The Big Ten Conference on Monday announced sanctions -- including stripping the school of bowl revenue equivalent to $13 million -- against the Penn State football program in addition to NCAA penalties levied earlier in the day for the university's handling of child sex abuse reports related to former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
The league also censured Penn State saying: "The accepted findings support the conclusion that our colleagues at Penn State, individuals that we have known and with whom we have worked for many years, have egregiously failed on many levels -- morally, ethically and potentially criminally. They have failed their great university, their faculty and staff, their students and alumni, their community and state -- and they have failed their fellow member institutions in the Big Ten Conference. For these failures, committed at the highest level of the institution, we hereby condemn this conduct and officially censure Penn State."
Sanctions include a five-year probation period during which the conference will work closely with the NCAA and the school to ensure compliance. Penn State is also ineligible for the Big Ten championship game for four years, the same length of the postseason ban issued by the NCAA. Lastly, Penn State will forfeit its share of bowl revenue over the course of the postseason ban. The conference estimates the fine to be $13 million. The money will be donated to child protection charities in Big Ten communities.
In addition to the postseason ban, the NCAA announced Monday that Penn State will be fined $60 million, vacate all wins from 1998-2011 and lose 10 initial scholarships and 20 total scholarships over the next four years.
"We had an idea that the sanctions would be broad, deep and lengthy," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said on a conference call. "I think they will definitely have an effect."
However, Delany does not expect the cost of the finds to have an effect on the operations on Penn State's non-revenue sports.
Delany and Sally Mason, Iowa University president and chairwoman of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors both expressed surprise at the findings of former FBI director Louis Freeh's investigation, which found former football coach Joe Paterno, former Athletic Director Tim Curley, former Vice President for Business and Finance Gary Schultz and former university President Graham Spanier failed to protect children from Sandusky, who was convicted on 45 counts of child sex abuse in June.
"It was and continues to be a great shock as this continues to unravel," Mason said. "It is disappointing, it is a shock. It's stunning in so many ways to see the failures of the administration."
