Students react to the announcement of sanctions against Penn State following the molestation of young boys by Jerry Sandusky. Image by CNN.

Penn State will pay a $60 million fine, forfeit 14 years of victories, be banned from postseason play for four years and take a cut in the number of football scholarships it can award as punishment for the sins of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky and for the cover-up by senior staff in the football program and the school.

Let’s be honest — people at the top knew what was going on, but football was more important than the shattered lives of dozens of young boys. While Sandusky raped children, Coach Joe Paterno looked the other way.

I have no sympathy for Penn State or for its fans, especially those who object to the sanctions because what that says to me is they believe Joe Paterno’s attitude was OK.

Jeez, it wasn’t the players, after all.

No it wasn’t, and those players now are free to transfer to schools where the football program doesn’t look the other way when little boys are raped.

Penn State’s football program was rotten at the top and the only way to restore its honor is to tear it apart and rebuild it. These sanctions will allow that to happen. Everyone who believes winning is more important than morality will be gone, thank God and Greyhound.

Frankly, I wouldn’t have been sad to see the whole football program wiped out. Some say that’s what has happened, and I’m good with that.

When an institution turns its back on young boys because winning a game is more important, it deserves to go away.

Penn State’s football program will recover; those boys never will.