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Why NCAA sanctions for Penn State didn't go far enough
While I salute the NCAA for doing something of substance when they usually exhibit little backbone, I don't think they went far enough in cracking down on Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
This is essentially just a harsher version of what the NCAA did to USC a few years ago. It's the loss of the scholarships and bowl bans that will hurt most - a $60 million fine is relatively small considering Penn State's Endowment is nearly $2 billion.
I'm not criticizing anybody from the media for this. They were just doing their jobs, and I will give my thoughts on this, too, I'm sure at some point, but it did give me a sick feeling hearing people commentate about how the sanctions will hinder Penn State's football program moving forward. Will they be able to stay near the top, like USC, which has come back strongly because Lane Kiffin has managed the reduction of scholarships well? I don't care about any of that at the base level. Penn State was harboring a pedophile in Jerry Sandusky. The Freech report made it clear Joe Paterno was very much a part of a relatively extensive coverup. Although different people are in charge, the system that caused the problem is still in place.
In my opinion, football needs to be taken away from Penn State for a couple years, then brought back with a completely different branding and structure. As is, it's business as usual, but with fewer scholarships and ominous cloud hanging over Beaver Stadium - even on a sunny day.
This was different than programs seeking a competitive advantage by breaking the rules. This was harboring criminal activity of the most egregious kind to protect a college football machine and somebody in the coaching fraternity, by a coach who was clearly given too much power because of his iconic status, and an administration that went along quietly.
I also believe Penn State should be thrown out of the Big Ten. If a school isn't dismissed from the conference for this, what will it ever be dismissed for?
As much as I love the highly competitive nature of college football and basketball, there must be a realization that universities exist to educate people first. Football and basketball programs are only part of the college experience - expendable parts. If they become essential, the institutional abuse exhibited at Penn State will only manifest somewhere else.
This is essentially just a harsher version of what the NCAA did to USC a few years ago. It's the loss of the scholarships and bowl bans that will hurt most - a $60 million fine is relatively small considering Penn State's Endowment is nearly $2 billion.
I'm not criticizing anybody from the media for this. They were just doing their jobs, and I will give my thoughts on this, too, I'm sure at some point, but it did give me a sick feeling hearing people commentate about how the sanctions will hinder Penn State's football program moving forward. Will they be able to stay near the top, like USC, which has come back strongly because Lane Kiffin has managed the reduction of scholarships well? I don't care about any of that at the base level. Penn State was harboring a pedophile in Jerry Sandusky. The Freech report made it clear Joe Paterno was very much a part of a relatively extensive coverup. Although different people are in charge, the system that caused the problem is still in place.In my opinion, football needs to be taken away from Penn State for a couple years, then brought back with a completely different branding and structure. As is, it's business as usual, but with fewer scholarships and ominous cloud hanging over Beaver Stadium - even on a sunny day.
This was different than programs seeking a competitive advantage by breaking the rules. This was harboring criminal activity of the most egregious kind to protect a college football machine and somebody in the coaching fraternity, by a coach who was clearly given too much power because of his iconic status, and an administration that went along quietly.
I also believe Penn State should be thrown out of the Big Ten. If a school isn't dismissed from the conference for this, what will it ever be dismissed for?
As much as I love the highly competitive nature of college football and basketball, there must be a realization that universities exist to educate people first. Football and basketball programs are only part of the college experience - expendable parts. If they become essential, the institutional abuse exhibited at Penn State will only manifest somewhere else.
posted by Pat Caputo at
12:11 PM
7 Comments:
Punishment was spot on.
Agreed Pat;
The entire power structure at Penn State was essentially being complicit in the crime. This crime is surely the most disgusting and heinous one we have in our society. Penn State ALLOWED a pedophiliac sex predator loose on their campus, covered up his crimes, for the sake of football.
I think Penn State should have been forced to donate all money coming from their football program for a period of years to shelters and foundations that help victims of childhood sex abuse.
I would have liked to have seen the Death Penalty too, at least for a year. I think having that stadium sit silent for a year would have sent the greatest non-tolerance message. If not that, they should have gotten a multi-year TV ban, because being out-of-sight out-of-mind is about, just as bad. You have to wonder if money played into the equation on this one. With a little over a month to go before the start of the season, I imagine the Big 10 AD’s voiced a concern about ramifications on the schedule, which in turn equates to money. Obviously this is just my opinion, but it’s hard to overlook. Which leads me to my next thought, what the hell does a school have to do to get kicked out of a conference anyway?? Apparently, harboring and protecting a pedophile for decades isn’t enough. This is just another reason why the conference needs to back away from the well-publicized idea that they carry the moral torch for college athletics. This just proves they are no better than the SEC, or any other conference in that regard.
With that being said, the penalties are still pretty stiff. Although the schools endowment is close to 2 billion, 73 million in fines (if you include the Big 10’s 13 million $ fine) is nothing to sneeze at. Furthermore, the loss of scholarships is pretty staggering, starting with 10 now, and an additional 20 per year for the next 4 years. Throw in the fact that every player has been given the green light to transfer without penalty, the roster could resemble that of a FCS school in a couple of years. In that sense, you can’t really compare it to USC, because it’s more than double the penalty when you look at the loss of scholarships. I just don’t know how you can compete in the Big 10 with that sort of long-term scholarship loss, at least for the foreseeable future…but I suppose that was whole the point.
Peronally, I think the NCAA is hypocritical in a sense. Didn't they prosper off Penn St. during all of these years? If they are going to go all the way to make things right, shouldn't they be forfeiting all their proceeds over this time period...maybe donating all of these profits to the victims or to advocacy groups? A couple other thoughts for you: 1.) I think it's all fine and dandy that Penn St. decided to have the Joe Paterno statue takend down, but don't you think it was kind of gutless that the University's President released a letter to the media rather than hold a news conference? If you're going to make a decision such as this one, shouldn't the man making the call stand behind his decision in out in the public? Also, it seems like an easy decision for the University to act like they are trying to do the right thing by taking down the statue, but at the same time, they sure don't seem to be showing too much shame by not forfeiting all of the revenue that they earned over this period. How about the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars they earned during this time period. Lastly, if they are so shamed by Joe Paterno, don't you think they should give his family back all of the money that he donated over the years? Money talks....and they sure don't seem to be too ashamed over all of the dollars that they made off the program while Paterno was there.
Paterno's statute finally removed from outside the stadium. HOORAY! But really, does this symbolic gesture by Penn State do anything to lessen the pain or erase the nighmares of the victims? I read that the statute is being stored in a room somewhere inside the stadium. I suggest that it me moved to Sandusky's jail cell. That is the type of symbolism that truly has meaning.
The Punishment was 2 much and hurt 2 many ppl. Paterno is Dead . Sandusky is in Jail. punish the ppl in charge of Penn State not the others.
I do not agree. Punishing the innocent -- the people in the surrounding area that make their living from Penn State football, the students, the athletes from not only football but from all other sports that exist from the profits of football, etc.is no different than forcing 85 year old Great Grandmothers to take off their shoes before boarding an airplane or screaming for taking guns away from the innocent when some nutcase decides to shoot up a crowd. How does punishing the innocent help the victims of Sandusky et al? Simply put it doesn't. It only satisfies the desire for vengeance. "Vengeance is mine saith...???
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