Major U.S apparel manufacturer Nike said that they will be removing the name of late college football coach Joe Paterno from the child care building that was initially named after him.

According to reports, the president of Nike Inc. has decided to change the name of the Joe Paterno Child Development Center — a child care facility located at Nike’s headquarters outside Portland. This decision came just hours after independent investigators disclosed information that the deceased Penn State coach aided in covering up facts about the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal.

Nike’s Chief executive Mark Parker said that he was deeply saddened upon hearing the news coming of the Louis Freeh investigation about the child sex abuse scandal at Penn State University. Former FBI director Freeh said that Joe Paterno, together with some other top school officials, neglected the welfare of Jerry Sandusky’s victims because they failed to report the allegations of abuse against the longtime assistant coach.

“It is a terrible tragedy that children were unprotected from such abhorrent crimes,” Parker said.

Nike founder Phil Knight, who defended Joe Paterno at the memorial service of the prominent coach, said “it appears Joe made missteps that led to heartbreaking consequences. I missed that Joe missed it, and I am extremely saddened on this day.”

The Nike founder added that Paterno worked hard to place young athletes in a position where they will succeed in life and in sports.

“My love for Joe and his family remains,” Knight said.

Nike has not yet released a new name for the Joe Paterno Child Development Center, which started operating back in the early 1990s and was subsequently remodeled in 2008. Nike officials declined to respond to requests for more information about the child care centre or its new name.

Nike is a company known for naming their buildings after popular sports figures, such as Nolan Ryan, Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan and Mike Schmidt.The headquarters of Nike, which can be found on Bowerman Drive, is named after Bill Bowerman, Nike founder’s track and field coach at the University of Oregon who co-founded the athletic-wear giant.