Joe had an obligation every time stories of this came up to see if the source were credible, and if so report it to law enforcement.
Every time, no matter where the incident had occured.
Joe wasn't just the legendary coach at the university. Paterno was also on the board of The Second Mile, the charity from which the at risk boys were obtained. You can quit whining about poor old Joe.
The same authority in which Joe decided to place his faith controlling the situation in the past, is now the authority which cans him.
In neither case did either party decide to respond to inference of criminality by reporting it to legitimate authority and allowing law enforcement and the judicial system administer justice.
The irony.