According to a report, the NCAA is in talks with state and Penn State officials to reconsider sanctions issued in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
Joe Paterno may be back at the top of the all-time Division I wins list at some point in the future.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday that the NCAA is in talks with officials from the state as well as from Pennsylvania State University that could reconsider some of the sanctions issued in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal.
In July 2012, the NCAA handed down unprecedented sanctions in the wake of a scandal that broke late in 2011 involving Sandusky, who had retired in 1999.
He was eventually sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison in 2012 on an array of charges stemming from the sexual abuse of minors, having been found guilty on 45 of 48 counts.
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Among the sanctions was the vacating of 111 victories the program achieved between 1998-2011, a decision that knocked the late Joe Paterno from the top of the all-time Division I wins list.
His total of 409 career wins was changed to reflect 298 victories during his tenure as head coach of the Nittany Lions from 1966-2011.
Paterno was fired by the university in November 2011 along with then-university president Graham Spanier.
The discussions Monday come a month before a trial is set to begin in a Pennsylvania state court that challenges the validity of the consent decree the Penn State board of trustees agreed to when the sanctions were handed down.
Also on the table in the discussions, according to the report—citing “people familiar with the discussions”—is a proposal that would leave the $60 million levied as a fine against Penn State within the state of Pennsylvania and the school.
The funds would be used for child protection.
The goal of the talks appears to be avoiding what would be a lengthy legal battle as well as to quiet criticism from Penn State alumni and Paterno supporters that has been present since the scandal broke in 2011.
A restoration of Paterno’s record would be a huge win for fans of the program and supporters of the school who have said from the beginning that Paterno and the university were unfairly impugned in the scandal.
The legal challenge to the NCAA consent decree was filed by state treasurer Robert McCord and State Sen. Jake Corman.
Paterno’s firing came after the board of trustees determined the legendary coach had missed or ignored signs that Sandusky was a serial pedophile who had engaged in illegal activities inside athletic department facilities.
Those were later the grounds used by the NCAA to strip Paterno of the 111 victories.
Paterno died a little more than three months after he was fired, on Jan. 22, 2012, at the age of 85.
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