NCAA hammers Penn State with unprecedented sanctions

The NCAA hammered Penn State's athletics department with blistering sanctions Monday morning that likely will cripple the football program for the next decade.

Penn State's athletics department will pay a $60 million penalty, suffer a four-year bowl ban, reduce 40 scholarships over a four-year period and the vacation of all wins (112) from 1998 forward. The wins sanction wipes out legendary coach Joe Paterno's record for most football victories at a Division I institution. Penn State's current football players have the opportunity to transfer immediately without penalty.

The Big Ten will announce its sanctions in a 10 a.m. news conference.

The sanctions are a result of the football program's concealment of former assistant Jerry Sandusky repeatedly raping children at the football facility. A Penn State-issued report, which was released two weeks ago, concluded Paterno and other school officials knew of Sandusky's actions but did not stop him and prevented police investigations from going forward.

In a news conference Monday morning NCAA President Mark Emmert said his organization considered the so-called "Death Penalty" that would have forced Penn State to abandon football for one or more years. But Emmert said the Death Penalty would have had "unintended harm" for other student-athletes.

Emmert derided Penn State's culture for "an erosion of academic values," "hero worship" and "winning at all costs." He called the culture "perverse and unconscionable."

The NCAA will appoint a liaison to Penn State to report on the athletics culture. The NCAA also will open a formal investigation into the department.

Ed Ray, chairman of the NCAA's executive committee and president at Oregon State, said Penn State provided a "conspiracy of silence" and "reckless disregard for the children."

Penn State's football program earned more than $58 million in fiscal year 2011, according to a document supplied to The Gazette by the school. Penn State football will have a scholarship cap of 65, 20 fewer from the 85-scholarship limit.

"

The NCAA penalty will also affect the football program," Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a statement. "There is a four-year ban on all post-season games, including bowl games and the Big Ten Championship game, and a future reduction in the number of football scholarships that can be granted. We are grateful that the current student athletes are not prevented from participation because of the failures of leadership that occurred. Additionally the NCAA has vacated all wins of Penn State football from 1998-2011."