Joe Paterno once said “The minute you think you’ve got it made; disaster is just around the corner.” How ironic.

Penn State, a football program envied that rests in a city seemingly perfect to raise a family in, boasted a head football coach who’s a living legend and a defensive coordinator who was just as responsible for the success as the head coach. The program, the coaching, staff and the city itself have been decimated by the scandal that shocked the nation.

On November 4th, Gerald “Jerry” Sandusky, Penn State’s former defensive coordinator, was indicted on forty counts of child molestation.

Weeks ago, millions didn’t even know who Sandusky was, and now he’s a name that pops up in the Google search engine when a person searches for Penn State. Founder of the Second Mile charity that was once recognized by the President Bush for helping at-risk kids, Sandusky was the last person many thought would commit such heinous crimes.

Former Penn State assistant Mike McQueary said he witnessed Sandusky anally raping a 10-year old in a Penn State facility. In 2000, a janitor said he saw Sandusky performing oral sex on a young boy in the Penn State showers.

In an Interview with journalist Bob Costas, Jerry Sandusky pleaded innocent saying he just “horsed around in the showers after the workout” and even went on to say he regretted “showering with them kids.” Costas replied that “If all accusations are false, then you are the most unlucky and persecuted man we’ve ever heard about.”

Days following the indictments, riots took place on the Penn State campus because Joe Paterno was fired just hours after reporting he would retire at the end of the season.

The firing came about because Paterno didn’t do what was morally right when he was first informed of Jerry Sandusky’s actions. Paterno only told the school President Graham Spanier (who was also fired) instead of taking that extra step and going to the police. Joe Paterno’s camp insists that the truth has not come out yet and it will all emerge once Paterno tells his side of the story.

It’s been years since the rumors started circulating around Penn State campus that has over 6,000 faculty members. Penn State faithful are known for their loyalty to this once iconic university. One can’t be too naïve to believe that these allegations just flew over everyone’s head or that just because of Sandusky’s public persona that they were just considered a rumor.

A prestigious school, an untroubled city, a football program that generates 53 million dollars a year and a legendary college football coach with a legacy that will probably never be surpassed, and many jobs on the line are just some of the speculated motives for the cover up.

When the administrators of Penn State first found out, all they did was bar Sandusky from bringing kids to the Penn State facilities, take away his keys to the locker room, inform the Second Mile charity and told him he would never succeed JoePa.

Even Sandusky’s early retirement, age 55, is relatively early for a coach especially one that dreamed of being a head coach, could have raised eyebrows. Speculation is that he was forced to retire in exchange for the cover-up.

A city, a university, and a legend is forever tarnished by the actions of one man and the cover up by many others because they cherished football more than the lives of young men. And trust me, this is just the beginning.