NCAA Lifts Sanctions on Penn State

In an unexpected move, the NCAA announced Monday that Penn State’s football team would regain postseason eligibility following sanctions imposed for the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal. Citing the school’s “significant progress toward ensuring its athletics department functions with integrity,” the team will be able to play in bowl games this year. All football scholarships will be returned in 2015, one year early. George Mitchell, monitor of athletics integrity for Penn State, released a report Monday praising the school's efforts to bounce back, and saying it "has not wavered in its commitment to fulfilling the requirements of the AIA and to implementing the recommendations made in the Freeh Report." The school was handed a four-year postseason ban in 2012 in light of the school’s mishandling of Sandusky. Penn State was also fined $60 million, lost some football scholarships, and 112 wins under Coach Joe Paterno were eliminated.