The FBI kept a thick file on Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, but it mostly involves threatening letters sent to him and his staff years ago, and there's no mention of his former assistant Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted this year of molesting boys.
 
Paterno's 868-page file shows he received a series of threatening letters sent in the late 1970s and early '80s from someone who signed them A Bitter Father. The author blames Paterno for family problems that apparently surfaced after his son left the university's heralded football program prematurely.
 
Another anonymous letter, to an assistant coach, suggests Paterno was responsible for the assistant's "tragic accident." The file doesn't say what the accident was.
 
The FBI posted the late coach's file online Wednesday in response to Freedom of Information Act requests from media outlets.  
 
Paterno died in January at age 85, two months after losing his job over the Sandusky sexual-abuse scandal.
 
The FBI spent several years investigating the written threats sent to Paterno, his staff and even a Penn State television commentator, following leads that took agents to a Roman Catholic church and a shipbuilding company in the Pittsburgh area. The leads apparently went nowhere.
 
Former FBI Director Louis Freeh led a recent Penn State internal investigation into the Sandusky matter, faulting Paterno and other university leaders for putting the university's reputation and football program over the safety of children.