BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — From former players to faculty members, a mini-cross section of the Penn State community has partnered with the late head coach Joe Paterno’s family in suing the NCAA to overturn the landmark sanctions against the school for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
While the Paternos are the headliners among the plaintiffs in the civil suit filed Thursday in Centre County court, 19 others with ties to Penn State are also seeking a jury trial to reverse what they call the NCAA’s swift and unlawful punishment of the storied football program.
In Irving, Texas, NCAA president Mark Emmert — named as a defendant in the lawsuit — said he had not reviewed the filing and declined to comment on individual cases.
The 40-page filing culminated months of rumors about whether the Paterno family and others would enter the already complex web of litigation over the sanctions. Most notably, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA.