Famed Paterno statue torn down

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Shortly after Penn State tore down its famed statue of coach Joe Paterno, the NCAA announced Sunday it would impose “corrective and punitive” sanctions against the university in the wake of a devastating report that asserted top university officials buried child sex abuse allegations against a retired assistant coach more than a decade ago.

The NCAA, acting with rare speed, said it will spell out the penalties today. The governing body did not disclose further details.

If precedent holds from recent cases, Penn State will face a loss of scholarships and a multi-year ban from bowl games — and with it, the financial windfall and showcase that comes with postseason play.

Yet NCAA President Mark Emmert cautioned last week that he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of shutting down the Penn State football program altogether, saying he had “never seen anything as egregious” as the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.

A harsh penalty would have repercussions well beyond football, whose large profits — more than $50 million, according to the U.S. Department of Education — subsidize dozens of other sports programs at the school. The potential for a historic NCAA penalty also worries a region whose economy is built at least partially on the strength and popularity of the football program.

Emmert has seemingly put the Penn State matter on the fast track. Other cases that were strictly about violating the NCAA rulebook have dragged on for months and years.

As Penn State awaited its fate, construction workers took down the larger-than-life monument to its Hall of Fame coach – on the six-month anniversary of his death from lung cancer at age 85.

The Paterno family released a statement criticizing Penn State’s decision to remove the statue, saying it was made in haste and before all the facts about Paterno’s role in the Sandusky scandal were known.

“Tearing down the statue of Joe Paterno does not serve the victims of Jerry Sandusky’s horrible crimes or help heal the Penn State community. We believe the only way to help the victims is to uncover the full truth,” said the family, which has vowed its own investigation following the release of an investigative report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh that found that Paterno and three other top Penn State administrators concealed sex abuse claims against Sandusky.

“Despite (Freeh’s) obviously flawed and one-sided presentation, the university believes it must acquiesce and accept that Joe Paterno has been given a fair and complete hearing,” the statement said.

The bronze statue, weighing more than 900 pounds, was erected in 2001 in honor of Paterno’s record-setting 324th Division I coaching victory and his “contributions to the university.” Students chanted, “We are Penn State” as it came down Sunday morning.

Penn State President Rodney Erickson said he decided the sculpture had to go because it “has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing.”

In Washington, the White House said President Barack Obama believed “it was the right decision.”

But the vast majority of fans gathering outside Beaver Stadium to watch the statue’s removal disagreed. At least one woman wept, others expressed anger at the decision, and nearly all said they continued to support their beloved “JoePa.”