The NCAA will restore Joe Paterno's 111 vacated victories at Penn State, the organization announced Friday, as part of a proposed settlement with Pennsylvania state officials. The former head coach is now back on top of the all-time Division I leaderboard, with 409 career victories (one more than Grambling State's Eddie Robinson).
The punishment was originally levied after in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal. Scholarship sanctions and a ban on postseason play for the football program were also instituted and later lifted. The school will still donate $60 million to "activities and programs for the prevention of child sexual abuse and the treatment of victims of child sexual abuse." This financial commitment was a stipulation of the original sanctions.
Internal NCAA emails show that members in the organization did not know whether they had the ability to impose the punishments that they did. Penn State fans have called for Paterno's wins to be reinstated, after the Paterno family commissioned its own report to examine the Freeh Report, which it claims was flawed.
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Here's how the all-time Division I wins leaderboard currently stands, after the decision:
- Joe Paterno (409)
- Eddie Robinson (408)
- Bobby Bowden (377)
- Bear Bryant (323)
- Glenn Scobey Warner (319)