Paterno was gone after this season regardless, so he's trying to escape with no penalty whatever.
Paterno knew what Sandusky was doing since 1998, when he was investigated by the police, and was forced to take early retirement at the end of the 1999 season. No one will ever know what he was up to in 1999.
Don't believe a word about any other reason he left. They wanted him out, but with no adverse publicity for the program.
Since Paterno knew Sandusky was a homo pedophile since 1998, the 2002 incident could not have been misunderstood and could not have been a surprise.
Paterno's sole motivation was to protect his football program, the kids be damned.
And the real villain in this, beside Sandusky, is Mike McQuery, the omnipresent redhead on the Penn State sidelines. He was 28 years old, not a kid, when he discovered the child being assaulted. He just quietly left, to allow Sandusky to finish, then went with his father to Paterno to negotiate a job on the coaching staff, which along with his silence he still holds.
Paterno shouldn't be fired, he should be jailed, along with McQuery and Sandusky. Paterno is the lowest form of scum on earth.