* Penn State football avoids “death penalty”
* NCAA president cites “tragically unnecessary
circumstances”
* No bowl games for four seasons, scholarships reduced
(Adds conference reaction, quote from new coach)
By Edith Honan
July 23 (Reuters) – The governing body of U.S. college
sports took sweeping, unprecedented action against Penn State
University’s revered football program on Monday in response to a
child sex abuse scandal, fining the school $60 million and
voiding the team’s victories for the past 14 seasons.
The school was not given the so-called “death penalty” that
could have suspended its football program but it was banned from
post-season bowl games for four years and had the number of
scholarships available to players reduced fro m 25 to 15.
Penn State officials were accused of not taking action after
being alerted to child sex abuse by former assistant football
coach Jerry Sandusky. The scandal tainted one of college
football’s leading coaches, the late Joe Paterno, and led to his
firing last year along with other top school officials.
The punishment, announced by the National College Athletic
Association at a news conference in Indianapolis, was
unprecedented for its swiftness and breadth. It was the latest
body blow to an institution still reeling from the child
molestation conviction last month of Sandusky, who was a
long-time assistant coach under Paterno.
In a scathing rebuke of Penn State administrators, NCAA
President Mark Emmert said the school had put “hero worship and
winning at all costs” ahead of integrity, honesty and
responsibility.
The case was another blotch on the diminishing legacy of
Paterno, who until Monday’s action had held the record for
victories among big-time U.S. college football coaches in a
career that spanned more than 40 seasons. Paterno lost that
status since the NCAA’s punishment includes voiding the Nittany
Lions’ victories between 1998 and 2011 – the time period
covering when allegations against Sandusky were first made and
San dusk y’s arrest.
Emmert said the NCAA chose not to levy the so-called “death
penalty” because it would have harmed individuals with no role
in the Sandusky scandal.
Later on Monday, The Big Ten Conference of college sports
announced Penn State would forfeit its share of revenues for
bowl games organized by the league, and the estimated $13
million would instead be donated to charities devoted to the
protection of children.
“TRAGICALLY UNNECESSARY”
“This case involves tragic and tragically unnecessary
circumstances,” Emmert said. “One of the grave damages stemming
form our love of sports is that the sports themselves can become
too big to fail, indeed too big to even challenge. The result
can be an erosion of academic values that are replaced by the
value of hero worship and winning at all costs.
“In the Penn State case, the results were perverse and
unconscionable,” he said. “No price the NCAA can levy will
repair the grievous damage inflicted by Jerry Sandusky on his
victims. However, we can make clear that the culture, actions
and inactions that allowed them to be victimized will not be
tolerated in collegiate athletics.”
In June, Sandusky, 68, was convicted of sexually abusing 10
boys over 15 years. He awaits sentencing and could be given as
many as 373 years in prison.
This month, former FBI director Louis Freeh released a
report that criticized Paterno for his role in protecting
Sandusky and the school’s image at the expense of young victims.
The NCAA penalty was handed down one day after Penn State
removed a statue of Paterno from in front of the university
football stadium.
Bill O’Brien , Paterno’s successor as head coach, said in a
statement he was “c ommitted for the long term to Penn State and
our student athletes.”
” I knew when I accepted the position that there would be
tough times ahead, ” he said. “I was then and I remain convinced
that our student athletes are the best in the country. I could
not be more proud to lead this team and these courageous and
humble young men into the upcoming 2012 season.”
Alan Milstein, a sports lawyer, said he agreed with much of
the penalty, but faulted the NCAA’s decision to reduce
scholarships and impose a lefty fine.
” I don’t know how you can say that money does not come out
of essentially the students’ pockets, whether it results in
increased tuition or a lessening of academic services.”
College football is a huge generator of money for major U.S.
universities such as Penn State because of large television
contracts and the mi llions of ti cket sales. Penn State’s
program, which Paterno led to national championships in 1982 and
1986, was rated the third most valuable by Forbes magazine.
NO NCAA INVESTIGATION
The NCAA acted with unprecedented speed, relying on Freeh’s
findings instead of conducting its own investigation, though
Emmert said the NCAA reserves the right to conduct its own
investigation at a later time.
Freeh’s report, commissioned by the university’s board of
trustees and released on July 12, said Paterno and other
high-ranking school officials covered up Sandusky’s actions for
years while demonstrating a callous disregard for victims.
Paterno was fired by Penn State’s board in November, days
after Sandusky was arrested for the abuse. Paterno died in
January of lung cancer.
In 2001, graduate assistant Mike McQueary witnessed Sandusky
assaulting a boy in the showers at the Penn State athletic
complex. McQueary told Paterno, who told Athletic Director Tim
Curley, who subsequently talked with then-university Vice
President Gary Schultz and university President Graham Spanier.
No one went to the police.
Spanier was fired in November at the same time as Paterno.
Curley and Schultz have been charged with perjury for allegedly
lying to a grand jury investigating Sandusky’s crimes and for
failing to report suspected child abuse. They have pleaded not
guilty.
The university is also under investigation by the U.S.
Department of Education for possible violations of the Clery
Act, which requires colleges to collect and report daily and
annual crime statistics and issue timely warnings.
(Additional reporting by Greg McCune, Barbara Goldberg, Joseph
O’Leary and Ellen Wulfhorst; Writing by Dan Burns; Editing by
Bill Trott)
