The site in which the statue of former Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno stood sits empty after it was removed by workers outside Beaver Stadium on Sunday. (Patrick Smith/Getty Photo)

INDIANAPOLIS -- The NCAA is set to reveal its sanctions against Penn State this morning in the wake of the child sex-abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The NCAA called an 8 a.m. CT news conference at the organization's headquarters to announce the "corrective and punitive measures" it will levy against the school. NCAA president Mark Emmert and Ed Ray, chairman of the NCAA executive committee, will be on hand for the announcement, which comes one day after Penn State officials ordered the removal of the statue of coach Joe Paterno from outside Beaver Stadium.

Sandusky, an assistant under Paterno, was convicted in late June of 45 counts of criminal child sex abuse against 10 boys and is awaiting sentencing. On July 12, former FBI director Louis Freeh released a report commissioned by Penn State's board of trustees that indicated several university officials, including Paterno, aided in covering up Sandusky's actions.

Many news organizations reported Sunday the NCAA punishments would be harsh. They could range from bowl bans and scholarship losses to fines and television bans.

Southern Methodist was the last major college football program to be given the NCAA "death penalty," when it was shut down for one year in 1987.

By Colleen Kane Tribune reporter

6:15 a.m. CDT, July 23, 2012

ckane@tribune.com