Christopher Weddle / Centre Daily Times via Zuma24.com
July 22, 2012 - State College, Pa. - Penn State workers cover the statue of former coach Joe Paterno near Beaver Stadium on Penn State's campus Sunday as they prepare to remove it.
The NCAA levied a $60-million fine against Penn State, removed all of its recent football wins (1998-2011), and banned the college from the annual bowl games for four years following the scandal of the Jerry Sandusky trial, which revealed the sexual abuse of young boys and a cover-up.
The sanctions issued by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which oversees college athletic programs, also included a reduction in its scholarship funds over the next four years and the right for incoming and current players to transfer, which will restrict the school's ability to recruit and retain top football talent.
Penn State removed a statue of former coach Joe Paterno prior to Monday's NCAA announcement. An internal investigation at Penn State found Paterno and other top university officials "concealed" what they knew of the allegations of abuse conducted by Jerry Sandusky.
The school's new president Rod Erickson ordered the removal of the 7-foot statue, calling it an "obstacle to healing."
Paterno's family reportedly visited the statue on Friday before its removal and issued a statement saying the action will not "help heal" the community. Paterno, who was fired in the wake of the scandal that erupted last fall, died in January of cancer.
NCAA president Mark Emmert warned against "hero worship" and a sports culture that enables a "too big to fail, too big to challenge" mentality as he announced the sanctions against Penn State Monday.
Emmert said the punishment was selected to "rebuild an athletic culture that went horribly awry."
Abby Drey / AP
A worker hangs a blue tarp over the fence that was installed around the Joe Paterno statue. The university announced Sunday that it was taking down the monument in the wake of an investigative report that found that the late coach and three other top Penn State administrators concealed sex abuse claims against Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted last month of sexually abusing 10 boys, sometimes on Penn State's campus.
Patrick Smith / Getty Images
To get a clear view, Penn State students lift the tarp on the fence that blocks the site of the former Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno statue after it was removed by workers outside Beaver Stadium.
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Aren't we taking away the focus on the real monster here? Let's not forget who actually harmed those innocent children for years, Jerry Sandusky, he's the one that needs to be demonized. Let Joe be remembered as the legendary coach that he was.
There is plenty of blame to go around. Sandusky was a monster and Paterno was an enabler. Both deserve huge amounts of acrimony and disdain.
I agree completely. Let the man RIP and taking down the statue and running his name throught he mud after he has passed away does not solve anything. Nothing can take away the fact that the man was a good coach and he did a lot of the university when he was there. People need to learn when to let things go.
Joe Paterno knew what was going on but kept it hush hush to protect the schools reputation. In my opinion they are both monsters. One harmed children and the other one protected the villain and the school instead of protecting the children! They both should rot in HELL!!!
Nothing will change the fact that the man did make history while he was there. Taking down statues and taking away money for scholarships is not accomplishing anythng. The man is dead let his memory rest in peace and leave his family to mourn. I agreee that he should have handled the situation differently but at the same time you cannot erase history and the man made some big accomplishments while he as at Penn State.
'Nothing can change the fact that 'the man' did make history...'
You are sick, Machelle. So very sick. You are what's wrong with America. You are amongst a growing horde of sick, dare I say it, mostly right-wing people who don't understand a damn thing unless it happens to you. You don't care about reality, only your twisted version of it, which you make up as you go along.
He was a great football coach? He was a self serving piece of you know what, and I am a huge football fan, and have always admired him. No more. He was a creature too, somebody who put his own well-being over the innocence and safety of children.
You are sick, sick, sick, and you're not alone.
Question: if it was your ten year-old that was violated would it still be your opinion that nothing can change the fact that he was a great football coach? You serious? A @!$%#in football coach?
Sick; you understand nothing until it happens to YOU, and sadly, you're not alone.
Oh beautiful, for sickened minds....SICK!
I cant believe you people are actually protecting Paterno! Put yourself in the victims or victims parents shoes! If your child was molested & certain people are protecting the assailant or not doing crap about it is just as bad as the monster who did it! Think of all the children that didnt have to suffer from the hands of this demon if just ONE PERSON came forward! Just one, thats it, thats all it would of took! This says alot of the people who ignored this. If you knew someone was raping boys would you just say "Oh well, it aint me! or my problem!" I know I couldnt. The punishment fits. Im glad that statue was removed. How could you idolize a man that did nothing about protecting children. Thats not a hero in my eyes!
byee... for those ppls that don't say anything about something horrific and its your duty, all things you done before mean nothing.......
That's right, dammit. I don't care if he walked on water. He was just as sick as Sandusky, and it was all for football (which I love) and his reputation. SICK!
I'm glad that Penn State is being punished, because it leads to a greater discussion about the incredibly harmful way that Sandusky's molestation of all those young men was handled internally.
However, I do hate that this punishment will affect the student body (lack of funds leads to less scholarships, no?).
I'm a sexual abuse survivor (I am telling my story at ) and I feel love from Penn State with the Paterno statue coming down, and I feel love from the Big Ten Conference issuing a penalty to Penn State. This might not make sense to anyone who's never been abused, been afraid to tell or not been protected in someway, but to me, someone who has experienced all of these things, it's important to have people in power speak up for the abused and say "This was wrong. This shouldn't have happened."
Mr. Kornacki is completely wrong in his objection to the NCAA sanctions against Penn State. The criminal and civil cases will be handled by the courts. The overwhelming lack of oversight of the football program, and the arrogance that created a culture dominated by the deified Joe Paterno and his football program, has undermined the entire structure of the university setting. The NCAA is merely attempting to force the university back into a recognition that the football program, and collegiate athletics in general, need to be incorporated back into the educational system, and not be a separate, cash cow entity.
Yes, there is too much money in sports and in the great scheme of things ought to be reduced, as well. That, however, is a step down the road, in an effort at recovering "amateur" sports from the claws of big business and the media. Reclaiming the Olympics would be a good step, too.
For now, imposing NCAA sanctions on an out of control university was an absolute necessity, and should be viewed as an obligation by all members of the NCAA to look at how their own athletic programs are managed. The elimination of that toxic culture ought to be a major goal of all NCAA schools, before something such as this Sandusky issue pops up in their own environment. Paterno was not the only "deified" football or basketball coach in this nation.
The only thing that would have made this whole thing sweeter, is if they would have dug up "good ole" JoPa, taped his eyelids open and made him watch them dismantle that creepy statue of his. Well done Penn. Finally, an action you can be proud of.
I'm sorry I don't buy it. There will never be any proof of what Paterno or Graham Spanier knew exactly, what McCreary saw, what he said he saw, how much he told to the coach versus the lawyers, etcera.
People love a witchhunt. They just pile on when its easiest.
I just don't understand why the kids and the college have to suffer. What happened off the field had nothing to do with how hard the players played to earn those wins why take them away? None of them were involved and taking away their right to play for four years? and less scholarships? i don't think that was right....let the students play and keep their wins and just fire/punish the ppl involved with the crime.