Jerry Sandusky was convicted on 45 of 48 counts of child sex abuse in June of 2012. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

An exclusive interview with former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky will air Monday on the “Today” show, according to a show release.

It will be the first televised interview of Sandusky since he was sent to prison following his conviction on 45 of 48 counts of child sex abuse in June of 2012.

According to the “Today” show release:

The former longtime defensive coordinator will describe what he says happened on the campus, and what he thinks of whistleblower Mike McQueary and late head coach Joe Paterno.

Sandusky spoke with Bob Costas in phone interview on Rock Center in November 2011, declaring he was innocent of all charges. When asked by Costas, “Are you a pedophile,” Sandusky responded, “No.” When asked if he had a sexual attraction to underage boys, Sandusky said, “I enjoy young people. I love to be around them, but no, I’m not sexually attracted to young boys.”

Penn State coach Bill O’Brien said the team could play a game in Ireland sometime in the near future. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Penn State is looking into playing a possible football game in Ireland in the future, head coach Bill O’Brien told reporters.

“We are definitely looking into playing in Ireland, no question about it,” he said, according to The Patriot-News.

“We’re working on an opponent and we’re working with the Big Ten on that. So that’s something that’s definitely in the works.”

NCAA sanctions handed down after the Jerry Sandusky scandal last year prohibit the football team from participating in bowl games for four seasons.

Notre Dame and Navy became the first college teams to play in Ireland when they kicked off the 2012 season at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. O’Brien didn’t specify whether a potential game in Ireland would come at the beginning of the season or at its end, in what would be a de-facto bowl game.

Al Pacino previously played a football coach in “Any Given Sunday.”(Fernando Leon/Getty Images)

Academy Award winner Al Pacino will play the lead role in a film about the late Penn State coach Joe Paterno directed by Brian De Palma, as first reported by Deadline.com.

The film, under the current working title “Happy Valley,” will be based on the best-selling book “Paterno” by Joe Posnanski. Dave McKenna, screenwriter of “American History X” and “Blow,” is negotiating to write the screenplay.

Producer Edward R. Pressman said in a statement:

“‘Happy Valley” reunites the ‘Scarface’ and ‘Carlito’s Way’ team of De Palma and Pacino for the third time and I can’t think of a better duo to tell this story of a complex, intensely righteous man who was brought down by his own tragic flaw.”

While Pressman categorizes the film’s plot as “under wraps,” Posnanski’s book followed Paterno’s final years at Penn Sate, as he became the winningest coach in college football history only to see his career end in disgrace amidst the fallout of the sex abuse scandal involving assistant Jerry Sandusky.

Former PSU president Graham Spanier will reportedly be charged in connection with the Jerry Sandusky scandal. (Hunter Martin/Getty Images)

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier, who served during the infamous Jerry Sandusky scandal, will reportedly be charged with obstruction of justice and perjury, according to a report Thursday morning from Christian Red of The New York Daily News. Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan will make an announcement connected with the case later in the day on Thursday.

Former FBI director Louis Freeh conducted an independent investigation earlier this year and released a report that confirmed Spanier and former head football coach Joe Paterno were aware as far back as 1998 of the allegations made against Sandusky. The report also showed that they subsequently took action to cover up the allegations. Paterno and Spanier were never charged and Paterno passed away January 2012. The Athletic Director at the time, Tim Curley and the Vice President of the school, Gary Schultz, have been charged with perjury and failure to report an incident of abuse.

Sandusky was sentenced in October to up to 60 years in prison and will not be eligible for parole until at least 30 years have been served. He was moved on Wednesday to a prison in southwestern Pennsylvania where most of the state’s death row inmates are located.  The University received heavy sanctions from the NCAA in the wake of the fallout, including a $60 million fine, a four-year bowl ban and the loss of scholarships.

Jerry Sandusky proclaimed innocence in an audio statement released Monday night. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant coach found guilty on 45 counts of child sexual abuse in June, released an audio statement proclaiming his innocence on the eve of his sentencing hearing.

In the statement, which was provided to Penn State’s ComRadio and has been confirmed by multiple outlets, including Yahoo, Sandusky says he did not have a “fair opportunity to prepare for trial” and asks listeners to “think about the unfairness” inflicted upon him.

Here’s an excerpt of Sandusky’s statement, via Pennsylvania’s CBS 21:

“Why didn’t we have a fair opportunity to prepare for trial? Why have so many people suffered as a result of false allegations? What’s the purpose? Maybe it will help others; some vulnerable children who could be abused, might not be because of all the publicity. [...]

In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged disgusting acts. My wife has been my only sex partner that was after marriage. Our love continues.

A young man who was dramatic a veteran accuser, and always sought attention, started everything. He was joined by a well-orchestrated effort of the media, investigators, the system, Penn State, psychologists, civil attorneys and other accusers.

They won. I’ve wondered what they really won: Attention, financial gain, prestige… will all be temporary. Before you blame me, as others have, look at everything and everybody. [...]

We didn’t lose the proven facts, evidence, accurate locations and times. Anything can be said. We lost to speculation and stories that were influenced by people who wanted to convict me. [...]

It will take others: somebody apolitical with the courage to listen, to think about the unfairness, to have the guts to stand up and take the road less traveled. I ask for the strength to handle everything and willingness to surrender only to God, regardless of the outcome.”

Sandusky is set to be sentenced at a Tuesday hearing, where he is expected to again declare his innocence. Because of the extensive number of severity of the convictions, it’s likely that Sandusky will be sentenced to life in prison. One of his defense lawyers told The Associated Press on Monday that the best the defense could hope for would likely be a minimum of 30 years.

Ex-Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary is suing the school. (Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

Former Penn State football assistant Mike McQueary, a key witness in the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal, has filed a $4 million whistleblower lawsuit against the university, Philly.com reports.

In filings in Centre County court, McQueary alleged the university defamed his name and treated him unfairly fired him for his cooperation with state prosecutors building a criminal case against Sandusky.

McQueary testified that he walked in on Sandusky molesting a boy in a locker room shower in 2002 and later reported what he had seen to administrators including head coach Joe Paterno. Paterno was later fired by the university’s board of trustees.

In his suit, McQueary said his treatment by the university had caused him “much distress, anxiety and embarrassment” since Sandusky’s arrest in November. His complaints include a statement former university president Graham B. Spanier released hours after the arrests pledging full support of Tim Curley and Gary Schultz.

Those statements, McQueary’s lawsuit alleges, “reinforced the perception that (McQueary) lied and committed perjury.”

McQueary was placed on administrative leave Nov. 13 and was the only assistant coach on Paterno’s former staff who was not interviewed for a position under new head coach Bill O’Brien.

A judge set Jerry Sandusky’s sentencing for Oct. 9.(Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky’s sentencing for his conviction on sexual abuse has been scheduled for Oct. 9.

The announcement comes two days after the Penn State football team won its first game following the firing and death of Joe Paterno.

This morning, Judge John M. Cleland released the sentencing date and also called for a hearing to determine if Sandusky should be classified as a violent sexual predator. The sentencing will follow that hearing, the judge said.

On June 22, Sandusky was convicted on 45 charges of sexual abuse involving 10 victims. He faces a maximum term of 442 years in prison. Prosecutors are expected to seek sentences that will keep the 69-year-old in prison for the remainder of his life.

The FBI released Joe Paterno’s file and it made no mention of Jerry Sandusky. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

The FBI had close tabs on Joe Paterno during the 1970′s and early 1980′s but those files make no mention of Jerry Sandusky, reports the Washington Times. 

The FBI got involved with the former Penn State coach in the first place because of a series of threatening letters sent to Paterno and his staff.  The file contains 868 pages and does not mention Sandusky once.  Sandusky is in jail awaiting sentencing after being found guilty on 45 of 48 counts of child sexual abuse.

Forty-four pages of Paterno’s file weren’t released. The FBI, which didn’t indicate what period or topic is covered by the unreleased pages, cited exemptions concerning unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and revealing a confidential source.

Paterno ultimately declined local police protection urged police to let him sit down with the person behind the letters if he/she was arrested and help them.

Penn State will no longer play “Sweet Caroline” at games, and reports say some of the lyrics in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal could have been a factor. (Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

Penn State said Monday it would no longer use the popular Neil Diamond song “Sweet Caroline” in its gameday playlist this football season, but some confusion remains over why the university dropped the song.

The Altoona Mirror’s Steve Sampsell and Walt Frank reported Monday that the school cut the song because of the way some of its lyrics could be construed in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant coach, was convicted in June on 45 of 48 counts of sexually assaulting young boys.

From the report:

Some concerns by university officials about its lyrics – “touching you touching me” – and the perception of people singing along to them in light of the recent scandal have been expressed.

But university spokesman David La Torre and another university official told ESPN.com’s Josh Moyer later Monday that the elimination of “Sweet Caroline” has nothing to do with the lyrics.

“While wholesale changes to what happens on game day are not in store, some ‘updating’ is going to occur, including to our playlist,” associate athletic director Greg Myford wrote in an email to ESPN. “Something that happens every year for both recorded music and Blue Band tunes.”

NCAA president Mark Emmert levied sanctions on Penn State football. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

Penn State’s Faculty Senate may ask the NCAA and the Big Ten to reconsider sanctions levied as a result of the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the Freeh Report.

According to StateCollege.com, the Faculty Senate has posted a six-page document on its website outlining questions and discussion including communication with the NCAA and the Big Ten to address alleged lapses within the football program and other Penn State programs and alleged lapses in oversight or institutional control at Penn State.

From StateCollege.com:

The Faculty Senate is not appealing the sanctions and even begins by stating its support for Penn State President Erickson. However, the Senate believes the sanctions are punishing the wrong individuals.

” … We believe that neither the NCAA process nor the specific NCAA sanctions concerning loss of football scholarships, official records of games won and lost (vacating of all football wins), and bans for four years on postseason football play fit fairly within the precedents of NCAA sanctions in the past for other football programs and other sports programs.

“These sanctions do injustices to the large number of student athletes who were recruited fairly to the PSU football program, who achieved distinction on the playing fields and in classrooms, and who behaved with honor and responsibility,” the Senate states…

…A section in the document is devoted to addressing the victims of Jerry Sandusky’s child abuse. The Senate, as other leaders at Penn State have, support the victims and state their intent to do whatever necessary to help the victims move forward.

At least two Penn State trustees are critical of Freeh Report. (Williams Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

At least two Penn State trustees agree with former university president Graham Spanier’s attorneys’ challenge of the Freeh Report.

Jan Murphy of The Patriot-News reports:

None of them are ready to accept the findings by former FBI director Louis Freeh that insisted Spanier, former football coach Joe Paterno, athletic director on leave Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz covered up a report of a child molestation to protect the university’s reputation.

Recently elected trustee Anthony Lubrano said following the news conference called by attorney Timothy Lewis in Philadelphia, “I have said that the conclusions reached by Louis Freeh are based on facts not in evidence so I don’t agree with his conclusions. Today we heard from Judge Lewis and Spanier’s counsel that apparently they don’t agree with the conclusions either.”

He noted that despite the NCAA sanctions and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s accreditation warning that was based on the Freeh report’s conclusions, “the board has never accepted the findings of the Freeh report.”

Also at the news conference, which Spanier did not attend, was longtime trustee Al Clemens, who agreed that Lewis’ comments further shake his confidence in the Freeh report. He said that report based a lot of its conclusions on two email series that seemed to implicate Spanier, Paterno, Schultz and Curley in a cover-up.

“There’s a lot more to come out about this. The Freeh report I think is questionable in a lot of areas,” Clemens said.

Joe Paterno “sobbed uncontrollably” the day after he was fired as the Penn State football coach, sportswriter Joe Posnanski’s writes in new biography, Paterno. 

In its latest issue, GQ published an excerpt of the book, which is released next Tuesday. GQ.com posted three short sections of that excerpt on its website Wednesday.

In one scene from the day after Paterno’s firing, the coach is emotional.

On Thursday, Paterno met with his coaches at his house. He sobbed uncontrollably. This was his bad day. Later, one of his former captains, Brandon Short, stopped by the house. When Brandon asked, “How are you doing, Coach?” Paterno answered, “I’m okay,” but the last syllable was shaky, muffled by crying, and then he broke down and said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself.” Nobody knew how to handle such emotion. Joe had always seemed invulnerable. On Thursday, though, he cried continually.

“My name,” he told Jay, “I have spent my whole life trying to make that name mean something. And now it’s gone.”

The timing of Posnanski’s book has received criticism. The writer agreed to the biography before the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke.

That scandal has reshaped Paterno’s legacy in the eyes of many. But despite the complexities that emerged as a result, the publisher moved the book’s release date up from Father’s Day 2013 to this August. The New York Times reported in July that plans for promoting the book had been changed.

Penn State is still among the top merchandise sellers in the country. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Despite an historically awful year for Penn State, the school continues to sell plenty of shirts, shorts, hats and other Nittany Lions merchandise at almost the same rate as it was in July 2011, three months after Sara Ganim of The Patriot-News broke the story about Jerry Sandusky.

According to a report on Tuesday from Darren Rovell of ESPN, Penn State fell only two spots in the annual rankings of top collegiate merchandise sellers:

IMG-owned Collegiate Licensing Company, which represents the interests of nearly 200 schools, has released its royalty rankings for the school year (July 2011 to June 2012) and Penn State has fallen only two spots, from 10th to 12th.

Rovell said the licensing company wouldn’t confirm sales figures, but the rankings reflect a school’s position in terms of royalties received from trademarked retail items. During the last academic year, Penn State ranked higher in these sales than any other Big 10 school except for Michigan.

Despite dropping just two spots in this list of 200 schools, the school has no doubt fallen from grace over the past year; it was the third most popular school in the country last season, with nearly four-percent of Americans saying Penn State is their favorite school to cheer for during the year, according to an ESPN Sports Poll cited by Rovell.

In the wake of the Sandusky scandal, the University announced on Tuesday that it will feature the last name of the player on the back of its football jersey. The absence of a last name on the jersey’s had long been a trademark of the school. The change comes as nearly a dozen of the school’s football players have announced that they will transfer and become immediately eligible to play elsewhere for next season.

According to the report from ESPN.com, Penn State officials said the decision to feature a last name on the back of the jersey was made to show the “resolve and dedication” of the Nittany Lions. The jersey’s will also feature a blue ribbon to support victims of child abuse.

Lawyers for an alleged victim of Jerry Sandusky released voicemails bolstering their case against Penn State. The victim plans to sue the school. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Lawyers for an alleged victim of former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky released voicemails obtained by TMZ.com in which Sandusky is heard trying to coach the victim on what to say to police, according to the lawyers.

Lawyers for the alleged victim released the voicemails today — and announced plans to sue Penn State University for failing to stop Sandusky’s abuse. Part of the voicemail says, ”But there is nothing really to hide so. Um. If you want, give me a call … I love you.”

The alleged victim has not been identified, but his lawyers claim he “suffered extensive sexual abuse over many years both before and after the 2001 incident Michael McQueary witnessed” in a Penn State locker room shower.

The voicemails were left in September 2011. Sandusky is currently in jail and awaits sentencing after being convicted of 45 sex abuse counts.

“Our client has to live the rest of his life not only dealing with the effects of Sandusky’s childhood sexual abuse, but also with the knowledge that many powerful adults, including those at the highest levels of Penn State, put their own interests and the interests of a child predator above their legal obligations to protect him,” the victims’ lawyers said in a statement.

Joe Paterno has been stripped of 111 wins, taking him from first on the all-time list of winningest NCAA football coaches to 12th. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, the NCAA has levied a $60 million fine on Penn State University on Monday as well as banning the team from the postseason for four years.

Along with the fine and postseason ban, the school must vacate all wins from 1998-2011, and scholarships will drop from 25 to 15 per year. The school will have a cap on scholarships at 65.

The school will be on probation for five years. The NCAA will have the power to continue investigating and impose further sanctions on individuals during that time.

“Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said at Monday’s press conference.

Along with the NCAA penalties, the Big Ten will give Penn State’s $13 million share of the conference bowl revenue over four years to charitable organizations focused on preventing child abuse.

Emmert said the fine is the amount of one year of the football program’s gross revenue. The money from the fine will go to “support programs around the nation that serve the victims of child sexual abuse and seek to prevent such abuse from happening.”

Penn State was not handed the “death penalty,” which would have suspended play for one season. Emmert declined to say he considered these penalties worse than the death penalty.

“If the death penalty were to be opposed … the executive committee and I would not have agreed to just the death penalty,” Emmert said. “It would have been other penalties as well.”

Penn State signed a consent decree with the NCAA and will not appeal the penalties.

WATCH: NCAA president Mark Emmert announces the sanctions levied against Penn State

With the vacated wins, former head coach Joe Paterno is no longer the most winningest head coach in NCAA football history. Of his 409 victories, Paterno has been stripped of 111 wins, putting him 12th on the all-time list with 298.

Bobby Bowden now becomes major college football’s wins leader while Eddie Robinson reclaims his position as the most winningest head coach in Division-I history.

The vacated wins date back to 1998, when the Freeh report shows leaders at Penn State were notified of Sandusky’s actions. The Freeh report states that leaders–including the president, vice president, athletic director and head football coach–did not act appropriately when they were alerted of possible child sexual abuse with the assistant head coach. Emmert referred to those violations as “perverse and unconscionable” on Monday.

In an effort to soften the penalties for current Penn State student-athletes, the NCAA is considering allowing a scholarship waiver for schools accepting future Penn State transfers. Also, the fine money cannot be drawn from non-revenue sports and will be paid in $12 million installments over a five-year period to an endowment for programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims.

“It is important to know we are entering a new chapter at Penn State and making necessary changes,” Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a statement. “We must create a culture in which people are not afraid to speak up, management is not compartmentalized, all are expected to demonstrate the highest ethical standards, and the operating philosophy is open, collegial, and collaborative.”

Penn State football coach Bill O’Brien is signed to a five-year deal. In a statement Monday, he reiterated his commitment to the university.

“ I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead,” O’Brien said. “But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes.”

Combining the bowl share with the fine, Penn State has been penalized $73 million. According to the Central Penn Business Journal, that’s the amount of revenue the football program generated in 2010.

The Joe Paterno statue outside Beaver Stadium was removed this morning. (Patrick Smith, Getty Images)

Penn State football will not be going away. However, the punishments will remain very harsh. A CNN report citing a source familiar with the case says that the penalties levied against the program for its role in covering up the child abuse crimes of Jerry Sandusky will be unlike any other punishment the NCAA has enforced.

The NCAA will not levy the so-called “death penalty” against Penn State, a source familiar with the case tells CNN, but there will be “significant, unprecedented penalties” that are “well beyond what has been done in the past.”

The NCAA will officially announce its Penn State punishments at a press conference on Monday morning at 9 a.m. ET.

News of the Penn State penalties comes after hours after university administration made the decision to remove the statue of former head football coach Joe Paterno from outside Beaver Stadium. Paterno and four other members of the Penn State administration – including Athletic Director Tim Curley – were found in the Freeh Report to have played an active role in covering up Sandusky’s serial sexual abuses of children in the State College area.

NCAA President Mark Emmert said in an interview with PBS’s Tavis Smiley that he will not rule out the death penalty for Penn State’s football program in the wake of the Freeh Report’s findings that members of the administration and athletic department, including legendary coach Joe Paterno, “failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade.” Long-time defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts in connection to sexual abuse that sometimes took place within the Penn State locker room and showers.

The death penalty, which bans a school from competing in a sport for at least one season, has only been implemented on one major college football program, SMU in 1987 and 1988.

“I’ve never seen anything as egregious as this in terms of overall conduct and behavior inside of a university,” Emmert told Smiley about the situation at Penn State. “I hope never to see it again. What the appropriate penalties are, if there are determinations of violations, we’ll have to decide…

“I don’t want to take anything off the table. The fact is, this is completely different than an impermissible benefits scandal that happened at SMU or anything else we’ve dealt with. This is as systemic a cultural problem as it is a football problem.

“There have been people who’ve said this wasn’t a football scandal. Well, it was more than a football scandal. Much more than a football scandal. It was that, and much more. We’ll have to figure out exactly what the right penalties are. I don’t know that past precedent makes particularly good sense in this case because it’s really an unprecedented problem.”

The repercussions of the penalty were severe for SMU. Once one of the top programs in college football, the school only recently became competitive again. The Mustangs had a winning record in only one of the first 20 seasons after returning from the death penalty, before finishing at or above .500 in the past three seasons.

Because of the long-term damage to the program, many believe the NCAA would hesitate to use the death penalty again. But Emmert rejected that rationale.

“Again, I don’t want to prejudge where we will wind up with penalties, but right now is a very special moment in the history of the NCAA,” Emmert said. “There’s an enormous amount of political courage… to do the right thing on a variety of cases, and we’ve been demonstrating that again and again on a variety of cases. Whatever penalty structure is put in place again, if there’s findings of violations of our rules, the decisions will not be based upon whether people want to be courageous or not.”

Three new men have reportedly come forward to allege abuse by Jerry Sandusky as early as the 1970s. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Three new men have emerged and told police that former Penn State football coach and convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky sexually abused them as far back as the 1970s and ’80s, The Patriot-News‘ Sara Ganim reported on Monday. They are the first men to have alleged abuse before 1990. From Ganim’s report:

They are the first men to allege abuse before the 1990s, and if found to be credible, would directly attack the 68-year-old’s defense argument that a person doesn’t become [a] pedophile in his or her 50s.

In the early 1970s, when one of the men says he was abused, Jerry Sandusky would have been in his late 20s.

Ganim reported that it’s unclear if the men had any interaction with former FBI director Louis Freeh or his team, which produced a scathing report last week that came down hard on Penn State’s administration and the late head coach Joe Paterno. Ganim notes that Freeh does not mention any victims before 1990 in his report, but that he did acknowledge that he “looked for” victims prior to that decade.

Sandusky was convicted in June on 45 counts of sexual abuse against 10 victims. All of the convictions came from abuse between 1994 and 2009.

Boston Red Sox senior advisor Bill James drew attention over the weekend — almost all of it negative — for his comments defending late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno on the heels of the Freeh Report’s findings that Paterno and members of the Penn State administration had “failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade.”

The Red Sox today publicly separated themselves from James’ views and asked him to stop speaking about the issue.

In a press release, the team said:

“This afternoon, Red Sox Principal Owner John Henry and Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington spoke to Bill James regarding him making public his personal opinions on Joe Paterno.

In that call, Mr. James was informed that his comments in no way reflect the opinions or positions of the Red Sox; and, because he is perceived as a representative of the Red Sox, he was asked to refrain from any further public comments on this matter.”

James, who helped start the sabermetrics revolution that led to a more statistically driven analysis of baseball, had said in an interview with ESPN Radio’s Doug Gotlieb that Paterno was receiving too much blame for his role in the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Sandusky was the long-time defensive coordinator under Paterno.

“It’s very hard, in fact it’s impossible, to explain why Paterno should have been the person to go to the police,” James told Gotlieb. “Paterno didn’t see anything. Paterno was not the reporting authority. Sandusky did not work for Paterno. Paterno had no supervisory authority over Sandusky. It’s extremely difficult to explain why it was Paterno’s responsibility to go to the police. He knew less about it than anyone else there.”

…”You’re saying everything revolves around (Paterno). It’s total nonsense,” James said. “He had very few allies. He was isolated and he was not nearly as powerful as people imagine him to have been.”

Penn State said it has not made a decision on whether to remove the Joe Paterno statue at Beaver Stadium. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Penn State released an official statement Sunday night saying that neither its Board of Trustees or administration had come to a decision on whether to remove the statue of former head coach Joe Paterno at Beaver Stadium.

“Contrary to various reports, neither the Board of Trustees nor University Administration has taken a vote or made a decision regarding the Joe Paterno statue at Beaver Stadium,” the statement reads.

The university was responding to an ESPN report earlier Sunday that, citing sources with firsthand knowledge of the trustees’ deliberations, said that the university had decided to let the statue stand.

The perception of Paterno’s involvement in the Jerry Sandusky scandal swung in recent days. First came a report from former FBI director Louis Freeh, which purported that Paterno had an active role in concealing Sandusky’s child abuse. SI’s Michael McCann reported on the scorn Paterno received in the Freeh report:

Paterno received particular scorn in the report, which alleges that he actively discouraged Penn State officials from reporting Sandusky to law enforcement. Freeh’s report also implies that Paterno perjured himself while testifying before the Sandusky grand jury. In his testimony, Paterno claimed to only know about the 2001 shower incident purportedly witnessed by graduate assistant Mike McQueary. Freeh’s report says that Paterno also knew about the 1998 investigation.

Then on Saturday, The New York Times reported that Paterno began negotiations to sweeten his retirement deal in January 2011, the same month that he testified before a grand jury about Sandusky’s abuse. Members of the Board of Trustees were not aware of the new contract before the scandal hit the university in November.

Still, ESPN reported that the Board of Trustees was prepared to let the statue stand at least temporarily, for fear of “offending alumni and students who adore the late coach.”

“You can’t let people stampede you into making a rash decision,” a trustee told the website. “The statue represents the good that Joe did. It doesn’t represent the bad that he did.”

Nike has changed the name of the Joe Paterno Child Care Center at its world headquarters. (Greg Shamus/Getty Images)

Nike removed former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno’s name on Thursday from the child care center at its world headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., according to statements Nike CEO Mark Parker posted to the company website:

I have been deeply saddened by the news coming out of this investigation at Penn State. It is a terrible tragedy that children were unprotected from such abhorrent crimes. With the findings released today, I have decided to change the name of our child care center at our World Headquarters. My thoughts are with the victims and the Penn State community.

Nike founder Phil Knight, who spoke at Paterno’s funeral, said in a statement also posted to the website that despite today’s findings about Paterno and his assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, “my love for Joe and his family remains.”

There is no word yet on a new name for the center.

A year before Mike McQueary saw Jerry Sandusky abusing a child in a Penn State locker room shower, two janitors witnessed similar events but failed to alert authorities.

In the Freeh Report, the independent investigation into the Penn State child abuse scandal, one janitor saw Sandusky sexually abusing a child in the fall of 2000, but decided against reporting the incident to proper authorities because he believed Penn State would “get rid of us all.”

Janitor B explained to the Special Investigative Counsel that reporting the incident “would have been like going against the President of the United States in my eyes.” “I know Paterno has so much power, if he wanted to get rid of someone, I would have been gone.” He explained “football runs this University,” and said the University would have closed ranked to protect the football program at all costs.

Janitor A witnessed the sexual abuse. A veteran of the Korean War, he said he had seen lots of things, but that he would never be able to forget what he saw in the shower.

Janitor B saw two pairs of feet in the same shower later that night, but did not see the upper bodies. Later he saw Sandusky and a young boy exit the locker room holding hands.

Later that evening, the two janitors saw Sandusky in the parking lot of the locker room looking into windows around 11 p.m. and again at 2 a.m. They presumed Sandusky had returned to see if authorities had been alerted.

Sandusky had been regularly observed showering with youths before this 2000 incident, according to the Freeh Report.

Along with a $20,000 yearly annuity and a one-time lump sum payment of $168,000, Jerry Sandusky wanted to run a middle school youth football camp tied into Penn State football as part of his retirement.

According to the Freeh Report, the request came amid an investigation into an allegation that Sandusky had inappropriate contact with a young boy in a shower in May of 1998. Ultimately, that investigation yielded no charges for Sandusky.

Sandusky, who had put in nearly three decades as an assistant football coach at Penn State, knew that he would not become the next head coach and asked to have an “active involvement in developing an outreach program featuring Penn State athletes.”

The Freeh Report also includes a handwritten note, apparently written by former head coach Joe Paterno, that states: “Volunteer Position Director – Positive Action for Youth.”

Sandusky was also granted an emeritus title from Penn State. Though his titles were not eligible for emeritus rank, he was granted the title anyway upon the apparent request of then-vice president Gary Schultz’s office.

The emeritus title grants those with it special privileges, including access to Penn State recreational facilities.

According to the Freeh Report, while a federal investigation was ongoing into child abuse allegations, Jerry Sandusky went to Beaver Stadium and sat in club seats on Oct. 29, 2011 and witnessed Joe Paterno break the all-time wins record in Division-I football.

Sandusky would be indicted on Nov. 4 and arrested the following day on several charges of child abuse.

The Freeh Report, the independent investigation into the Penn State child abuse scandal, states that Sandusky watched the game from the Nittany Lion Club as Paterno and Penn State defeated Illinois 10-7 for Paterno’s 409th victory.

Sandusky had retained access to the club seats since his 1999 retirement. But in July 2011, then-athletic director Tim Curley deleted Sandusky’s name from the annual invitation list.

The report goes on to state Sandusky’s wife called the Nittany Lion Club staff in September, and upon her request Curley reserved his previous decision. Sandusky would attend six home games that season, the report states.

After his arrest, Sandusky called the Nittany Lion Club and said that he would not attend the last game of the 2011 season.

Before the first investigation into child abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky in 1998, several staff members and football coaches had seen the former assistant coach showering with boys in the Penn State locker room.

According to the Freeh Report, the independent investigation in the Penn State child abuse scandal, none of the individuals interviewed about what they saw prior to 1998 went to authorities.

In May 1998, police were alerted to an allegation that Sandusky had sexual assaulted a child in the Lasch Building (the East Area locker room) at Penn State.

Leaders at Penn State, including the former president, vice president, athletic director and head football coach, were kept informed of the investigation though never told the Board of Trustees. Vice president Gary Schultz asked in an email “Is this the opening of pandora’s box? Other children?”

Ultimately, no charges were filed against Sandusky, and he was allowed to retire from Penn State football in 1999 after nearly three decades as an assistant.

President Graham Spanier, Schultz, athletic director Tim Curley and head coach Joe Paterno never spoke to Sandusky after the 1998 incident, the report states.

The Freeh Report is unequivocal on the senior leaders at Penn State bearing the brunt of the blame for child abuse committed by Jerry Sandusky after 1998.

The report, released Thursday morning, states former PSU President Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz, former athletic director Tim Curley and former head coach Joe Paterno “failed to protect against a child sex predator harming children for over a decade.”

Additionally, the report states the men concealed pertinent information regarding Sandusky’s activities from the Board of Trustees, the PSU community and authorities.

Despite knowing about the 1998 investigation into Sandusky, Penn State allowed the assistant coach to retire in 1999 as a “valued member of the Penn State football legacy.” That left the door open for continued child abuse, the report states.

…with future “visibility” at Penn State and ways “to continue work with young people through Penn State,” essentially granting him license to bring boys to campus facilities for “grooming” as targets for his assault.

Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of child abuse last month.

In a press release made available just minutes before the independent investigation into Penn State University, the Freeh report states that former head coach Joe Paterno and university officials knew about the 1998 investigation into Jerry Sandusky when allegations of child molestation were brought to them by assistant coach Mike McQueary in 2001.

The report, which was commissioned in Nov. 2011, states that the most senior leaders at Penn State had “total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims.”

Sandusky was convicted on 45 of 48 counts of child molestation on June 23.

The report also details what happened with the senior leaders after McQueary came to Paterno with what he saw. There was evidence of a proposed plan to alert authorities on March 20, 2001, the report states. But that plan was ultimately changed after then-athletic director Tim Curley consulted with Paterno.

Based on the evidence, the only known, intervening factor between the decision made on February 25, 2001 by Messrs. Spanier, Curley and Schulz to report the incident to the Department of Public Welfare, and then agreeing not to do so on February 27th, was Mr. Paterno’s February 26th conversation with Mr. Curley.

The report states the “most important evidence in this investigation” was email correspondence found from 1998 and 2001 among the leaders at the university.

There were more than 430 interviews conducted for the report, as well as more than 3.5 million emails and other documents analyzed.

The defense rested its case in Jerry Sandusky’s child molestation trial on Wednesday without calling the accused former Penn State defensive coordinator to the stand, according to reports on Twitter.

Closing arguments will take place on Thursday.

Defense rests. State rests. Closing arguments at 9 Thursday. No testimony from Jerry Sandusky

—
Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) June 20, 2012

The 68-year-old Sandusky, facing 51 counts of child molestation, had reportedly considered testifying.

After closing arguments, the case will go to the jury. Ben Jones of StateCollege.com is reporting on Twitter that the jury will continue deliberations through the weekend if necessary.

For more on the accusations against Sandusky and testimony in the case, visit The Patriot-News‘ page on the trial.

Former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky will face his accusers starting Monday. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

ABC News is reporting that former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky wrote intimate letters to his alleged victims.

Sandusky, 68, faces 52 counts of child molestation charges for alleged abuse involving 10 boys. If convicted, he could receive a sentence of life in prison.

Eight victims are set to testify against Sandusky. The trial, which is in the jury selection phase, is expected to start Monday and last about three weeks.

The report also said that the letters were written in Sandusky’s own handwriting and that they corroborate the grand jury testimony of Victim 4, who met the coach through the charity, Second Mile. That victim is now 28 years old and was one of five alleged victims who petitioned Judge John Cleland to remain anonymous.

Jerry Sandusky’s attorney has asked for a delay in his sex-abuse trial, arguing that the defense team needs more time to prepare, according to the New York Daily News.

Sandusky’s lead attorney, Joe Amendola, submitted a 13-page motion today that argued he would be “unable to effectively and adequately” represent his client. Amendola says that he is still waiting for full disclosure of prosecution material, and that without it he will not have time to construct his defense.

The former Penn State defensive coordinator is slotted to stand trial June 5. He is charged with 52 criminal counts of sexually assaulting 10 separate boys over a 15 year span. The 68-year-old is currently under house arrest while awaiting trial.

When uncovered last fall, the child sex-abuse scandal rocked Penn State University, forcing the firing of legendary head coach Joe Paterno and several school administrators.

Sandusky maintains that he is innocent.

The prosecution in the Jerry Sandusky case filed paperwork yesterday stating that the now infamous event in which former assistant Penn State football coach Mike McQueary claimed that he witnessed  Sandusky sexually assaulting a young boy in a locker room shower did not happen on the date which he originally claimed.

McQueary had initially said that the event occurred just before spring break in 2002, but the prosecution is now saying the event occurred in February of 2001, The Patriot-News reports. 

As a result of the changed timeline, two Penn State officials who are being charged with perjury and failure to report a crime say that at least some of their charges are now past the statute of limitations.

It was McQueary’s testimony to a grand jury that ultimately led to the firing of former Athletic Director Tim Curley, Vice President Gary Schultz, and legendary football coach Joe Paterno.

Joe Paterno never wanted the Penn State University football field named after him, according to Sara Ganim of the Patriot-News. It would be “a tremendous and humbling honor,” but it “has always been a fan-driven matter” and “was never important to Joe,” says a Paterno family source.

University officials tried to make a renamed Beaver Stadium part of the final contract payout to the estate of former coach Paterno, who died on Jan. 22 after a bout with lung cancer. The family said no.

Tensions have flared between the Paterno family and university officials ever since the coach’s Nov. 9 firing for his “failure of leadership” after the alleged sexual assaults perpetrated by former assistant Jerry Sandusky.

“Our family has been subjected to a series of false and misleading statements that seek to justify the board’s actions by denigrating Joe Paterno’s reputation,” the family said Friday in a statement. “We take no joy in our differences with the board and university, but we will never waver in our defense of Joe Paterno’s record and our advocacy for due process.”

In an effort to further clarify the reasons behind the firing of head football coach Joe Paterno over four months ago, the Penn State University Board of Trustees released a statement today explaining the coach’s dismissal, according to the Associated Press.

The board stated that Paterno was fired for his “failure of leadership” after an alleged sexual assault perpetrated by former assistant Jerry Sandusky. The board found that while Paterno fulfilled his legal obligation to tell his superiors what he knew, he should have done more.

“We determined that his decision to do his minimum legal duty and not to do more to follow up constituted a failure of leadership by Coach Paterno,” the trustees wrote.

Sandusky was arrested on Nov. 5 in connection with a series of alleged sexual assults dating back more than a decade. Paterno was fired on Nov. 9; the university hired former New England Patriots assistant Bill O’Brien to replace Paterno as head coach on Jan. 6.

Paterno died on Jan. 22 after a bout with lung cancer. He was 85 years old.

The Judge in the Jerry Sandusky child molestation trial granted the former Penn State defensive coordinator the right to visit with his grandchildren, according to the Associated Press. The Judge also decided to allow Sandusky a jury of people who live within the local area.

Sandusky had requested both the right to see his grandchildren and the right to a local jury in a hearing last week. Afterword, he briefly spoke to the media:

Sandusky is facing 52 counts of sexually abusing young boys over a 15 year period. He has professed his innocence to both NBC and The New York Times.

The child sex-abuse scandal cost now deceased coaching legend Joe Paterno his job. Two other Penn State officials are charged with perjury and failure to report abuse in connection with the case.

Jerry Sandusky talked to the media today after a hearing in which his attorney Joe Amdendola requested that his client be allowed to see his grandchildren. Prosecutors reportedly asked the judge for just the opposite, to instead restrict the amount of freedom of movement granted to Sandusky.

Sandusky is facing over 40 counts of sexually abusing young boys over a 15 year period. He has professed his innocence to both NBC and The New York Times.

The child sex-abuse scandal cost now deceased coaching legend Joe Paterno his job. Two other Penn State officials are charged with perjury and failure to report abuse in connection with the case.