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STATE COLLEGE, PA - JULY 21: The statue of former Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno stands outside Beaver Stadium July 21, 2012 in State College, Pennsylvania. Penn State's president Rodney Erickson is expected to make a decision on whether or not to remove the statue in the wake of the child sex scandal of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. It's believed that Paterno had detailed knowledge of Jerry Sandusky sexually abusing children before and after Sandusky retired from coaching at Penn State. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

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Multiple news reports indicate the NCAA will hammer the Penn State football program Monday with unprecedented sanctions likely to include the loss of scholarships and a multiyear bowl ban.

But the storied -- and sullied -- Nittany Lions program is not expected to receive the so-called "death penalty," according to the reports.

And it shouldn't.

Penn State, which removed the controversial statue of disgraced former coach Joe Paterno on Sunday, deserves a punishment so severe that it makes USC's penalties from the Reggie Bush scandal seem like a slap on the wrist.

The collective moral failure of Penn State officials, including Paterno, to stop serial child molester Jerry Sandusky constitutes the

But the death penalty would have a ripple effect stretching far beyond Penn State, adversely affecting football programs inside and outside the Big Ten Conference.

For example, the Big Ten's massive network television contracts are partly based on a viable Penn State program and the resulting broadcast inventory that comes with it.

And what about the millions of dollars Penn State is under contract to pay nonconference opponents (Ohio, Eastern Michigan, etc.) scheduled to visit Beaver Stadium in 2012 and beyond.

Instead, the best course of action for the NCAA is to mete out sanctions so severe that Penn

What's more, the NCAA should lift current transfer restrictions to allow Penn State players to play for other schools without having to sit out a year. After all, they did nothing wrong.

Finally, the sanctions should include some sort of financial component in which any revenues generated by Penn State football are instead redirected to victims of child abuse.

The penalties will be announced by NCAA president Mark Emmert at 6 a.m. Monday.