" not legally wrong. If there was something beyond that reasoning, he would have been fired earlier. But, what does surprise me is the grad assistant hasn't been released yet, who is in the middle of the whole thing. Whatever was told to Joe Pa, he still had more reason to be blamed than anything else.
I have heard stories similar to this and everyone who did know got the ax and in the position of power, they should be take full responsibility for anything done under their watch. He didn't do that and what he should have done, he didn't do. But, I do think the universities sometimes are the ones who should take the grunt of the unpopular crowd.
I have to also add this, students will always have blind loyalty to coaches, and we do get disappointed when a popular coach decides to leave or gets forced out. That's the college way, you can go ask Sab about our situation here, WE HAVE NO PRO SPORTS and it is way different than professionals. The fans are mainly students and alumni, we are the vocal majority in numbers but not on the school board. The students see it as a way to rid of the stench because he (Sandusky) was open to come back, which should have been solved when the first of the allegations started to come out. Now, maybe something very familiar is with Vick, we could believe him all he want because of his on the field achievements, but we forget that they are not 24/7 sports people and he made a mistake, the process is long and it may never win over the people that once cheered for him. Its just trying to move himself beyond the off the field incident, as for Paterno, he didn't commit a crime, just the moral faux pas that humans rarely overlook.
Now in saying this, he's on the field achievements is set in stone, he got the records probably no one will ever beat because of the "win now" mentality in college football these days. As for off the field, it will haunt him, no doubt it will, but as humans we do overlook the process that what morally should be done because of the occupation we hold as our title. I really feel there is more into the cover up than what is being reported, many just want to know if Joe Pa got the truth from the Grad assistant in the right context. And I do think the university has made it tougher to the public to understand what had happened. For him, it is truly regrettable and he will pass on with the doubt that what he shoulda coulda done compared to what had happened during that time