When the news came down Monday that the NCAA had hit Penn State’s football program with unprecedented sanctions that threatened the Nittany Lions’ future as a viable Division I program, athletic directors and school officials across the country felt the blow.

Whether they had a relationship with the school and longtime coach Joe Paterno or not, it was tough to not be shaken by the news.

UL Athletic Director Scott Farmer certainly was.

"You cringe about every aspect of it," Farmer said. "It’s just one of the situations where it had affected so many people’s lives. Nobody wins in a situation like this."

Although there are so many aspects to Penn State’s cover-up of Jerry Sandusky’s sex crimes against young boys, Farmer was one of many involved in the NCAA to be intrigued by Monday’s news. For decades, programs were placed on probation for violating NCAA rules in an attempt to gain a competitive balance on the playing field.

That was not the case on Monday when Penn State was given a $60 million fine, forced to forfeit 111 wins from 1998 to 2011, stripped of 20 scholarships for the next four years and saddled with a four-year bowl ban for the institution covering up crimes off the playing field.

"The NCAA stepped into territory that it doesn’t normally have to step in today," Farmer said. "This issue didn’t deal with competitive equity."

With that said, Farmer said he senses a nationwide support for it.

"This is just a bigger issue," he said. "I haven’t heard of anyone (from other NCAA members) that thinks the NCAA went too far. I’ve heard some that didn’t really understand, but none that thought the NCAA went too far."

LSU coach Les Miles also felt like the NCAA did what was necessary.

"I think what college football needed was a reaction from the NCAA. Mark Emmert did that," Miles said. "As unfortunate as the sanctions are, I think we’re all in support. He needed to make a statement and he did. The president has the responsibility to lead here. He needed to make whatever point he feels necessary. All of college football has at stake in the call that he made."

As brutal as the sanctions were, Farmer doesn’t feel like there will be a mass exodus from Penn State.

"Not every kid goes to a school to try to become the next big (pro) athlete," he said. "Some go because they just like the school. They’re going to be able to field a football team."