Penn State gets $60 million fine; Paterno wins vacated
Workers remove the statue of Joe Paterno from outside Beaver Stadium Sunday. (AP Photo/Centre Daily Times, Christopher Weddle)
The NCAA on Monday imposed severe sanctions against Penn State in the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal but stopped short of imposing the “death penalty.”
NCAA President Mark Emmert said the penalties would include a $60 million fine, a four-year bowl ban, a reduction in football scholarships from 25 to 15 for four years and the vacating of all victories from 1998 to 2011. Football scholarships will be capped at 65, 20 fewer than the normal 85.
Emmert also said that any Penn State athlete who wants to transfer to another school can do so and be eligible to play immediately.
Emmert, speaking at a news conference at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, said the $60 million fine equals one year’s revenues for the Penn State football program.
“These funds must be paid into an endowment for external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims and may not be used to fund such programs at the university,” the NCAA said in statement.
Emmert said the penalties are in response to “an athletic structure that went horribly awry” but acknowledged that no penalty could undo “the tragic damage that has been done to the victims and their families.”
Penn State officials said they would not challenge the penalties.
“Against this backdrop, Penn State accepts the penalties and corrective actions announced today by the NCAA,” Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a statement. “With today’s announcement and the action it requires of us, the University takes a significant step forward.”
The NCAA’s action comes less than two weeks after a report from former FBI director Louis Freeh found the late Joe Paterno and other Penn State officials covered up years of sexual abuse of young boys by Sandusky, the Nitanny Lions’ former defensive coordinator.
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229 comments Add your comment
Punishment not enough
July 23rd, 2012
1:25 pm
I am okay with the penalties passed down, but I would have added: 1) The death penalty: NO football program at PSU for two years; in fact, the entire program would be completly dark for two years, including no back-door fund-raising, no practice, nothing! 2) NO media coverage of any PSU sport events, and 3) NO media coverage for two years of the football team upon its return.
And ANY of you–including the Paterno family–who feel that Joe P is “being victimized,” and that his statue should have remained, and that this is overkill punishing “the innocent”…BS! You are in denial.
Those young boys were raped and Joe Paterno and all the others knew it and looked the other way; they let it continue to happen in order to preserve the PSU football name. SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.
The Paterno family and others need “radical acceptance” of the fact that Joe did WRONG, boys wre permanently harmed and he, Spanier, Curley and the others ARE to be held accountable and to pay.
The legal system will deal with Spanier, Curley, et al. Joe Paterno is dead, but his punishment is being doled out, and instead of him dying feeling he got away with all his misdeeds, he died KNOWING his name would be mud in the annals of football and society.
Paterno was NOT a hero, he was a coward. NO statue! NO name on buildings! NOT the winningest coach now! Someone who allowed kids to be raped. Again I say Shame.
Ken K. Green
July 23rd, 2012
1:33 pm
The NCAA raises its gestapo-esque hand and wrongfully smacks Penn State University.
The only thing they did right was not to impose the “death penalty”. If they had, innocent people would have been punished. People such as the players, current coaches, fans, schools on their schedule, etc. that had no knowledge of or nothing o do with these sickening criminal acts.
That’s exactly wat they were. Criminal acts. The NCAA is not a judicial entity. They are a governing body for member schools. Although what happened at Penn Sate is tragic for the victims and their families and friends, it did not give the football team any advantage over other NCAA schools.
Penn State University did not commit these acts. Men did. Jerry Sandusky did. Joe Paterno had knowledge, Sandusky was tried and convicted and is awaiting sentencing, hopefully to spend the rest his life behind bars. Paterno was fired and his statue removed. He is now deceased. There is no point in flogging a dead horse as they say. Not much else you can do to him except strip wins from his record which the NCAA wrongfully did. Wrong because it also punishes players and a University that are innocent.
If the mayor of your town commits a heinous crime and is punished by the law and then the state comes along and punishes the entire town by stripping it of financial funding and levies fines against it that the taxpaying citizens have to pay for is this right? No it is not. Neither is what the NCAA did to Penn State University.
Should AMC Theaters be punished because some gun wielding idiot walked into a movie and killed a dozen people and wounded 50 others? NO! But if the NCAA were in charge they might be.
Nothing can be done to bring back the innocence of the victims of Sandusky but he has been punished.
Although the NCAA’s sanctions against PSU may send a strong message it does not solve anything and will not deter this from happening again. Unfortunately it’s the nature of the beast.
Sexual abuse is a sickness that happens everywhere everyday. As a 20 year veteran of law enforcement, I have seen and heard of it in all shapes and forms. And you can bet the farm that for every case you hear of there are dozens of others that are not reported.
The law can only take care of the cases that are reported and thankfully the Sandusky case was and he was prosecuted by the law and I’m satisfied with that.
God bless the victims!!!
Also a PSU Alum
July 23rd, 2012
1:38 pm
The reason why there are penalties that also “punish”, in some ways, innocent players and football related local businesses is to send a message to other universities and sports programs that your actions and unethical decisions can “tarnish” and embarrass the whole community and that it will caused widespread impact. This is the “price” you pay. You hurt the entire community with this cover-up and this should serve notice to anyone else in this situation.
It is up to the community and the parents of football players to send a message that this is not tolerable. If your child is being considered for a scholarship at a university, one of the questions parents should ask is: How are you going to ensure that your coaches and staff act in an ethical manner when faced with criminal actions by others? We all thought Joe Paterno, of all coaches, was one that would have done the “right thing”.
The irony of this is that, if at the time of learning of the first incident, it had been reported to the police, with proper investigative and judicial follow-up, this issue would have only been the fault of “Sandusky”. He would have been fired and the police incident would have not hurt the football program. It would have been viewed as an “unfortunate” isolated incident of criminal action by one person. But once the cover-up began and continued, then the football program is then connected to the whole issue. I don’t understand the initial motive for covering-up, as, in the beginning, it would have only been a short-term news item. Perhaps, the close friendship was more of the reason initially.
WTF
July 23rd, 2012
1:46 pm
Tony S If JokePa covered up the crap Sandusky did, how do you know his teams did violate other rules?
robvol
July 23rd, 2012
1:56 pm
The university failed to stop the rape of KIDS and did not fire the person raping kids. He was allowed to continue to hang around the university until the end. The university’s board fired Jo Pa, removed his statue and agreed with the punishment. Innocent people are being punished because the university failed to have any morals……not because the NCAA punished them.
Techster
July 23rd, 2012
2:01 pm
This punishment is well deserved and will significantly hurt Penn. St.’s ability to compete for many years to come. They’ll be lucky to beat a team like Georgia State. Just watch, next thing you know the Georgia bulldogs will have the Nittany Lions on their schedule.
Tired of BS
July 23rd, 2012
2:04 pm
Out of respect for the victims the program should be canned 1 year for each victim.
WTF
July 23rd, 2012
2:13 pm
So do the coach’s get to change schools too? How about the athletics from other sports that are funded by the football program?
7576DAWG
July 23rd, 2012
2:32 pm
Dawg’88
We understand your stand on abortion but this is a College Football story about child abuse at Penn State . It has nothing to do with abortion. Abortion is legal in a lot of states but child abuse is not. I know you don’t see any difference but your gripe is with Congress of each state and our nation and is way out of line on a sports blog. Whether you like it or not Americans have the right to chose between a lot of things when they are legal and that is what makes our country so great.
TROTTINGHOME
July 23rd, 2012
2:46 pm
THE ONLY INTELLIGENT COMMENTS HERE ARE THE EDDIE ROBINSON #1 COACH…………..THE REST OF YOU SUCK EGGS WITH YOUR NONSENSE
The Truth
July 23rd, 2012
2:49 pm
This is absurd. There’s no way the NCAA should be involved. This is a criminal case, open and shut. Of course, the NCAA couldn’t resist the opportunity – people will continue to get screwed against their will in State College, PA.
ALL-CAPS RAGE!!!
July 23rd, 2012
2:56 pm
Eddie Robinson is indeed a coaching legend, but not a real, NCAA Division-1 College Football Legend.
Robinson never had to consistently face the likes and talent of Notre Dame, Alabama, Penn State, USC, Texas, Ohio State or Oklahoma, and he would’ve eventually gotten fired if he had week after week, year after year.
FYI: Only clueless Affirmative-Action hires using company computers or inner-city trolls pounding on the keyboards in machines in the public library type in all caps.
(
GetReal
July 23rd, 2012
3:06 pm
The University is responsible, just like a drug dealer give the drugs to the user, who then in turns dies from an overdose, the President, Paterno and others knew what was occuring and not only turned their heads, but did so BECAUSE of the football team. If the school and Paterno had have acted in 1998, how many victims could have been saved. No, they allowed a person they knew had issues with desiring young men, boys, and not only continued to let him exploit them through the university, but gave him access to do so, through the foundation he set up. You can be charged for supplying a hand gun to a criminal that then uses the gun for a crime, if you supply it illegally.
What this University allowed is shameful and for what? To protect the football program and JoPa! Just like the leaders of Enron brought that company down, the people that had nothing to do with the mismanagment of the organization were impacted by poor decisions at the top. The penalites are weak to have the victims have had to endure.
Marc Ryan
July 23rd, 2012
3:09 pm
We will be talking about this a ton on our new show tomorrow in morning drive. In case you haven’t heard us, we are “Marc Ryan’s Opening Drive” on AM 1100, Atlanta’s Sports & Entertainment Radio Network. I host the morning drive program from 8 to 10, and former Braves+Falcons player, Brian Jordan, hosts our afternoon drive sports show! We invite you to listen and call us on this sad, sad, day in college football history.
Kramer
July 23rd, 2012
3:14 pm
If I were a PSU fan I would be happy with this and be glad they did not include the death penalty along with it. Bottomline, Paterno looked the other way and the top brass covered it up. They put the program ahead of the kids. They got what they deserve and an argumenet can be made it was not enough.
Fan of the Game
July 23rd, 2012
3:17 pm
I really don’t know if today’s actions will deter anything. You had the death penalty at SMU and college football is still loaded with corruption. What happen at Penn St. was a hell of alot worse than what happened at SMU, but I think the wrong ones were punished. Get the ones that knew about the situation and lock them up, fine them millions but I don’t know if you punish the innocent student athletes. Is this really accomplishing anything? I hope it does because this is a tragedy and I am not sure there is an answer except keep praying for the victims.
Hadenough
July 23rd, 2012
3:28 pm
Ohio State loses a couch who did nothing and two years of bowl games over three players selling their Rose Bowl rings and Penn State just gets a $60 million dollar fine over 14 years of child molestation. $60 million dollar fine is chump chain to Penn State. This is no realistic NCAA fine and Papa Joe would have gone to jail with Sandusky.
Contractor
July 23rd, 2012
3:32 pm
They gave the current student athletes the opportunity to transfer without penalty, an gave a heads up to future recruits, so I say the penalties are right in line. It’s tough for the fans, but let us not forget the fans aren’t the sole reason college football is in place. College is a place of education first and foremost, and football is an extracurricular activity you get to play after you make the grades, so it stinks for the fans, but they aren’t the sole reason for football. This had to be handled to show other programs football is not above human decency, and there will be penalties for those that think it is. Jail time will come to those responsible, and then the healing process can start to begin once everyone involved is out of the picture and dealt with accordingly.
brick
July 23rd, 2012
3:38 pm
Vacating the wins was a no brainer, NCAA wanted to remove Paterno’s name from the record books and they did. The other penalities were pretty harsh, but in this case earned. My thoughts are why PSU was so willing to accept all of this and sign a waiver for an appeal. I have an idea that it might turn up more than people want to know about someone who is no longer with us.
GT
July 23rd, 2012
3:54 pm
The NCAA has about as much moral foundation in this venture as a man on the moon. Their agenda is a hidden one and their self righteousness and fair play is comical. I would have liked to see a higher authority maybe the accreditation board of academic accreditation penalized the university, not this superficial organization and its followers. One of the very ingredients in this recipe is our taking this boy’s games too seriously, worshiping men whose feet are clay. In doing so we put weak character above strong, fluff above substance, because they do nothing but play. It is like what Dick Cavett asked about Elizabeth Taylor upon her death, “why do we worship a lush and alcoholic when there are so many more worthy people in this world?”
Old Fashioned
July 23rd, 2012
4:00 pm
For thirteen years Penn State had a very strong and completely undeserved recruiting advantage—-just by covering up the terrible wrongs commited by Paterno and Sandusky. Of course, football was the main beneficiary of the coverup. Defenders of PS should (but probably won’t) get their heads out of the sand.
GT
July 23rd, 2012
4:23 pm
So now Bobby is the winiest college Division one coach of all times? I can live with that. Congratulations Bobby Bowden!
Big brother lives....
July 23rd, 2012
4:25 pm
This is a matter for the criminal courts not the NCAA. The NCAA, the International Olympic Committee, and the UN are all useless organizations. Abolish all of them.
Bobby B > old faahhhrt Joe
July 23rd, 2012
4:38 pm
Everyone knows old farrrhhhht Joe had no control over this program since like 1995, when he was what 70. The Penn State thing is like North Korea and Kim Jung Il, in more ways than one!
Happy
July 23rd, 2012
4:46 pm
Sounds like Penn States fans could careless about the victim in all of this. Their only worry is about the football progam. Sad, what this world is coming too.
Shark Punch!
July 23rd, 2012
5:13 pm
Oh yes, let’s raze PSU and the surrounding community to the ground, BECAUSE THAT WILL MAGICALLY SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF CHILD ABUSE EVERYWHERE!
As a PSU Alum who couldn’t care less about the football program or JoePa (and yes, there are more of us out there than you sports-crazed yahoos would think, that is, if you actually bothered to think), I can’t fathom the hatred toward anything/anyone remotely related to Penn State, just because of the actions of a few individuals. Yes, these were heinous acts, but it’s not as though the entire campus was there in the shower cheering on Sandusky while he was committing them, or even knew that this was going on in the first place.
So before you pre-judge me and my fellow alumni, I’ll repeat a challenge I posted elsewhere. If you feel so strongly about this issue, shut off your computer RIGHT NOW and go do something in the ongoing fight against child abuse. Or stay in your comfortable chair and rant at a bunch of strangers on the internet. Your choice.
GT
July 23rd, 2012
5:28 pm
I had a fat competitor in my business I use to send cakes to all the time from Piece of Cake. The guy would eat em all up and get bigger and bigger. He is still around so my cake strategy didn’t work and nearly bankrupted me.
Bobby Bowden was quoted saying he thought they should take that statue down and the NCAA should get involved. I think if I were the benefactor to a windfall like this I would had kept my opinions to myself and opted out of making any comment. I still wonder if you bring home some champagne tonight and celebrate? Maybe he can now get the charge card people on the telephone.
Penn State gets $60 million fine; Paterno wins vacated | Atlanta Informer
July 24th, 2012
10:01 am
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Al
July 24th, 2012
11:09 am
@ Shark Punch
Get over yourself!