Penn State AD Tim Curley Will No Longer Receive Award For Nation's Top College Athletics Administrator

Penn State athletic director Tim Curley—currently on an administrative leave as the investigation into Jerry Sandusky's alleged child abuse continues— was awarded with the nation's top honor for a college athletics administrator back in June. The National Football Foundation (NFF), which administers the award, announced in a statement today that the John L. Toner Award will be "vacated" in 2011.

Curley was to be recognized at the foundation's annual awards dinner at Manhattan's swank Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Dec. 6. He will no longer attend. Here's the brief statement from the NFF. It makes no mention of the man they honored for having "demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics and particularly college football" just four and a half months ago:

The National Football Foundation Executive Committee and the NFF Awards Committee announced today that the John L. Toner Award will not be presented at this year's NFF Annual Awards Dinner, and it will be vacated in 2011.

In Curley's defense, however, there probably aren't many Division I athletic directors who are "particularly" dedicated to their schools' football programs who could earn this award under the NCAA's regulations without some grounds for it being vacated. Case in point: Ohio State's Gene Smith won it in 2008.

H/T The Masked Progressive.