The Price of Joe Paterno’s Reputation? About $13,500 Per Win

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Let’s be fair here: Given the expense of big-time college athletics, it probably cost way more than $13,500 apiece for Penn State to earn each of the 111 victories that were eventually erased from Joe Paterno‘s record following the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

But the legal bills for the fight to restore those victories have come due, and PennLive reports today the final tally amounts to about $1.5 million — or, roughly, the aforementioned $13,500 per restored victory.

The lawsuit was filed by now-Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman and then-State Treasurer Rob McCord, before he ran into legal troubles of his own. The two had agreed to split the tab, but it now appears they’ll forward the bill to Penn State, which has agreed to pay the fees using “non-tuition dollars.”

PennLive notes: “In addition to restoring the victories for Paterno to give him 409 wins as well as one more victory that came in the post-Paterno era in 2011, the two-year court fight also removed the probationary period imposed on Penn State, the unprecedented scholarship and transfer rules, and achieved the initial goal of ensuring the $60 million fine was spent on child protection programs in Pennsylvania.”

The legal wrangling isn’t over. Former Penn State president Graham Spanier, along with athletic director Tim Curley and retired senior vice president for finance Gary Schultz all continue to face criminal charges for allegedly covering up Sandusky’s wrongdoing. And Spanier has filed suit against former FBI director Louis Freeh, whose report on the scandal formed the basis for the NCAA sanctions. That case is still pending in the Court of Common Pleas in Centre County.

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