The NCAA on Monday announced a series of unprecedented sanctions against the Penn State football program for its involvement in the sexual abuse scandal that centered on former coach Jerry Sandusky.
The penalties include a $60 million fine, a four-year postseason ban, an annual reduction of 10 scholarships over a four-year period and five years of probation.
But perhaps the most significant individual sanction in the context of college football history is that all of Penn State’s wins from 1998 to 2011 have been vacated, which means that Joe Paterno, who oversaw the Nittany Lions’ football program for nearly 46 years, no longer is the sport’s all-time winningest coach.
As a result, Paterno’s win total decreased by 111 to 298. He now ranks No. 12 on the all-time coaching wins list. Eddie Robinson, who coached at Grambling University for 57 years, now ranks No. 1 among high-level college football coaches with 408 victories.
The NCAA also announced Monday that current and incoming Penn State football players will be allowed to transfer from the school immediately without penalty. Typically, players who transfer from one Division I school to another are forced by NCAA rule to sit out one season.
The NCAA is considering waiving scholarship limits for any football program that takes in a Penn State transfer. Teams typically are limited to 85 scholarship players.
The school has signed what NCAA president Mark Emmert described as a “consent decree” and will not appeal the sanctions.
“Penn State accepts the penalties and corrective actions announced today by the NCAA,” Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a written statement released by the school. “With today’s announcement and the action it requires of us, the University takes a significant step forward.”
In a written statement, Penn State football Coach Bill O’Brien, Paterno’s replacement, called described the punishment as “a very harsh penalty” but said he remained committed to the program.
“I will do everything in my power to not only comply, but help guide the University forward to become a national leader in ethics, compliance and operational excellence,” said O’Brien, who met with his players Monday, according to reports. “I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead. But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes.”
Earlier this month, former FBI director Louis J. Freeh released a report that found Paterno, in concert with three other top Penn State officials, had covered up allegations of child sexual abuse made against Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant coach on the football team, for 14 years.
Last month, Sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts related to sexual abuse of 10 boys over a 15-year period. He has yet to be sentenced, though the charges carry a minimum 60-year sentence and 442 years at maximum.
Emmert said the Freeh report, which was commissioned by Penn State, “was vastly more involved and thorough than any investigation we’ve ever conducted.”
Typically, the NCAA goes through a process that can span more than a year when it has reason to believe violations of its rules have been committed. That process includes an NCAA investigation, the issuances of a notice of allegations, time for the accused school to respond, a Committee on Infractions hearing and time for the committee to draw its findings. None of that took place in the case of Penn State, and the school is not believed to have committed any violations of NCAA regulations.
“In the Penn State case, the results were perverse and unconscionable,” Emmert said in a news conference Monday. “No price the NCAA can levy will repair the damage inflicted by Jerry Sandusky on his victims.”
Using immoral or criminal behavior as a means to justify sanctions constitutes new territory for the NCAA.
“It’s important to separate this from a traditional enforcement case. That’s not what this was,” Emmert said. “This was an action by the [NCAA] Executive Committee, exercising their authority and working with me to correct what was seen as a horrifically egregious situation in collegiate athletics.”
Also Monday, the Big Ten announced that Penn State will be ineligible for the conference’s football championship game for the next four years, and will be ineligible to receive its share of Big Ten bowl revenues — estimated to be approximately $13 million — over that span.
Those Big Ten bowl revenues will be donated to charitable organzations devoted to the protection of chldren, the conference said.
Proceeds from the $60 million fine levied by the NCAA, to be paid over a five-year period with a minimum annual payment of $12 million, will go toward an endowment for programs devoted to preventing child sexual abuse and assisting the victims of child sexual abuse. Penn State is not allowed to reduce or eliminate any of its other athletic programs to fund the fine, the NCAA mandated.
The penalties include a $60 million fine, a four-year postseason ban, an annual reduction of 10 scholarships over a four-year period and five years of probation.
But perhaps the most significant individual sanction in the context of college football history is that all of Penn State’s wins from 1998 to 2011 have been vacated, which means that Joe Paterno, who oversaw the Nittany Lions’ football program for nearly 46 years, no longer is the sport’s all-time winningest coach.
As a result, Paterno’s win total decreased by 111 to 298. He now ranks No. 12 on the all-time coaching wins list. Eddie Robinson, who coached at Grambling University for 57 years, now ranks No. 1 among high-level college football coaches with 408 victories.
The NCAA also announced Monday that current and incoming Penn State football players will be allowed to transfer from the school immediately without penalty. Typically, players who transfer from one Division I school to another are forced by NCAA rule to sit out one season.
The NCAA is considering waiving scholarship limits for any football program that takes in a Penn State transfer. Teams typically are limited to 85 scholarship players.
The school has signed what NCAA president Mark Emmert described as a “consent decree” and will not appeal the sanctions.
“Penn State accepts the penalties and corrective actions announced today by the NCAA,” Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a written statement released by the school. “With today’s announcement and the action it requires of us, the University takes a significant step forward.”
In a written statement, Penn State football Coach Bill O’Brien, Paterno’s replacement, called described the punishment as “a very harsh penalty” but said he remained committed to the program.
“I will do everything in my power to not only comply, but help guide the University forward to become a national leader in ethics, compliance and operational excellence,” said O’Brien, who met with his players Monday, according to reports. “I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead. But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes.”
Earlier this month, former FBI director Louis J. Freeh released a report that found Paterno, in concert with three other top Penn State officials, had covered up allegations of child sexual abuse made against Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant coach on the football team, for 14 years.
Last month, Sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts related to sexual abuse of 10 boys over a 15-year period. He has yet to be sentenced, though the charges carry a minimum 60-year sentence and 442 years at maximum.
Emmert said the Freeh report, which was commissioned by Penn State, “was vastly more involved and thorough than any investigation we’ve ever conducted.”
Typically, the NCAA goes through a process that can span more than a year when it has reason to believe violations of its rules have been committed. That process includes an NCAA investigation, the issuances of a notice of allegations, time for the accused school to respond, a Committee on Infractions hearing and time for the committee to draw its findings. None of that took place in the case of Penn State, and the school is not believed to have committed any violations of NCAA regulations.
“In the Penn State case, the results were perverse and unconscionable,” Emmert said in a news conference Monday. “No price the NCAA can levy will repair the damage inflicted by Jerry Sandusky on his victims.”
Using immoral or criminal behavior as a means to justify sanctions constitutes new territory for the NCAA.
“It’s important to separate this from a traditional enforcement case. That’s not what this was,” Emmert said. “This was an action by the [NCAA] Executive Committee, exercising their authority and working with me to correct what was seen as a horrifically egregious situation in collegiate athletics.”
Also Monday, the Big Ten announced that Penn State will be ineligible for the conference’s football championship game for the next four years, and will be ineligible to receive its share of Big Ten bowl revenues — estimated to be approximately $13 million — over that span.
Those Big Ten bowl revenues will be donated to charitable organzations devoted to the protection of chldren, the conference said.
Proceeds from the $60 million fine levied by the NCAA, to be paid over a five-year period with a minimum annual payment of $12 million, will go toward an endowment for programs devoted to preventing child sexual abuse and assisting the victims of child sexual abuse. Penn State is not allowed to reduce or eliminate any of its other athletic programs to fund the fine, the NCAA mandated.