College Football

Emmert: 'Pleased' to see Penn State football thriving again

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:16 p.m. ET

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NEW YORK (AP) NCAA President Mark Emmert says he is pleased to see how well Penn State's football team has bounced back from the sanctions the program received in 2012 after the Sandusky scandal.

Emmert, who spoke at an intercollegiate athletics forum Wednesday morning in Manhattan, says the massive scholarship limitations and four-year bowl ban placed on Penn State were not meant to cripple the program.

No. 5 Penn State (11-2) is having its best season since Jerry Sandusky, a longtime assistant of late Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno, was arrested in 2011 for sexually abusing boys. The NCAA bypassed its usual processes to punish Penn State.

The original scholarship and postseason penalties were eventually rolled back.

''How could you not be pleased that they're playing good football again?'' Emmert said.