STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) ? Penn State struggled to stem damage on Thursday from a sex abuse scandal and cover-up that ended the 46-year career of football coach Joe Paterno, one of the country's most revered sports figures.
Paterno and Penn State University President Graham Spanier were fired by the board of trustees late on Wednesday, sparking overnight protests by thousands of students in the university town of State College in central Pennsylvania.
Penn State and its celebrated football program led by Paterno, 84, were thrown into turmoil when former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, 67, was charged on Saturday with sexually abusing eight young boys over more than a decade.
Paterno and Spanier have been criticized for knowing about accusations against Sandusky and not notifying police.
The interim president Rodney Erickson said on Thursday there would be a full investigation "to determine what failures occurred, who is responsible, and what measures are necessary to insure that this never happens at our University again and that those responsible are held fully accountable."
The scandal has rocked the sprawling campus of about 45,000 students in State College in central Pennsylvania, the flagship of about two dozen Penn State campuses across the state.
Thousands of students took to the streets after Paterno was sacked late on Wednesday, chanting "Hell no, Joe won't go" and "We want Joe back" some protesters overturned a television van and scores of police -- some in riot gear -- tried to clear the streets. Some police used pepper spray to disperse students.
The interim head coach, Tom Bradley, told a news conference that he does not fear for the safety of players at the team's final home game on Saturday and that he took the top job with mixed emotions.
"Coach Paterno has meant more to me than anybody but my father," Bradley said. "I am going to find a way to restore confidence and start a healing process with everybody."
MORE PROTESTS?
Severin Laskowski, 19, who works in a restaurant in State College, worried that there could be more protests at Saturday's final home game against the University of Nebraska.
"It will probably be pretty violent. I think there will be another riot. It's the last game of the season and he's not going to be coaching. I think a lot of people feel really bad and others are pissed off," Laskowski said.
Paterno was made aware of the accusations against Sandusky in 2002 and said in a statement on Wednesday: "With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."
A ninth possible victim, now in his 20s, has since come forward and Pennsylvania police have set up a telephone hotline to receive information about the sexual abuse allegations.
Two university officials, former athletic director Tim Curley and former finance official Gary Schultz, have been charged with failing to report an incident in 2002 when Sandusky allegedly was seen sexually assaulting a child.
Sandusky, Curley and Schultz have all denied the charges.
College football is hugely popular in the United States, drawing massive television audiences every Saturday in the late summer and fall and filling huge stadiums. Penn State's Beaver Stadium, which seats about 106,000, is one of the largest.
Teams generate million of dollars in revenue and successful ones raise the profile of their universities. Questions have been raised whether the controversy could harm the university's current $2 billion capital campaign.
The chairman of the campaign, Peter Tombros, appealed to supporters in a statement not to reconsider their commitments to the university and assured them that no private funds or philanthropic resources would be used to cover legal expenses for the university employees charged.
Bill Prizer, who graduated from Penn State in 1967, said he doesn't plan on curbing his giving to the university.
"Paterno has done nothing legally wrong, but he did transgress a moral boundary," said Prizer, who now owns a wealth management firm.
Paterno has won two national championships, more games than any other college football coach and the adoration of Penn State's students, alumni and staff. He had said earlier on Wednesday that he would step down at the end of the season, a few weeks from now.
The student newspaper The Daily Collegian published a commemorative 12-page tribute to Paterno under the headline "The End." A full-page editorial described the firing of Paterno as an embarrassment for the university and said protests by students "set our university two steps back."
(Additional reporting by Edith Honan in State College, Mark Shade in Harrisburg and Dave Warner in Philadelphia; Writing by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Jackie Frank and Vicki Allen)
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