Paterno, Spanier out at Penn State

Penn State's football coach Joe Paterno has been fired by school's board of trustees. In addition, the long-serving President Graham B. Spanier is out as a result of fallout from the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the school.

Penn State's board of trustees accepted Spanier resignation, the board announced Wednesday night.

Both men have been under fire since a grand jury report emerged late last week, charging that former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky had molested young boys on Penn State's campus over a period of years. Two university administrators also were charged in the case for perjury and failure to report a crime.

When told of a 2002 alleged sexual assault by Sandusky on a 10-year-old boy, Paterno notified University officials but not law enforcement.

Spanier acknowledged that one of his administrators told him about the incident in involving Sandusky, but said that it was only described as "horseplay."

Since arriving at Penn State in 1995, Spanier has been credited with increasing fundraising and enrollment and starting a plethora of new programs and initiatives. In 2010, his contract was extended by the board of trustees to 2015.