TT Sports

(AP) A national poll shows falling support for the decision by Penn State trustees to fire the late Joe Paterno.

The Seton Hall Sports Poll released Thursday indicated that 42 percent of respondents polled nationwide support the football coach's firing. That's down from 55 percent in November.

Forty percent say he should have been allowed to retire after decades as coach. Nearly two-thirds say Paterno's legacy has been tarnished. Only about 18 percent don't think so.

Trustees fired Paterno in November, citing his failure to go to police with an account he'd been told of child sex abuse by an assistant. Paterno died of lung cancer Sunday.

Pollsters surveyed 1,108 people across the country. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.