The Penn State Penalties

Yesterday, the Penn State statue to Joe Paterno came down; today, the hammer fell.  In a 9am Press Conference, NCAA President Mark Emmert announced the penalties against the Penn State program as a result of the Sandusky child molestation and subsequent cover-up.  As was rumored, Penn State escaped the "death penalty" of having its football program stopped.  But, also as rumored, Penn State's punishment was, indeed, unprecedented.  Here are the various penalties that Penn State must pay:

• $60 million fine.  Fortunately, the fine must go towards an endowment that will fund victims of sexual abuse.
• No bowl games for four years.
• Loss of 40 scholarships over four years (ten per year).  Normally, Penn State was able to award twenty-five scholarships a year; that number will be only fifteen.  
• All Penn State wins from 1998-2011 were vacated, as we Penn State's two Big Ten titles during that time period.  As a result, Joe Paterno is no longer officially considered College Football's winningest coach - that honor revert's to Bobby Bowden.
• Players may transfer from Penn State immediately, and without penalty; furthermore, any incoming freshman who signed a letter of intent with Penn State is now released from that letter, should they choose to explore other options.  

The NCAA did consider the death penalty for the program, but declined to enforce it, with Emmert noting that “Suspension of the football program would bring significant unintended harm to many who had nothing to do with the case."  Indeed, the economy in Centre County largely revolves around Penn State and football; such a penalty would have devastated the region.

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