Nike co-founder Phil Knight said Monday that Joe Paterno was unfairly maligned by the "unjustified and unsubstantiated" findings of the Freeh report.

Knight also lashed out at the NCAA, saying it was "simply grandstanding" when it used the Freeh report to punish Penn State's football program with "totally unwarranted" sanctions.

For Knight, the comments represent another reversal in his judgment of Paterno, a personal hero whom Knight stood by after his death in January 2012. Last July, Knight was chastened by the Freeh report's conclusion that Paterno was part of a systemic cover-up that had protected former Penn State assistant Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted last year of 45 counts of child sexual abuse.

"According to the investigation, it appears Joe made missteps that led to heartbreaking consequences," Knight said. "I missed that Joe missed it, and I'm extremely saddened on this day."

But on Monday, Knight acknowledged he had issued that statement without having read all 267 pages of the report.

"When I later took the time to do so, I was surprised to learn that the alarming allegations, which so disturbed the nation, were essentially theories and assertions rather than solid charges backed by solid evidence," Knight said in a 280-word statement provided to "Outside the Lines" by his wife, Penny. "On reflection, I may have unintentionally contributed to a rush to judgment."

Knight declined a request to comment further. His statement comes one day after the Paterno family released a 238-page rebuttal to the university-commissioned inquiry of former FBI director Louis J. Freeh. Experts hired by a law firm representing the Paterno family, including former attorney general Dick Thornburgh, called the Freeh report a "failure" that is loaded with errors, disputed allegations, personal opinions, unsubstantiated theories and bias.

Knight targeted his most scathing comments at the NCAA, which has schools that have signed lucrative sponsorship arrangements with Nike worth tens of millions of dollars.

"Additionally, the NCAA's actions are exposed as totally unwarranted," he said. "The NCAA acted outside its charter and rendered judgment absent any kind of investigation or judicial hearing. It was simply grandstanding."

The NCAA has declined to comment on the Paterno family report. On Sunday, Freeh released an emphatic defense of his 267-page report, saying that "e-mails and contemporary documents from 2001 show that ... four of the most powerful officials at Penn State agreed not to report Sandusky's activity to public officials." Freeh also called the Paterno family report "self-serving," though he did not address many of the specific criticisms of his work by three experts hired by the Paterno family.

Knight's remarks against the NCAA are another signal that a seething pro-Paterno camp is plotting a lawsuit against the NCAA in a bid to overturn the Penn State sanctions and try to clear Joe Paterno's name.

Eleven days after the Freeh report was released, the NCAA bypassed its usual investigation and used the report's findings to hit Penn State's football program with historic sanctions, accepted by Penn State president Rodney Erickson. The sanctions included a four-year bowl ban, a $60 million fine and the erasure of 112 wins by Paterno from 1998 through 2011.