PSU Likely To Give Athletic Department Loan

July 30, 2012 /
The Associated Press

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Penn State will probably have to give its athletic department a long-term loan to pay the $60 million fine imposed by the NCAA after the child sex abuse scandal at the school, the university’s president said in an interview aired Sunday.

A combination of funds, including the football program’s financial reserves, will be accessed to pay the fine, Rodney Erickson told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

The NCAA imposed the fine last week along with a four-year bowl game ban, reduced football scholarships and the forfeiture of 112 wins.

“And in all likelihood the university will have to extend the athletic department a long-term loan that they can pay back as they get on their feet, and as we adjust their budget going forward in the football program,” Erickson said.

Asked whether Penn State had put too much emphasis on football, Erickson called the athletic program “a tremendous success” but said changes are being considered.

“To the extent that some parts of intercollegiate athletics perhaps became too separate, and became too much areas unto themselves and not sufficiently wrapped into the rest of the University – that’s something that we really are looking at,” he said, adding that the critical report by former FBI director Louis Freeh had made recommendations on the issue.

Retired assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted last month of 45 counts of sex abuse and is awaiting sentencing. Longtime coach Joe Paterno was ousted in the wake of the scandal and died of lung cancer in January at age 85. The forfeiture of victories imposed by the NCAA imposed erased 14 years of Paterno’s victories, stripping him of his standing as the winningest coach in the history of big-time college football.


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