On the heels of the expected release of the Freeh Report on Thursday, the family of the late Joe Paterno released a statement addressing a number of criticisms directed toward the former Penn State head football coach.
The independent investigation led by former FBI chief Louis Freeh into the university's response to the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse crimes is reportedly due to be released on Thursday at 9 a.m. EST.
Via StateCollege.com, the statement reads as follows:
Over the last nine months Joe Paterno has been praised by some in near saintly terms and criticized by others as a villain. He was neither.
As the people who worked closely with Joe know, he was tough, aggressive, opinionated and demanding. He was also highly principled, uncompromisingly ethical, dedicated to his job at Penn State and committed to excellence.
When the Sandusky case exploded last fall, Joe's first instincts were to tell everything he knew. He assumed the University would want to hear from him, but he was never given the chance to present his case.
He planned to hold a press conference, but University officials ordered him to cancel it. And then the various investigations started and the legal process took over. On top of everything else, Joe was diagnosed with lung cancer. Two months later he was gone. The end result is his story has never fully been told.
Click here for the statement in its entirety.
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