State College, PA

Embattled Penn State football coach Joe Paterno is not facing criminal charges yet, but he isn't out of the woods yet either.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly stated that her office won't file charges against Paterno for not reporting the alleged child sexual abuse by former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. However, the 84-year-old coach could eventually face criminal charges.

According to a story on SI.com, Paterno could be brought up on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and violating the state's Child Protective Services Law. The reports said that Paterno could also become a defendant in civil lawsuits filed by Sandusky's alleged victims.

The lawsuits could allege that Paterno negligently failed to prevent a third party with whom he had a supervisory relationship (Sandusky) from committing abuse, according to the SI.com story.

Shock and outrage has surrounded Paterno because if his lack of action after graduate assistant Mike McQueary told Paterno in 2002 that he saw Sandusky in the Penn State showers with a 10-year-old boy.

Paterno notified the athletic director, Tim Curley, and a vice president, Gary Schultz and then apparently washed his hands of the incident.

Curley and Schultz have been charged with failing to report the incident to the authorities.

"This is a tragedy," Paterno said in a statement. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."

Now Paterno is on his way out, retiring at season's end under circumstances no one could have seen coming.

The sad and stomach-turning incident brings to an end one of college football's great career. Paterno won 409 games, a record for major college football, and is in the middle of his 46th year as coach.

Copyright © 2011 AHN -- All Rights Reserved