Penn State's Paterno Says He'll Step Down After Season

(Newsroom America) -- Longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said Wednesday he would step down after this season amid a broiling, growing sex abuse scandal involving a former assistant coach.

"I am absolutely devastated by the developments in this case," Paterno, 84, said in a statement. "I grieve for the children and their families, and I pray for their comfort and relief.

"This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more," Paterno - who became the winningest coach ever in top-tier college football this week - said.

Paterno said it has always been his intention to "serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care.

"That's why I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season. At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status," he said. "They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can."

Paterno has become the latest casualty in a sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the core of the university, as a former coach and two of the school's top officials have been arrested and charged criminally.

The 46-year Penn State coach has come under intense criticism over the school's cover-up of years of sexual abuse against young boys by Jerry Sandusky, a longtime assistant to Paterno.

According to a grand jury, some of the abuse occurred on campus and had been brought to the attention of Paterno and other officials.

"I've lived for this place. I've lived for people like you guys and girls," Paterno told fans gathered outside his home Tuesday night. "As you know, the kids that were the victims. I think we ought to say a prayer for them."

Sandusky was arrested Saturday and charged with the molestation of eight boys over the course of 15 years. He met all of them through The Second Mile, a group home and outreach program for troubled boys, court documents say.

Athletic director Tim Curly and Vice President for Finance Gary Shultz were also arrested and charged with not reporting the incidents to police, as well as lying to a grand jury. Both have denied the charges.

The charges stem from 2002, when graduate assistant coach Mike McQueary allegedly saw Sandusky sexually abusing a boy in a locker room shower in the Penn State football department.

McQueary told Paterno, who in turn informed Curly and Shultz, records indicate. None of the men reported the incident to police.

The Pennsylvania attorney general's office has said Curly and Shultz were obligated to inform police, while Paterno was only obligated legally to inform them. Still, Paterno has come under fire for what police have said was his "moral obligation" to alert authorities.

© 2011 Newsroom America.

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