Penalties Handed Down To Penn St.

Joe Paterno

The Penn St. University football program was hit hard by the NCAA on Monday.

Penalties include a $60 million sanction, a four-year football postseason ban, and forfeiture of all wins dating back to 1998.

The career record of Joe Paterno will also reflect those vacated records. Paterno, who coached Penn St. for 46 years, and accumulated 409 wins, had 111 wins stricken from his record, so now officially has 298 career wins, sixth all-time.

Penn State must also reduce 10 initial and 20 total scholarships each year for a four-year period.

The postseason ban is tied for the longest ever given to a school, matching the four-year ban given to Indiana back in 1960.

The NCAA revealed the sanctions as NCAA president Mark Emmert and Ed Ray, the chairman of the NCAA's executive committee and Oregon State's president, spoke at a news conference in Indianapolis at the organization's headquarters.

Penn State removed Paterno's statue outside Beaver Stadium on Sunday, a move that came ten days after a  report by former FBI director Louis J. Freeh found that Paterno, along with three other top Penn State administrators, had concealed allegations of child sexual abuse made against former Penn St. defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

The Freeh report, concluded that Penn St. covered up the abuse in order to shield the football program from negative publicity.