"As everyone can appreciate, this is a deeply personal matter for my parents, and we simply ask that his privacy be respected as he proceeds with treatment," Scott Paterno said in a statement.

The 84-year-old is Division I football's winningest coach, but he was fired last week as the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal began to blow up. Paterno has largely kept silent since then.

The NCAA formally announced Friday that it would open an investigation into the allegations that Paterno and other athletic department officials knew of the allegations and did not act on the information.

In other NCAA news, a former ballboy for the Syracuse men's basketball team said an assistant coach sexually abused him.