PHILADELPHIA -
The NCAA places unprecedented sanctions upon Penn State University to fix what it called a "horrifically egregious situation."
The sanctions, largely based on the investigation by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, accusing the university, and former head coach Joe Paterno, of hiding former football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's abuse for years.
The goal here was to change the culture at Penn state. Whether that happens remains to be seen. But there is no question the NCAA got the school's attention, hitting the Nittany Lions on the field and in the wallet, FOX 29's Bruce Gordon reported.
The NCAA is imposing a fine of $60 million on the university, with the funds to be used to establish an endowment to support programs around the nation that serve the victims of child sexual abuse and seek to prevent such abuse from happening.
"This amount is the equivalent to one year's gross revenue of the football team," NCAA President Mark Emmert said, as he announced the sanctions during a news conference held Monday morning in Indianapolis.
The school is banned from bowl games or any other postseason play for four years.
The football team will have its initial scholarships reduced from 25 to 15 per year for a period of four years.
And all of the Nittany Lions' football wins from 1998 to 2011 are being vacated, and records will reflect these changes.
That's 112 wins, which takes away former head coach Joe Paterno's rank atop the list of winningest NCAA football coaches. In fact, it knocks him out of the top 10.
NCAA officials said the 1998 date was chosen because that's when the first alleged abuse by Sandusky was discovered and failures of leadership took place.
The Freeh report concluded that top Penn State officials ignored and covered up the sexual abuse of children in order to protect the profits and prestige of the football program.
With this action, the NCAA takes a huge dent out of those profits and that prestige.
In addition to Sandusky, who has been convicted over abusing children over 15 years and is awaiting sentencing, two former university officials still face criminal trials in the case. Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are accused of lying to a grand jury about the allegations against Sandusky and not properly reporting suspected child abuse.
Penn State already took down a statue outside Beaver Stadium honoring Paterno on Sunday, but the new university president has so far opted to leave the name of the late coach and his wife atop a school library.
Monday's announcement came just one day after crews took down JoePa's statue outside Beaver Stadium.
Paterno's family called the punishment "a panicked response" to the scandal.
During Monday morning's announcement, the NCAA said it was taking some action to minimize the impact on student athletes, allowing any entering or returning football student athletes to transfer and immediately compete at the transfer university if eligible.
"And any football student athlete who wants to remain at Penn State may retain his athletic grant and aid so long as he maintains appropriate academic requirements regardless of whether he competes on the football team,"Emmert said.
The entire university athletic program is being placed on probation for five years and must work with an academic integrity monitor of the NCAA's choosing.
The association said it's reserving the right to open a formal investigation and disciplinary processes to impose sanctions "as needed on individuals involved in this case after the conclusion of any criminal proceedings."
And other "corrective actions" are being imposed to "ensure that the intended cultural changes actually occur," including a requirement that the university adopt recommendations in the Freeh report, and enter into an "athletic integrity agreement" with the NCAA and the Big 10 Conference.
Emmert said the NCAA had extensive conversations about imposing the "death penalty," or a suspension of all football at the university for one or more years.
"An argument can be made that the egregiousness of the behavior in this case is greater than any other seen in NCAA history," Emmert said, " and that, therefore, a multi-year suspension is appropriate. After much debate, however, we concluded that the sanctions needed to reflect our goals of driving cultural change as much as apply punitive action. Suspension of the football program would bring with it significant, unintended harm to many who had nothing to do with this case."
After the NCAA's announcement, Penn State University President Rodney Erickson said in part in a statement, "The tragedy of child sexual abuse that occurred at our University altered the lives of innocent children. Today, as every day, our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims of Mr. Sandusky and all other victims of child abuse. Against this backdrop, Penn State accepts the penalties and corrective actions announced today by the NCAA. With today's announcement and the action it requires of us, the University takes a significant step forward."
After listing some of the reforms the university has already implemented, Erickson went on to state, "As Penn State embarks upon change and progress, this announcement helps to further define our course. It is with this compass that we will strive for a better tomorrow."
