Paterno Shouldn't Finish the Season

From Jemele Hill, at ESPN, "Penn State Should Not Allow Joe Paterno to Retire On His Own Terms":

This isn't good enough.

This isn't the appropriate conclusion for Joe Paterno, who announced on Wednesday that he will retire at the end of the season.

If the Paterno era is allowed to end this way, it will be just another example of Penn State University cowardice.

"I have come to work every day for the last 61 years with one clear goal in mind," Paterno said in Wednesday's statement. "To serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care. I have the same goal today."

But the only interests being served here are Paterno's and Penn State's. If the 84-year-old coach is given the freedom to dictate the terms of his departure, it means that university officials will have shown again that they are unwilling and unprepared to confront their legendary football coach.

Penn State cannot afford to allow Joe Paterno to orchestrate his own exit strategy.
Paterno shouldn't be given the opportunity to coach another game, whether he does it walking the sideline or sitting in the press box. He doesn't deserve to see these seniors -- whose last game in Beaver Stadium on Saturday will be memorable for all the wrong reasons -- play their final home game. He doesn't deserve to be celebrated or supported as he concludes a career now tarnished by his reprehensible, implausible inaction against a former assistant who stands accused of unspeakable crimes against children.

Continue reading.

And here's Ann Althouse, on Maureen Dowd's column at New York Times:

In case you've forgotten, the story Paterno heard — according to the grand jury report — was that McQueary, a graduate assistant coach, saw "a naked boy about 10 years old 'with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky.'"

Unspeakable crimes.