Not at all. If he had gone over their heads and said "The administrators are turning a blind eye, but there are children being raped and I can't turn a blind eye to that," he'd have been worshiped as even more of a hero for being the only one to do the right thing. If Penn State had fired him after that, it would have been an even bigger public relations nightmare for them.

If that had happened, pretty much everyone OTHER than Paterno would have been fired. He would have run that college.

then died

what if joe pa killed sandusky? would he still be tarnished?