Penn State football coach Joe Paterno announced his retirement Wednesday, calling the sex abuse case a tragedy and saying that he wishes he had done more.

Paterno has been besieged by criticism since former defensive coordinator and one-time heir apparent Jerry Sandusky was charged Saturday with sexually abusing eight young boys between 1994 and 2009.

"I am absolutely devastated by the developments in this case," Paterno said in a written statement. "I grieve for the children and their families, and I pray for their comfort and relief."

Athletic director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, the university's senior vice president of business and finance, were charged Monday with failing to notify authorities after an eyewitness reported an assault on PSU's main campus in 2002.

Paterno is in his 46th season as head coach of the Nittany Lions. He has won 409 games, a record for major college football. The school's last home game of the season will be this Saturday against Nebraska.

"My goals now are to keep my commitments to my players and staff and finish the season with dignity and determination, and then I will spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to help this university," Paterno said.

Law enforcement authorities have not accused Paterno of any legal wrongdoing in the case, but he was criticized Monday by the commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, who referred to Paterno's failure to do more to stop Sandusky as a lapse of "moral responsibility."

Paterno was questioned over his apparent failure to follow up on a report of the 2002 incident, in which Sandusky allegedly sodomized a 10-year-old boy in the showers at the team's football complex.

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

A witness, Mike McQueary, is currently receivers coach for the team but was a graduate assistant at the time. He told Paterno what he saw, and Paterno then told Curley.

The coach defended his decision to take the news to his athletic director. Paterno said it was obvious McQueary was "distraught," but said the graduate student did not tell him about the "very specific actions" in the grand jury report.

After Paterno reported the incident to Curley, Sandusky was told to stay away from the school, but critics said Paterno should have done more — tried to identify and help the victim, for example, or alerted authorities.

For many students and fans, Paterno was Penn State. Some we talked with Wednesday said growing up, they wanted to attend Penn State because of Joe Paterno.

"JoePa the man. Joe Paterno. That's all everyone thought about," said Molefi James, a student from Allentown. "I came in thinking that if I follow the same values, core values that JoePa taught all his football players that I'd be a good candidate to become a good sportsman."

Since he started walking the sidelines as a head coach in 1966, Joe Paterno's focus has been Penn State University as a whole. His vehicle for getting the national recognition was. of course, football.

"I think people not even from Pennsylvania, if they heard about Penn State, I think the first think you would think of they got a legend as a coach," said Joel Buskirk, a student from Pen Argyl, Northampton Co.

Not only did people hear about football, but Paterno did more to build the university campus, as well. He donated and raised millions of dollars to build facilities and help fund programs at the school.

The question still remains if the recent child sex abuse allegations against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky will cast a shadow on Joe Paterno's legacy.

"It was just one incident.", said Tyler Gyarmati, a student from Albrightsville, Carbon Co. "That shouldn't reflect his whole career. One little incident shouldn't affect 40 years of hard work and dedication."

Others said they need more information on Joe Paterno's role in the case before they can make a decision of where he stands among great coaches.