STATE COLLEGE -- The family of late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno is appealing the NCAA sanctions against the university that also cost the legendary coach 111 wins and the title of winningest coach in college football history.
"The estate undertakes this appeal to redress the enormous damage done to Penn State, the State College community, former, current and future student and student athletes, Joe Paterno and certain others involved, as a result of the unprecedented actions taken by the NCAA," according to a letter sent to the NCAA by Paterno family attorney Wick Sollers and posted Friday on the Onward State website.
The NCAA acted hastily and without due process in handing down the sanctions, including a $60 million fine, a four-year bowl ban and the loss of scholarships, the letter states.
"Furthermore, the NCAA and Penn State's Board Chair and President entirely ignored the fact that the Freeh Report, on which these extraordinary penalties are based, is deeply flawed because it is incomplete, rife with unsupported opinions and unquestionably one-sided. The NCAA and Penn State's leadership, by accepting and adopting the conclusions of the Freeh report, have maligned all of the above without soliciting contrary opinions or challenging a single finding of the Freeh report," Sollers' letter said.
The Paterno estate is asking to submit its appeal in writing and receive a hearing before the NCAA's Infractions Appeals Committee, Onward State reported.
