College Football News: NCAA Hammers Penn State With Heavy Sanctions

US PRESSWIRE

Early Monday morning, the NCAA announced its sanctions against Penn State, and man did they let the Nittany Lions have it.

The NCAA imposed a $60 million fine, with the funds to go to victims of these abuses and child abuse foundations, a four year bowl ban, a total loss of 40 scholarships over four years (with a cap at 65 scholarship players on roster) all wins from 1998-2011 will be vacated, and Penn State will also be placed on probation for five years.

Any Penn State football players that want to do so can transfer and play immediately, with no consequence.

Mark Emmert also said that the NCAA retains the right to levy sanctions against individual people after the criminal procedures play out, if necessary.

"“No matter what we do today there is no action we can take that will improve their pain and anguish. But what we can do is impose sanctions that both reflect the magnitude of these terrible acts and that also ensure that Penn State will rebuild an athletic culture that went horribly awry,” Emmert said."

These sanctions are considered “unprecedented” for not only the scope, but also the route by which they came about. Normally, the NCAA goes through a process that takes years to see any kind of result: they inform the university in question of potential violations, then an investigation is held, then the Committee of Infractions weighs it, then sanctions are handed down if possible. For USC, that process went from 2006-2010, and in the case of a massive cover up of child molestation, the NCAA simply could not sit on this for that long. It’s unorthodox for Mark Emmert to be the jury, judge, and executioner, but in this situation, it had to be done to avoid a conversation of why the NCAA sat on this horrific cover up for so long.

USC fans are very familiar with the brutal smack in the face, the vicious sting that is NCAA sanctions, and they know what it feels like to think the NCAA had it out for you. But is that the case in Penn State’s situation?

Reign of Troy’s other editor, Michael Castillo, will weigh in shortly on if this punishment fits the crime. But in the meantime, we want to hear from you. Do you approve of the sanctions levied on Penn State? Vote in our poll and tell us below in the comments.

What do you think of Penn State's sanctions?

View Results