During the trial, which garnered national attention and cast a shadow on Penn State's heralded football program, the 23-year-old victim testified that he was only 13 when Sandusky sexually abused him in a university shower.

That account is separate from a 2001 incident about which graduate assistant Mike McQueary testified, saying that he saw the former coach pressed up against the back of a boy in the shower room of the Lasch Football Building.

Prosecutors described during the trial how Sandusky showered with the boy, using locker room "soap fights" as a pretext for abuse.

Sandusky's attorneys say they plan to appeal the guilty verdict, and will argue that the jury's opinions had been tainted by a prosecution reference to a disturbing interview their client did with NBC's Bob Costas prior to the trial.

Members of the defense team have also maintained that they were denied sufficient time to prepare.

Less than a month after Sandusky's conviction, former FBI Director Louis Freeh released his university-funded report that blamed Paterno, President Graham Spanier, suspended Athletic Director Tim Curley and ex-Vice President Gary Schultz for taking part in a cover-up to avoid bad publicity.

Freeh also said Paterno could have stopped the attacks had he done more, though neither McQueary, Sandusky nor Paterno -- who died in January -- were interviewed by his investigators.

Attorneys for Spanier blasted the review, calling it a "blundering, indefensible indictment" and "a flat-out distortion of facts" that was "infused with bias and innuendo."

In July, the NCAA imposed sanctions against Penn State, including a $60 million fine, scholarship reductions, the vacating of 112 wins, five years' probation and a bowl ban for four years.