He received hearsay testimony from an intern about a well-respected former associate, and reported it to the head of University Police.
It could have been false; we know now it wasn't. But Paterno didn't know that at the time. Had he run around screaming a false accusation from the rooftops, you and all the other haters would have wanted his head for that instead.
You don't know that. We do know he did the bare minumum in reporting. Considering what the allegation was, I find the extent of his reporting lacking, and so do most people other than the Joegroupies.
He received hearsay testimony from an intern about a well-respected former associate
Hearsay testimony? Good grief, he was told by a current assistant coach about things of a sexual nature he saw with a young boy in the shower. It's not like a coach at a rival university reported this, your word "hearsay" doesn't cover it at all. Most people would have wanted to know the truth of this kind of thing, it's clear little was done to find out anything, the bare minimum was done at a time a lot more should have happened.
Had he run around screaming a false accusation from the rooftops
Nobody wanted that, you're building a strawman, but it sure would have been nice if Joe would have gotten on it and found out the truth, but he didn't.
I have no hate for Joe, but the best you can say is that he did the bare minimum at a time he should have done a lot more. Even he apparently knew that, but the Joegroupies here have no clue what that means. I'd give you a hint, but you don't seem capable of doing anything in this case but defending the indefensible.
More extreme exaggerated hyperbole -- of which no one was expecting...nor would have any self-respecting coach done...re: trying to draw even more attention to his program than was necessary...which, of course, was the very cover-up problem to begin with...