STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State officials said Tuesday they will respond within days to the NCAA's demand for information as the governing body decides whether the university should face penalties — including a possible shutdown of its storied football program — in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.

Penn State President Rodney Erickson said he doesn't want to "jump to conclusions" about possible sanctions after Mark Emmert, NCAA president and ex-University of Washington president, declared the so-called death penalty has not been ruled out.

The NCAA is investigating whether Penn State lost "institutional control" over its athletic program and violated ethics rules. Sandusky, 68, was convicted last month of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. The NCAA investigation was on hold for eight months while former FBI Director Louis Freeh conducted an investigation on behalf of the school's board of trustees.

Freeh's 267-page report, released last week, asserted football coach Joe Paterno — who died in January at age 85 — and three top school officials buried allegations against Sandusky more than a decade ago to protect the university's image.

Emmert, speaking of the Penn State situation in a PBS interview Monday, said he has "never seen anything as egregious as this in terms of just overall conduct and behavior inside a university." He said he doesn't want to take "anything off the table" if there is a finding Penn State violated NCAA rules.