Penn State gets wins restored, Paterno again winningest coach

FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2009 file photo, Penn State coach Joe Paterno smiles as he walks the field before an NCAA college football game against Minnesota in State College, Pa. On Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, family says Paterno, winningest coach in major college football, has died. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2009 file photo, Penn State coach Joe Paterno smiles as he walks the field before an NCAA college football game against Minnesota in State College, Pa. On Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, family says Paterno, winningest coach in major college football, has died. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State's football team is getting back 112 wins wiped out during the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal and the late Joe Paterno has been restored as the winningest coach in major college football history.

The NCAA announced the new settlement with the school weeks before a scheduled trial on the legality of the 2012 consent decree it will replace.

The new deal also directs a $60 million fine to address child abuse be spent within Pennsylvania and resolves that lawsuit.

The NCAA board of governors approved the settlement, said association spokesman Bob Williams. The Penn State approved it Friday afternoon.

The announcement follows the NCAA's decision last year to reinstate the school's full complement of football scholarships and let Penn State participate in post-season play, and comes just days after a federal judge declined to rule on the consent decree's constitutionality.

The NCAA said continuing the litigation would only delay the distribution of funds to sex abuse survivors.

"While others will focus on the return of wins, our top priority is on protecting, educating and nurturing young people," said Harris Pastides, University of South Carolina president and member of the NCAA board.

The consent decree sprung from the scandal that erupted when Sandusky, a retired football assistant coach, was accused of sexually abusing boys, some of them on Penn State's campus.

It had eliminated all wins from 1998 -- when police investigated a mother's complaint that Sandusky had showered with her son -- through 2011, Paterno's final season as head coach after six decades with the team and the year Sandusky was charged.

In September, the NCAA announced it was ending the school's ban on post-season play and restored its full complement of football scholarships earlier than scheduled.

The restored wins include 111 under Paterno, who died in 2012, and the final victory of 2011, when the team was coached by defensive coach Tom Bradley. It returns Paterno's record to 409-136-3.

The consent decree had also called for Penn State to provide $60 million to fight child abuse and combat its effects. The lawsuit scheduled for trial next month began as an effort by two state officials to enforce a state law that required the money to remain in Pennsylvania.

Under the settlement, the money will remain in Pennsylvania.

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