Paul Finebaum explains why Jay Paterno returning to Penn State as part of the board of trustees can help the school move forward from the Jerry Sandusky scandal that tainted Joe Paterno's legacy. (0:57)

Former Penn State assistant coach Jay Paterno, the son of longtime Nittany Lions football coach Joe Paterno, was elected to the university's board of trustees on Friday.

Jay Paterno, who coached at Penn State from 1995 to 2011 and played quarterback there from 1986 to 1990, received the most votes among three alumni trustees elected to three-year terms. There are nine alumni among the 36 voting trustees.

"Between my mom and dad and my family, we've been connected with Penn State for more than a century, when you add up all the years we've given there," Paterno told ESPN on Friday. "We feel very strongly about the university and what it can be. There are some challenges at Penn State and in higher education around the country, and I thought it was time for me to get involved."

Starting in July, Paterno will have a seat on the Penn State board that fired his father on Nov. 9, 2011, hours after Joe Paterno announced he would retire at the end of his 46th season coaching the Nittany Lions.

The board fired Joe Paterno and then-university president Graham Spanier amid growing outrage over the school's handling of sexual abuse allegations against former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

The Paterno family has disputed Joe Paterno's knowledge of the Sandusky allegations and condemned the findings of the Freeh report, a university-sanctioned investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh concluding that the late Penn State coach concealed knowledge of Sandusky molesting young boys.

Sandusky was convicted of molesting several boys during a 15-year period and was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison in October 2012.

Jay Paterno will serve on the Penn State board of trustees, joining the group that fired his father in 2011 amid sexual abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Joe Paterno died of complications from lung cancer on Jan. 22, 2012, two months after he was fired. He had a 409-136-3 record as Penn State coach from 1966 to 2011 and guided the Nittany Lions to national championships in 1982 and 1986.

In his 2014 book "Paterno Legacy: Enduring Lessons from the Life and Death of My Father," Jay Paterno criticized the board of trustees for the way it fired his father.

"After 60 years of university leadership, they didn't even try to get in a room with him to talk about how they could all work together to move forward to do what was best for Penn State," Jay Paterno wrote of the board. "I resented the fact that they had so little respect for Joe's perspective. I resented that they didn't even involve him in helping this school navigate the future. Above all, I resented the lack of respect for what he had done for this school."

Jay Paterno said he'll still be able to work with trustees in making important decisions about Penn State.

"I want to become a part of the solution from the inside out," Paterno said. "I thought it was the best way to be a part of Penn State as we move into the future."

Paterno, who wasn't retained as a coach before the 2012 season, considered running for Pennsylvania's 5th Congressional District in October 2013 and briefly ran to be the state's lieutenant governor before withdrawing from the race in 2014.

Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.