INDIANAPOLIS -- NCAA President Mark Emmert announced "corrective and punitive" sanctions for Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
Penn State was not given the so-called "death penalty," which would have meant a suspension in the football program for a year or more. Emmert said that, "Suspension of the football program would bring with it significant unintended harm to many who had nothing to do with this case. The sanctions we have crafted are more focused and impactful than that blanket penalty."
The penalties handed down will likely have a long-lasting impact on the school and the athletic programs.
The punishments issued by the NCAA include:
4 Year Ban on Bowl Games
This means Penn State will not be able to participate in any postseason games, which includes bowl appearances as well as the Big Ten Championship Game, through the 2015-16 football season.
Loss of Scholarships
Every NCAA Division I FBS football program, like Penn State, is able to have 85 players under scholarship at any given time. Schools can add 25 scholarship players each year, as long as the total number of scholarship players remains at or below 85. Penn State will lose 10 scholarships per year for the next four years and will only be able to have 65 players under scholarship at a given time. This means that they will be able to add 15 scholarship players a year during that time, provided that the total number of scholarships remains under 65. Emmert said that any current or entering athlete may transfer to another university without sitting out a year. Current players will be able to keep their scholarship as long as they remain eligible.
$60 Million Fine
The NCAA is fining Penn State $60 million, which is equivalent to one year's football revenue at the university. Penn State will put $12 million a year for the next five years into a special endowment created to fund programs for the detection, prevention and treatment of child abuse.
Vacated Wins
The NCAA announced that Penn State will vacate all 112 wins from 1998 through 2011 and the records will reflect the changes. 111 of those wins came under former coach Joe Paterno, which will give him 298 wins during his coaching career.
Probation
The NCAA placed Penn State on probation for five years.
In addition, the NCAA announced that they reserve the right to initiate a formal investigation and disciplinary processes to impose sanctions, as needed, for individuals in the case after any criminal proceedings are completed.
Penn State President Rodney Erickson agreed to the sanctions. The full document of the sanctions can be viewed on the NCAA's website.
Penn State was not given the so-called "death penalty," which would have meant a suspension in the football program for a year or more. Emmert said that, "Suspension of the football program would bring with it significant unintended harm to many who had nothing to do with this case. The sanctions we have crafted are more focused and impactful than that blanket penalty."
The penalties handed down will likely have a long-lasting impact on the school and the athletic programs.
The punishments issued by the NCAA include:
4 Year Ban on Bowl Games
This means Penn State will not be able to participate in any postseason games, which includes bowl appearances as well as the Big Ten Championship Game, through the 2015-16 football season.
Loss of Scholarships
Every NCAA Division I FBS football program, like Penn State, is able to have 85 players under scholarship at any given time. Schools can add 25 scholarship players each year, as long as the total number of scholarship players remains at or below 85. Penn State will lose 10 scholarships per year for the next four years and will only be able to have 65 players under scholarship at a given time. This means that they will be able to add 15 scholarship players a year during that time, provided that the total number of scholarships remains under 65. Emmert said that any current or entering athlete may transfer to another university without sitting out a year. Current players will be able to keep their scholarship as long as they remain eligible.
$60 Million Fine
The NCAA is fining Penn State $60 million, which is equivalent to one year's football revenue at the university. Penn State will put $12 million a year for the next five years into a special endowment created to fund programs for the detection, prevention and treatment of child abuse.
Vacated Wins
The NCAA announced that Penn State will vacate all 112 wins from 1998 through 2011 and the records will reflect the changes. 111 of those wins came under former coach Joe Paterno, which will give him 298 wins during his coaching career.
Probation
The NCAA placed Penn State on probation for five years.
In addition, the NCAA announced that they reserve the right to initiate a formal investigation and disciplinary processes to impose sanctions, as needed, for individuals in the case after any criminal proceedings are completed.
Penn State President Rodney Erickson agreed to the sanctions. The full document of the sanctions can be viewed on the NCAA's website.
Comments
sandusky has gotten better treatment than Joe Paterno has. At least he got to have a trial, and a jury and got to face his accusors (victims). What did Joe Pateno get? Railroaded.
These sanctions are unfair to the players of today, and the past and future. It is going to punish people who are innocent and had nothing to do with this scandal at all. From education, to enrollment, to the smallest of small businesses. Where was the due process? There was none, and those in power do not care, Joe is dead, let him take the fall. Penn State officials, you should be ashamed. GOD BLESS THE VICTIMS, they are the ones truly suffering.
kathy l.
July 23, 2012 at 6:27 pm
When is anyone going to investigate Gov Corbett? He knew of this all for years and did nothing to stop it! Where is the media coverage on this?
kathy l.
July 23, 2012 at 6:15 pm
This is like punishing my son for something my grandfather did 20 years ago. (my son never met my grandfather, but I hope you get the point!)
francis o.
July 23, 2012 at 3:43 pm
FREEH REPORT DISCREDITED BY FIFA....SOCCER LINK!!!!!!!!ARE BEYOND REPROACH Reply
Ex-FIFA Presidential Candidate Has Ban Annulled and How It Connects to Penn St.
By
Frank Wagner (Featured Columnist) on July 19, 2012
2,339reads
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It's not often that the worlds of football and futbol (or soccer, if you would) collide, but today's news may be one of those times.
Last year, FIFA (the international governing body of soccer) was preparing for its presidential elections when controversy struck.
Just a few weeks away from the election, Qatari Mohammed Bin Hammam, the former president of the Asian Football Confederation and challenger to the widely disliked incumbent FIFA president Sepp Blatter, was accused of corruption.
After a quick investigation, Bin Hammam was found to have bribed FIFA's ethics committee with gifts to the tune of $1 million.
Bin Hammam was subsequently banned from FIFA for life, leaving the door open for Blatter to win the election unopposed.
Does that sound slightly fishy?
Well today, the Court of Arbitration of Sport (the highest power in international sporting matters) overturned the ban FIFA had imposed on Bin Hammam and nullified the findings of the investigation into the Qatari (per ESPN).
In fact, the court said of the investigation (from Business Week):
It is a situation of "case not proven", coupled with concern on the part of the panel that the FIFA investigation was not complete or comprehensive enough to fill the gaps in the record.
So what does this have to do with American football, you ask?
The connection lies in the investigation into Mohammed Bin Hammam and, moreover, who ran it: former FBI director Louis Freeh.
If that name sounds familiar, Freeh is the same man who ran the investigation into Joe Paterno and the Penn State football scandal.
In fact, it is Freeh's report that is being treated as the most damning evidence in the case against Paterno's legacy. In it, Freeh says of the case:
Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State. The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized.
Other than Paterno's family, Freeh's report has been treated as unquestionable fact?an understandable reaction. After all, the author's former position in the FBI makes his findings and thoughts fairly reliable.
But what about his findings in the Bin Hammam case? What about the fact that the Swiss Court of Arbitration found his investigation of the case to provide "insufficient evidence" to support that same investigation's conclusion?
One thing is clear: Whether or not Freeh's findings in the Bin Hammam case were misguided or not does not affect the facts and quality of his report on the Penn State scandal and Joe Paterno's legacy.
However, it should probably make the "Freeh Report" at least a little less than unassailable
Sir M.
July 23, 2012 at 12:49 pm
If anybody was a cowardly lion it was paterno. He turned a blind eye to what Sandusky was doing. A lot of you are still drinking the joepa kool-aid.He was a fraud who did not care about those kids, only the football program. I'm no longer a Penn State fan. It was all one big lie.
joe m.
July 23, 2012 at 11:55 am
There are none so blind as those who will not see...
FREDRICK F.
July 23, 2012 at 10:37 am
I have a better question on the fines, is it required that it comes from the football/sports revenue, or are we going to see a tuition hike to cover the cost? If there is it hurts the students more than the college.
In fact most of that hurts the students more than the college! How is any of this NOT hurting students really? This whole thing is BS. Punish those responsible, not the students at Penn State.
Douglas S.
July 23, 2012 at 9:27 am
I have never in my 63 years seen such poor, cowardess, actions by anyone. Joe Parterno did not hide nor coverup any wrong doing. Nothing has been proven that he knew the extent of what Jerry Sandusky was doing. Now he is gone, and they are condemning him without a trial. Not only are they hurting Joe Paterno's Legacy, but they are hurting the innocent as surely as Sandusky did. The coaches and players over the past 15 years earned every win. they earned the reputation of being a great College Football Team. The won those games with blood, sweat and tears, and a lot of pain. They do not deserved to be raped by the NCAA, making up their own laws and rules, because they are cowards to stand behind what is right. They are binding to the media and small minds. The only ones being hurt now are the innocent. Then new students, who will have to pay more for tuition to make up the fines which are illegal in the first place. The innocent new student football players counting on football scholarships to get a good education. These are the innocent children that are being hurt now. And where are the football alumni who won those games, who earned the wins for JoPA? Why aren't you fighting for what is right? How can you sit back like cowards and let them take away the statue, YOUR plaques that were so proudly displayed. If I were not an old woman, I would have chained myself to the statue before letting them take it away. The Penn State Board of Trustees, the new coaches and Executive Staff at Penn State should be ashamed. You are all cowards. Condemning a dead man who cannot stand for himself. . . and you know if he were here, you would not face him. Just like you could not face him when he was wrongfully taken down as coach. That one man did more for Penn State than all of you put together. Every penny he and Sue have given to Penn State should be returned to his family. The Library he built should be taken down, brick by brick. You do not deserve it. He is with God, but I pity all of you when it's your time to account for our actions.
Diane W.
July 23, 2012 at 9:16 am
The fine that Penn State is going to pay....is it going to help the victims in this case???? Or does the NCAA get to decide where the money goes? Also, I want to know where the plane and banner was when this was going on it the Catholic Church??? What statue was removed at ANY church??? What is the difference??? Not a Happy Penn State fan in Happy Valley.
Darla O.
July 23, 2012 at 9:04 am
Dave B.
July 23, 2012 at 9:02 am
You ARE NOT Central PA. You are a staff of hypocritical, biased, rude sound bite using media. What the H*** are you thinking to give those HS New Englanders their say without hearing from those who know Penn State. I'm through with you and your fictionalized news.
Karen W.
July 23, 2012 at 9:00 am
