Joe Paterno says he felt inadequate to handle child sex abuse allegation January 14, 2012 -- Updated 2242 GMT (0642 HKT) Paterno talks to the Washington Post in his first extensive interview since being fired "I didn't know exactly how to handle it ... so I backed away," he says Paterno has been diagnosed with treatable lung cancer He was ousted from his Penn State coaching job last year amid the scandal (CNN) -- Legendary football coach Joe Paterno, who was ousted from Penn State last year over an alleged child sex abuse scandal that rocked the university, told the Washington Post he felt inadequate to deal with the initial allegation of abuse. Paterno, the all-time winningest football coach in NCAA Division I history, was fired in November amid the outcry over the handling of the accusations against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. "I didn't know exactly how to handle it and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was," Paterno told the Washington Post in an interview published Saturday. So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did. It didn't work out that way. The former coach, who is being treated for lung cancer, struggled to speak during parts of the interview; his voice was a raspy whisper. The sit-down was Paterno's first since his firing. "You know, he didn't want to get specific," Paterno said about McQueary. And to be frank with you I don't know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man. So I just did what I thought was best. I talked to people that I thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it," he told the Washington Post. I called my superiors and I said, 'hey, we got a problem I think. Would you guys look into it? Because I didn't know, you know. I had never had to deal with something like that. And I didn't feel adequate," Paterno said.