Penn State sex scandal: School reportedly planning Joe Paterno’s exit

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Joe Paterno’s tenure as coach of the Penn State football team will soon be over in the wake of a sex-abuse scandal that has implicated university officials, the New York Times is reporting.

The school has yet to determine the timing of Paterno’s exit, which could come within days, but discussions about how to manage his departure have begun, the newspaper reported.

Paterno was to have held a news conference Tuesday, but the university canceled it less than an hour before it was to start.

DOCUMENT: The grand jury report

Jerry Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator under Paterno, has been charged with sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period.

Since Sandusky’s arrest Saturday, Paterno has been criticized for a failure to act adequately after learning that Sandusky might have been abusing children.

On Monday, law enforcement officials said that Paterno had met his legal obligation in alerting his superiors at the university when he learned of a 2002 allegation against Sandusky. Paterno has not been charged in the matter, but his failure to report to authorities what he knew about the 2002 incident, in which Sandusky allegedly sexually assaulted a young boy at Penn State’s football complex, has become a flashpoint, stirring anger among the school’s board members and the public about his handling of the matter.

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-- Houston Mitchell