This week, the coach with the most wins ever in major college footballin the United States lost his job.The governing board of Penn State Universityin State College, Pennsylvania,dismissed eighty-four-year-old Joe Paterno.The Board of Trustees fired him after policearrested one of his former assistants last week.Jerry Sandusky is accused of sexually abusingat least eight young boysover a period of more than ten years.One of those incidents reportedly happenedat Penn State in two thousand two.A graduate student assistantsaid he witnessed Mr. Sandusky assaulting a ten-year-old boy.He informed Mr. Paterno,who informed school officials.But Mr. Paterno has been criticizedfor not informing otherswhen no action was taken against Mr. Sandusky.He retired from Penn State in nineteen ninety-nine,and has denied the charges.Mr. Paterno is not a target of the criminal investigation.But the two Penn State officials he informedhave been charged with failing to reportthe incident to law enforcement officials.On Wednesday Mr. Paterno released a statementsaying he wished he had done more.He said he would retire at the end of this seasonafter forty-six years as head coach.But later in the day the trustees voted to fire him.Vice chairman John Surma announced the decision.JOHN SURMA: "Joe Paterno is no longerthe head football coach, effective immediately."Mr. Surma also announcedthe dismissal of Penn State's president.Graham Spanier led Penn State,a public research university, for sixteen years.There was violence Wednesday nightas some students went into the streetsnear campus to show their support for Mr. Paterno.Mr. Paterno spoke to students who gatheredin front of his house after his firing.JOE PATERNO: ''One thing, thanksand pray a little bit for those victims.''The US Education Department saysit is investigating whether Penn Statefailed to report incidents of sexual abuse on campus,as required by federal law.Mr. Paterno, known as "Joe Pa,"turned a rural college into a national sports leader.His so-called Grand Experiment aimed to showthat college players could beboth good athletes and good students.He had four hundred nine victories.He guided Penn State to five undefeated seasonsand two national championships.The team is ranked twelfth in the nation.They play their last home game of the seasonon Saturday against nineteenth-ranked Nebraska.In other sports news, team owners and the players unionin the National Basketball Associationcompleted their latest negotiations on Thursday.Those efforts ended with a proposalfor the players to vote on.It would allow for a seventy-two game seasonbeginning December fifteenth.Derek Fisher is the union president.DEREK FISHER: "On the main six or seven issues,69]the NBA came all the way to what we like them to come to.All I can say is that on a couple of the issues,there was some revision,there was some change in their positionfrom the last proposal that we saw."NBA Commissioner David Stern said the owners would await the decisionfrom the players union next week.DAVID STERN: "There comes a time when you have tobe through negotiating and we are.''The season was supposed to have started November first.The dispute centers on basketball-related income.Owners want fifty percent of the revenuewhile players want 52.5 percent.Owners say the NBA lost three hundred million dollars last year.They say just eight of the thirty teams earned a profit.And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.