BELLEFONTE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - A jury found former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky guilty on 45 out of 48 counts in his child sex abuse trial on Friday.

Sandusky was seen escorted out of the courthouse in handcuffs. He could be sentenced to hundreds of years in prison.

The decision came after about 21 hours of deliberation over two days by a jury of seven women and five men. Nine of the 16 jurors and alternates had ties to Pennsylvania State University, and the final days of the trial drew large crowds to the Centre County Courthouse.

A large crowd gathered outside the Centre County Courthouse in central Pennsylvania to learn news of the decision. A cheer went up outside as the news was released.

The white-haired former coach faced 48 counts of sexual abuse of 10 boys over a 15-year period, sometimes at Penn State facilities.

The charges against Sandusky rocked Pennsylvania State University, prompting trustees to fire head coach Joe Paterno, who built Penn State into a powerhouse that generates tens of millions of dollars of profit each year.

The firing last November was a humiliating way for Paterno to end a career in which he won more games than any coach in U.S. major college football. He died two months later of lung cancer.