Gov. Corbett: Penn State Sanctions Went Too Far

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett says the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctions against Penn State went beyond punishing just the football program for the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

 

Corbett, a Penn State trustee, told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette he knew the NCAA sanctions against the school were coming, but didn’t know in advance what they would be — or how severe.

 

“The actions taken, though, go well beyond those who were responsible, or should have been responsible, and affect all those students up there [in State College],” he told the newspaper.

“It affects the psyche up there.”

 

The sanctions issued Monday banned Pennsylvania State University from bowl games for four years, fined the school $60 million, gutted it’s scholarship program, and voided all of the late coach Joe Paterno’s wins from 1998 through 2011, taking away his distinction as the winningest coach in college football.

 

The ruling came in response to a scathing report produced from an investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh concerning the role played by school officials, including Paterno, in covering up the Sandusky scandal.

 

Corbett, a Republican and a former top state prosecutor, didn’t address the report directly or any of the criminal and civil court matters in the case.

 

His concern, he told the newspaper, is how the sanctions will impact the Penn State community for years to come.

 

“I believe the university was turning things around on its own and I’m a little concerned at the overall impact,” he said of the NCAA sanctions. “But it is an association, the university belongs to it voluntarily, and I guess they have to play by their rules.”