Penn State and its football program is going to be reportedly drenched with a torrential downpour of fines, penalties and other administrative losses that is part of a “significant, unprecedented penalties” expected to be announced Monday by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, CNN has reported on Sunday night.
The sanctions will reportedly include, but not limited to:
- More than $30 million in fines.
- The loss of significant scholarships that can be offered for student-athletes to be able to play at State College, Pa., school that Paterno built into a national powerhouse.
- The Nittany Lions will be barred from post-season bowl games for years
While the school’s football program will not face the so-called “death penalty” that would have prevented the team from playing in the fall, the school might have preferred a one-year suspension because of the severity of the scholarship losses, postseason sanctions and other penalties, the source told the Los Angeles Times.
“If I were Penn State or any other school and were given both options, I’d pick the death penalty,” the source said, adding the range of sanctions “is well beyond what has been done in the past” and “far worse than closing the program for a year.”
The expected punishment is part of the continued fallout from the child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted in late June of 45 of the 48 counts he faced involving 10 young victims.
The news came the same day the statue of Penn State’s iconic head football coach Joe Paterno was removed from outside the campus stadium. The school is said to have removed the statue, drawing the ire of many students and football supporters, in order to soften the blow that’s going to be levied by the NCAA. But they are going to be sadly disappointed because the NCAA had already made up it’s mind and what sanctions will be hammered down upon the school and the football program.
— terry shropshire
