Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

In light of the child sex-abuse scandal at Penn State, Joe Paterno’s name has been removed from the new Big Ten championship trophy, the conference announced Monday.

The Big Ten said that the crisis at Penn State, which led to Paterno’s firing as coach Wednesday night, prompted the decision to remove his name from the trophy. The new trophy, to be awarded Dec. 3 at the inaugural Big Ten football championship game at Indianapolis, had been named for both Paterno and former University of Chicago coach Amos Alonzo Stagg.

It will now be known only as the Stagg Championship Trophy.

“We believe that it would be inappropriate to keep Joe Paterno’s name on the trophy at this time,” Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said in a statment. “The trophy and its namesake are intended to be celebratory and aspirational, not controversial. We believe that it’s important to keep the focus on the players and the teams that will be competing in the inaugural championship game.”

The Big Ten pointed to the recent grand jury indictments against retired Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky and two other officials, a U.S. Department of Education investigation into Penn State’s response to the allegations of sexual abuse involving Sandusky, and Paterno’s dismissal by the school’s board of trustees as reasons to remove Paterno’s name from the trophy.

Penn State said it would not comment.

WRITTEN BY: Adam Rittenberg covers Big Ten football for ESPN.com. He can be reached at [email protected] & FULL STORY HERE