It stars Al Pacino as former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, and his career leading up to his dismissal following the university's child sex abuse scandal in 2011.

During 61 years at Penn State University, he helped the former "cow college" to quintuple its financial endowment and build Paterno Library.

Inside the stadium, Spanier, Curley and vice president Gary Schultz worry about a grand jury that is investigating accusations of child sexual abuse against Jerry Sandusky, a retired assistant coach.

Six days after Penn State defeats Illinois, The Patriot-News reporter Sara Ganim learns that the grand jury's presentment also indicts Curley and Schultz.

Although he is so traumatized by the abuse that he suffered that he does not want his mother to read the presentment, high school student Aaron Fisher, known in Ganim's articles as "Victim 1", is the first to publicly testify against Sandusky.

Paterno's wife Sue and their adult children, including assistant coach Jay and lawyer Scott, are horrified by the accusations against Sandusky.

[2] HBO subsequently picked up the film, but on September 19, 2014, it was reported that the network had suspended pre-production on the project due to budget issues.

The website's critical consensus reads: "Paterno, elevated by deft direction from Barry Levinson and a strong Al Pacino performance, presents a hard-hitting dramatization of a gut-wrenching real-life story.

"[9] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 69 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[14] This was also backed up by David Newhouse, who reviewed the film's script during production and had no changes to suggest, although he added that it utilized "Hollywood storytelling".