We don’t know all the facts yet. He could have been told that the investigation shows Sandusky did nothing, and he could have believed them. It’s not like it’s easy to believe that someone you’ve worked with for decades (they weren’t really friends. Paterno is egotistical and thought that Sandusky got too much credit) is a child molester.
Paterno is also not the most powerful man in Happy Valley. If he was, he’d be retiring at the end of the season on his own terms.
And you think this ends with paterno? There is a followup, very quiet investigation going on right now that some of these young boys were being pimped out to wealthy donors.
There wasn’t one report.... there were multiple reports something was going on. Clearly Sandusky had some sort of issue; it was obvious for anyone who cared to look.
Secondly, the AD and President of the University came to Paterno’s house in 2004 and asked him to retire. He basically told them to pound sand. Paterno was the most powerful person at Penn State until this all came to light. After that, his power quickly faded away.
He was the most powerful man in Pennsylvania when he turned 78. The Board of Trustees asked him to resign and he simply said "no." Did you notice he was still around at 84, when this Hidden Monster finally outgrew Joe Paterno?