Paterno did not fire js. js voluntarily retired at the end of the 1998 season after Joe telling him he spent too much time with the second mile, and that he would never succeed him because he wasn’t dedicated enough.
js took advantage of a then bargain state retirement plan and that put in place all the emeritus status crap (that Joe had nothing to do with).
In 1999, PSU didn’t have a defensive coordinator and hired js back on a consultant basis to basically be the defacto DC. The following year Tom Bradley took over.
js was never fired. He retired, was re-hired for a year, and then gone.
This is spelled out crystal clear in Posnanski’s book. Posnanski (who basically lived with the Paternos for over a year) also makes it clear that Joe didn’t know about 1998.
The factfreeh report actually gets one thing right in stating that there was no connection to js’s retirement and the 1998 accusation.