Joe Paterno Fired As Penn State Head Coach

The board of trustees at Penn State University fired head coach Joe Paterno along with the university's president as a result of the growing child sex-abuse scandal that centers around former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Paterno had been the Penn State head coach for 46 years.

Penn State and its celebrated football program led by Paterno, 84, were thrown into turmoil when former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, 67, was charged on Saturday with sexually abusing eight young boys over more than a decade.

Paterno and Spanier have been criticized for knowing about accusations against Sandusky and not notifying police.

The interim president Rodney Erickson said on Thursday there would be a full investigation "to determine what failures occurred, who is responsible, and what measures are necessary to insure that this never happens at our University again and that those responsible are held fully accountable."

The scandal has rocked the sprawling campus of about 45,000 students in State College in central Pennsylvania, the flagship of about two dozen Penn State campuses across the state.

[yahoonews.com]