College football coach Joe Paterno is “days or weeks” away from leaving the team, reports the New York Times. But if it were up to people on Twitter and Tumblr, he’d already be gone.
Paterno, who has been the coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team for the last 46 years (since 1966), has been embroiled in a sex-abuse scandal after his former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky “was indicted on 40 counts of sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years,” reported ESPN. Paterno is not a “target of the investigation,” police say, but they are upset that he did not do “enough to try to stop the suspected abuse,” ESPN reported.
The school canceled a press conference scheduled for 12:20 p.m. ET today where Paterno was expected to talk about the upcoming game against Nebraska.
“Due to the on-going legal circumstances surrounding the recent allegations and charges, we have determined that today’s press conference cannot be held and will not be rescheduled,” said the school in a statement, according to USA Today.
Paterno is the winningest coach in Division I college football history and has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The news of his imminent leave has rocked the sports world and left millions of people on Tumblr and Twitter ashamed and angered.
The coach has been a worldwide trending topic on Twitter over the last hour, collecting more than 18,000 mentions from people defending and chastising the 84-year-old coach.
“Leave Joe alone. Paterno did what was right. He immediately reported the alleged incident to the proper authorities,” tweeted Manny Miles (@manny_miles). “ Not his job to crusade.”
“Good riddance. Hopefully, NCAA finds a way to take away wins record also,” tweeted Alex Myers (@alexmyers3).
On Tumblr it was a very similar story, where dozens of people, including Penn State alumni, weighed in on the news.
“I’m so ashamed to be a Penn State alum right now,” wrote Rebecca on her Tumblr blog Never Sarcastic. “JoePa, [Penn State] President Spanier, and everyone else who knew about the abuse and didn’t report it to the police needs to be fired immediately. … Protecting the people who protected the abuser is just as bad as protecting the abuser.”
“I say drive Paterno’s old ass out of State College and into prison where it belongs,” wrote Meg on LOLMeg. “Crimes against children, particularly sexual crimes, are so reprehensible and harmful and disturbing that no amount of ‘oh I didn’t know the details’ can exculpate Paterno for his turning a blind eye.”
Penn State has not officially commented on the Times report. But when they do, it will likely be too little too late. The Internet has spoken and all signs have Paterno walking off the field for good.
Photo by Jake Kaplan