Joe Paterno Hid Sandusky Information For FOURTEEN YEARS

It's official.

The former head coach of the Penn State football program, the late Joe Paterno, covered up incidents of child sexual abuse by his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

Paterno knew of the allegations since '98 despite repeatedly saying he had no knowledge of the atrocities that Sandusky was doing.

Former FBI director Louis Freeh released his much anticipated report of the Penn State scandal today.

Here's what he said about Joe Paterno:

"[He showed “total disregard for the safety and welfare of the victims, [and failed] to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade. In order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at Penn State University . . . repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse from the authorities, the Board of Trustees, the Penn State community and the public at large.”

Wow, it's hard to believe that Paterno was more interested in protecting his legacy than telling the truth, but that's exactly what happened.

Instead of possibly protecting Sandusky's future victims, Paterno chose to protect his friend and himself, and in the process has changed his legacy from a hero to less than a zero.

Tags: cover up, jerry, joe paterno, legal matters, penn state, sandusky, scandal