cheap air jordans-Paterno statue comes down a day before NCAA's hammer

Penn State removed the statue of former coach Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium on Sunday in advance of NCAA sanctions that could cripple the football program for years.

The NCAA, a methodical and procedural organization not known for tipping its investigative hand, has scheduled a Monday morning news conference at which it stated it will levy "corrective and punitive measures" against the school in the wake of a child sex-abuse scandal that led to the conviction of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

The penalties will be disclosed at the organization's Indianapolis headquarters by NCAA President Mark Emmert and Ed Ray, chairman of the NCAA's executive committee.

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Photos: Penn St. removes Paterno statue

Multiple news agencies, including ESPN and Yahoo, reported that the penalties would be "significant" and "staggering" and include a bowl ban and loss of scholarships, but wouldn't require the school to shut down its famed program.

CBS News, quoting industry sources, reported Penn State would receive "unprecedented" punishment for its role in the scandal, including a fine of at least $30 million to perhaps as much as $60 million. CBS reported the fine would go toward an endowment for children's causes.

For the 2010-11 school year, Penn State's athletic department had $116 million in revenue, CBS reported.

The Harrisburg Patriot-News reported Sunday the impending sanctions against Penn State would not be appealed or "substantially challenged." A Penn State spokesman reached Sunday said he had no information on the announcement.

The NCAA hasn't banned a program from television appearances since 1996, but that remains one of the more punitive options. The NCAA has not used the "Death Penalty" in football since it imposed a one-year ban on Southern Methodist in 1987 for a litany of violations, most involving payment to players by boosters. The school elected not to play in 1988 and has since recorded only three winning seasons.

The potential extraordinary NCAA action comes less than two weeks after an investigation led by former FBI Director Louis Freeh charged top officials at Penn State, including Paterno, of conspiring to cover up Sandusky's abuses.

It is a contention Paterno's family has vehemently denied. Paterno, who spent 61 years at the school and compiled a major college-record 409 victories, died in January at age 85.

Sandusky, a longtime Paterno assistant who retained access to school facilities after his 1999 retirement from the coaching staff, is awaiting sentencing after his conviction on 45 counts that he sexually abused 10 boys.

Emmert, as NCAA president, has reportedly received unprecedented permission by the NCAA's board of directors to bypass normal channels of enforcement to act in this case. Penn State under Paterno, the school's head coach from 1966 until his firing last November, was never cited for an NCAA violation.

Dawn broke Sunday at Penn State with the removal of Paterno's 7-foot, 900-pound statue, built in 2001 to commemorate the coach's record-setting 324th victory.

Workers barricaded the streets and nearby sidewalks and covered Paterno's likeness with a blue tarp. A bulldozer lifted Paterno's statue off its moorings as an estimated 100 to 150 students chanted, "We are Penn State."

Penn State President Rod Erickson said he ordered the statue moved into storage because it had become a source of division.

"I believe that, were it to remain, the statue will be a recurring wound to the multitude of individuals across the nation and beyond who have been the victims of child abuse," Erickson said in a statement.

Erickson said Paterno's name would remain on the school's library as a "tribute to Joe and Sue's commitment to Penn State's body and academic success."

Joe Paterno's family, in an issued statement, objected to the statue's removal and the continued assault on Paterno's legacy.

"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," the statement read in part. "We believe the only way to help the victims is to uncover the full truth. The Freeh report, though it has been accepted by the media as the definitive conclusion on the Sandusky scandal, is the equivalent of an indictment — a charging document written by a prosecutor — and an incomplete and unofficial one at that."