Joe Paterno: PSU Head Coach Will Make Statement at off-Campus Press Conference

Everyone is waiting for Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno to speak, and many were outraged that his weekly press conference was called off earlier on Tuesday.

But Paterno will speak in the very near future. Here's the news from Penn State sports reporter Ben Jones:

Earlier in the day, Jones tweeted that Joe's son, Scott, was working on setting up an "off-campus" press conference for Paterno to speak at. Presumably, this is it.

So the press conference could come today, or it could come tomorrow. For now, all we know is that it is coming.

When it does, you can rest assured that the state of the Nittany Lions football team is not going to be under discussion. The matter at hand right now concerns former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky and the child sex scandal that has enveloped the university, and Paterno must speak openly about it.

Exactly how much Paterno knows about Sandusky is hazy, but he definitely knows something. Specifically, what Paterno needs to address is exactly what he knows about a 2002 incident involving Sandusky and a young boy in the Penn State football locker room showers, which was detailed in a grand jury report.

Paterno insisted in a statement that he was not told specifics about what happened back in 2002, but he was informed of, in his words, "something inappropriate involving Mr. Sandusky."

Upon learning of the incident, Paterno passed it on to his superiors, but he is being roundly accused of not doing enough. In addition to sending the incident up the ladder, he could have, and indeed should have, informed the police.

There is much more to this story that still needs to be unraveled. Paterno speaking openly to the media is merely the next step.