Joe Paterno, the longtime head football coach at Penn State, was fired amid a growing child sex abuse scandal involving a former assistant coach. Paterno's dismissal came just days after he announced his retirement at the end of the season in response to the scandal, but the Penn State Board of Trustees felt his firing was necessary to regain public trust and move the university forward from the crisis. Paterno's 46-year career coaching the Nittany Lions ended in disgrace due to his failure to do more about reports of abuse by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.
