Jay Paterno speaks out: father was not in cover-up

The family of late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno continued its push to refute key findings in the Freeh Commission Report that labeled the late coach as a co-conspirator in covering up the Sandusky scandal.

Jay Paterno admitted Thursday the report issued earlier this week by experts hired by his family certainly doesn’t paint a perfect picture of his father, but said there are key points in the Freeh report that simply isn’t supported by evidence.

The Paterno family released its report Sunday and the response since then has ranged from dismissing the Paterno report because it was bought and paid for by the family, to at least two Penn State trustees saying the board should take a closer looking at the Freeh commission findings.

At the heart of the Freeh commission findings that Joe Paterno and three other top Penn State administrators conspired to cover up the Sandusky scandal.

“Not at all,” Jay told 6 News on Thursday.  “Those four guys never talked together and then they went on and talked with others including the Second Mile.”

One key finding in the Freeh report is a memo in 1998 shortly after an initial Sandusky abuse report surfaced saying the coach want to know what was happening.

“In 98, you had Sandusky trying to get a football program started at Altoona, and you also had the Curtis Enis issue,” Jay said.

Jay insisted there is no evidence his father was aware of the 1998 Sandusky incident.

Jay said he knows he and his family have an uphill and lengthy climb in refuting the Freeh Commission, but he said in a university setting, there should be an open dialogue, instead of the one side provided by the Freeh Commission.