Joe Paterno Fired Tonight by Penn State Board Of Trustees

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Paterno, the winningest coach in Division I history, was ousted just hours after he had announced he would retire at the end of the season.

"Right now I'm not the football coach, and that's something I have to get used to," Paterno said in a statement Wednesday night.

The pressure on the Board to act was heightened when the U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday that it would investigate the scandal to see if Penn State complied with federal law in the reporting of sexual-abuse incidents on campus.

Now we are hearing Joe Paterno's abrupt dismissal as football coach at Penn State on Wednesday night set off a flurry of Twitter postings from current and former Penn State players.

As well as thousands of Penn State students have taken to the streets following the dismissal in protest.

Paterno's wife addressed the crowd and Paterno told the students to "go study" and pray for the victims of the sex-abuse scandal.

Pretty messed up if you ask me.

I think ESPN columnist Jamele Hill said it perfectly in her column tonight...

"Penn State stopped Paterno from coaching. It sent a message that a powerful coach doesn't get the final authority."

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This is an open thread. Comments are welcome.

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I'm finding some great comments on twitter and around the web tonight. Going to share some on here.

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This is a deadly serious matter. Keep the victims in your thoughts. Cannot emphasize that enough. In your thoughts. - SportsbyBrooks

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Gee, poor Joe all upset he was fired via a phone call. Had he made a phone call to police to prevent child rapes he wouldn't be in this spot - Jay Glazer

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My parents' generation risked arrest or violence on campuses to fight against a war or inequality. This generation should be ashamed. Brock & Salk (Twitter)

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today was one of those days that made me think of the great MLK quote "no lie can last forever " - Jeremy Piven

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So who knew in 1987 if we wanted to side with the school that stood for the moral high ground, we should have been rooting for Miami? - Bob Condotta

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Oh come on ESPN! I wanna see if the students can get that antenna on the tv truck fully extended! - Dave 'Softy' Maler - KJR Radio