Jerry Sandusky

PilotNut wrote:Another catastrophe here is that he was able to get away with this for over a decade, while multiple people/witnesses did not appropriately handle or report the actions to authorities...

Protecting a football team was more important?

The university is bracing for what the N.C.A.A. is calling “corrective and punitive measures” that are expected to handicap the football program for years. While the specific findings will be released at a news conference at N.C.A.A. headquarters in Indianapolis on Monday morning, a person briefed on the sanctions said that the N.C.A.A. would issue a postseason bowl ban, a number of scholarship reductions and a stiff financial penalty. It is also expected that players in the program will have the freedom to transfer, essentially creating free agency for other programs to approach them.

By perpetuating a “football first” culture that ultimately enabled serial child sexual abuse to occur, The Pennsylvania State University leadership failed to value and uphold institutional integrity, resulting in a breach of the NCAA Constitution and rules. The NCAA Division I Board of Directors and NCAA Executive Committee directed Association president Mark Emmert to examine the circumstances and determine appropriate action in consultation with these presidential bodies.
“As we evaluated the situation, the victims affected by Jerry Sandusky and the efforts by many to conceal his crimes informed our actions,” said Emmert. “At our core, we are educators. Penn State leadership lost sight of that.”

According to the NCAA conclusions and sanctions, the Freeh Report “presents an unprecedented failure of institutional integrity leading to a culture in which a football program was held in higher esteem than the values of the institution, the values of the NCAA, the values of higher education, and most disturbingly the values of human decency.”

As a result, the NCAA imposed a $60 million sanction on the university, which is equivalent to the average gross annual revenue of the 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 sanctions also include a four-year football postseason ban and a vacation of all wins from 1998 through 2011. The career record of former head football coach Joe Paterno will reflect these vacated records. Penn State must also reduce 10 initial and 20 total scholarships each year for a four-year period. In addition, the NCAA reserves the right to impose additional sanctions on involved individuals at the conclusion of any criminal proceedings.

The NCAA recognizes that student-athletes are not responsible for these events and worked to minimize the impact of its sanctions on current and incoming football student-athletes. Any entering or returning student-athlete will be allowed to immediately transfer and compete at another school. Further, any football student-athletes who remain at the university may retain their scholarships, regardless of whether they compete on the team.

To further integrate the athletics department into the university, Penn State will be required to enter into an “Athletics Integrity Agreement” with the NCAA. It also must adopt all Freeh Report recommendations and appoint an independent, NCAA-selected Athletics Integrity Monitor, who will oversee compliance with the agreement.

Effective immediately, the university faces five years of probation. Specifically, the university is subject to more severe penalties if it does not adhere to these requirements or violates NCAA rules in any sport during this time period.

“There has been much speculation on whether or not the NCAA has the authority to impose any type of penalty related to Penn State,” said Ed Ray, Executive Committee chair and Oregon State president. “This egregious behavior not only goes against our rules and Constitution, but also against our values.”

Because Penn State accepted the Freeh Report factual findings, which the university itself commissioned, the NCAA determined traditional investigative proceedings would be redundant and unnecessary.

“We cannot look to NCAA history to determine how to handle circumstances so disturbing, shocking and disappointing,” said Emmert. “As the individuals charged with governing college sports, we have a responsibility to act. These events should serve as a call to every single school and athletics department to take an honest look at its campus environment and eradicate the ‘sports are king' mindset that can so dramatically cloud the judgment of educators.”

Penn State fully cooperated with the NCAA on this examination of the issues and took decisive action in removing individuals in leadership who were culpable.

“The actions already taken by the new Penn State Board of Trustees chair Karen Peetz and Penn State president Rodney Erickson have demonstrated a strong desire and determination to take the steps necessary for Penn State to right these severe wrongs,” said Emmert.

DaTruRochin wrote:
It will be curious how this will affects other sports as they compensate for the loss of revenue from football... Say non-revenue sports like women's soccer....

no current sponsored athletic team may be reduced or eliminated in order to fund this fine

The school receives censure from the league, which amounts to an official condemnation of the actions of its adminstrators since 1998.

The athletic department will be on probation for five years.

The football team is ineligible for the Big Ten championship game for the next four years.

The school is ineligible to share in the conference's bowl game revenue for the next four years, amounting to an estimated $13 million.

PurpleGeezer wrote:The alternative is to declare that covering up buggering children is a path to championships.

PurpleGeezer wrote:I think the vacating wins and championships was aimed squarely at Paterno and the athletic program.
The alternative is to declare that covering up buggering children is a path to championships.