First, the idea that the scandal killed Paterno is abusurd. He was an 85 year old man, whose body was riddled with cancer. At most, the stress might have accelerated things by a few months, but to say he died a premature death, due to this, is silly.
As to how he was treated by the BOT and media, I think he might have gotten a bit too much heat, but deserved a good portion of it.
I can understand him passing the info on to his superiors and expecting them to handle it. However, what I cannot understand or condone, was him allowing that pervert, Sandusky to be around the program, for years after McCreary came to him. If he had told his superiors, AND banned Sandusky from the facilities (until such time as he he found out the allegations were untrue), I’d say he could have done more, but had done enough.
But, if he was going to allow this accused child molester to have access to his program, he had a responsibility to follow up and find out the truth.
As I understand it, Sandusky had been reported to the DA and no charges were made. Couldn’t Joe assume as that time that the investigation turned up nothing.
People also have to put themselves in Joe’s place. If someone told you that someone you supervised saw such an incident, would you go to the local police or your own police for an investigation? Looking back he should have told the guy who told him to go to the police.