Sunday morning Penn State tore down its famed statue of coach Joe Paterno.
 
Then the university went into waiting mode as the NCAA announced Sunday it would impose "corrective and punitive" sanctions against the university in the wake of a devastating report that asserted top university officials buried child sex abuse allegations against a retired assistant coach more than a decade ago.
 
If precedent holds from recent cases, Penn State will face a loss of scholarships and a multi-year ban from bowl games - and with it, the financial windfall and showcase that comes with postseason play.
 
Yet NCAA President Mark Emmert cautioned last week that he hasn't ruled out the possibility of shutting down the Penn State football program altogether, saying he had "never seen anything as egregious" as the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
 
A press conference has been scheduled for 9:00 this morning to announce the sanctions against the university.
 
As Penn State awaited its fate, construction workers took down the larger-than-life monument to its Hall of Fame coach - on the six-month anniversary of his death from lung cancer at age 85.
 
The Paterno family released a statement criticizing Penn State's decision to remove the statue, saying it was made in haste and before all the facts about Paterno's role in the Sandusky scandal were known.
 
The family said in the statement that "Tearing down the statue of Joe Paterno does not serve the victims of Jerry Sandusky's horrible crimes or help heal the Penn State community. We believe the only way to help the victims is to uncover the full truth."
 
The family has vowed its own investigation following the release of an investigative report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh that found that Paterno and three other top Penn State administrators concealed sex abuse claims against Sandusky.
 
Penn State President Rodney Erickson said he decided the sculpture had to go because it "has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing."