Why did Joe have to go?

Can someone please tell me why Joe Paterno had to go as coach of Penn State, but the assistant who saw a child rape in progress and didn’t stop it, didn’t call 9-1-1, and delayed telling Paterno about it until after he talked to his father, gets to stay and coach against Nebraska this week?

Why is what Paterno didn’t do worse than what this guy didn’t do? He evidently had a chance to stop the attack in progress, and didn’t.

Reading the grand jury findings, which are everywhere on the Internet, it’s evident that the jury felt that what Jerry Sandusky did was about as low as you can get, and then they’re saying that the athletic director and the supervisor of the campus police committed crimes by covering it up.

But the Penn State trustees also fired Paterno and the school’s president, although the grand jury presentment said that Paterno did nothing legally wrong.

Morally wrong? Maybe. But all the facts in the case aren’t out yet. That famous “rush to judgment” that we’re always hearing about is everywhere in this case.

If the trustees are going to fire Paterno, they should have fired everyone who was on his staff when these incidents took place, and that includes the new head coach and the assistants.

But that’s as far as it should go. I saw one post from a Pennsylvania reader that said the school should drop football. That seems a bit extreme. The current players did nothing wrong. That’s the NCAA mentality, punish the school, regardless of the fact that violators have long since departed the campus.

Penn State should keep playing football, and with a housecleaning of coaches. It’s going to be hard enough as it is to keep the football standards high at the school.

And in closing, a quick memo to Urban Meyer: Don’t.