US COLLEGE FOOTBALL PENN STATE SCANDAL:The fallout from the conviction of former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky for child sex abuse in June continues, as PETE THAMELreports

THE GOVERNING body of college sports in the United States took sweeping, unprecedented action against Penn State University’s football programme yesterday, including a $60 million (€49.5 million) fine and a four-year post-season ban, in the wake of the child sexual abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) punishment also included reducing the number of scholarships available to players from 25 to 15 and the voiding of all of the team’s victories from 1998 to 2011, but stopped short of forcing the university to shut down the football team for a season or more – the so-called death penalty.

Still, the penalties are serious enough that it is expected to take Penn State’s football programme, one of the most successful in the United States, years before it will be able to return to the sport’s top echelon.

The post-season ban and the scholarship restrictions essentially prevent the University from fielding a team that can be competitive in the Big Ten Conference.

The association will also allow the Penn State players to transfer to another university where they could play immediately, inviting the real possibility of a mass exodus.

The NCAA’s penalty, announced by the organisation’s president, Mark Emmert, is the latest action to stem from the scandal involving Sandusky, 68, who was convicted last month of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years. He awaits sentencing and could be given as many as 373 years in prison.

In a scathing rebuke of Penn State administrators, Emmert said the school had put “hero worship and winning at all costs” ahead of integrity, honesty and responsibility.

The release of a grand jury report detailing Sandusky’s actions last November led to the firing of legendary coach Joe Paterno; the removal of the university’s president, Graham B Spanier; and charges against two other top university officials.

Paterno, who passed away in January of complications from lung cancer at the age of 85, held the record for victories among big-time US 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 Sandusky’s arrest.

A statue of Paterno was also removed from outside Penn State’s 107,000-capacity Beaver Stadium last Sunday morning.

A report commissioned by Penn State’s board of trustees and conducted by a group led by former FBI director Louis J Freeh and released this month revealed a series of failures throughout the university’s leadership in its handling of Sandusky going back more than a decade.

The report concluded that those failures stemmed from a culture in which football was revered and consequently became too powerful on campus. Freeh’s report also criticised Paterno for his role in protecting Sandusky and the school’s image at the expense of young victims.

The NCAA used information from the Freeh report when it decided its penalty. The report helped enable the NCAA to penalise Penn State without going through its traditional infractions process, a typically lengthy affair that includes an investigation, a notice of allegations and providing the university a lengthy amount of time to respond.

The NCAA also chose not to wait for the numerous criminal and civil cases surrounding the Sandusky case to play out, though those will most likely provide new information on the actions of Penn State administrators.

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.

The Big Ten Conference also announced that Penn State would forfeit its share of revenues for post-season bowl games organised by the league, and the estimated $13 million (€10.7 million) would instead be donated to charities devoted to the protection of children.

“This case involves tragic and tragically unnecessary circumstances,” Emmert said.

“One of the grave damages stemming from 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 victimised will not be tolerated in collegiate athletics.”

Bill O’Brien, Paterno’s successor as head coach, said in a statement he was “committed 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.”

New York Times and agencies