Paterno family's response to Freeh report due out Sunday
As the family of former Penn State coach Joe Paterno prepares to release its response Sunday to the Freeh report in the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse case, Sue Paterno has written a letter defending her late husband.
Sandusky was convicted last year of multiple counts of child sex abuse and Paterno and school administrators were accused of covering up allegations against the former assistant coach. The NCAA imposed harsh sanctions against the Penn State football program as a result of the findings by former RBI director Louis Freeh.
Sue Paterno wrote to hundreds of former players in advance of the family's response, which will be released at 9 a.m. ET Sunday at Paterno.com. Her television interview with Katie Couric is scheduled to air Monday.
The Centre Daily Times reported that the document will contain approximately 180 pages. ESPN's Outside the Lines will discuss the response and the NCAA's handling of the case after it is made public.
The contents of the Paternos' response haven't been revealed, but it is expected to focus on the methods that Freeh used in his independent investigation commissioned by the university. Neither Paterno nor former assistant coach Mike McQueary, who witnessed Sandusky in the shower with a young boy in 2001, were never questioned by Freeh.
The Paterno family has continued to defend the longtime coach's honor, calling him a moral, disciplined man. According to reports, the family's response offers "a persuasive critique of the Free report as a total disservice to the victims of Sandusty and the cause of preventing child sex offenses."
Paterno died of lung cancer at age 85 last January, just months after he was forced to step down as Penn State's iconic football coach.
A federal antitrust suit was filed last month in Pennsylvania that seeks to reverse the NCAA sanctions against Penn State.
