Penn State Football Should Receive the Death Penalty

I try to stay away from Political or Religious issues on this blog or in my personal dealings.   I find it a no win situation for me.   

I will take a brief sidebar from that policy today as the facts are now in regarding the Penn State case:  Jerry Sandusky is a Pedophile and used Penn State facilities to groom and impress his victims.  Joe Paterno and other administrators at Penn State covered it up to protect the football program.   Joe has lost his legacy and former president Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley will lose their freedom after their case goes to trial.    Those penalties are just.  

What needs to come next is the death penalty for the football program from the NCAA.   Which I assume many people will disagree with.   The loss of Institutional Control is the worst accusation the NCAA can give.  Most examples of this includes:  paying players to attend your university, academic cheating, having too many big money boosters to close to your program who give players extra benefits, players selling school equipment, etc.    SMU got the death penalty for paying players, getting penalized and then continuing to do it.  

What has happened at Penn State is nowhere near what happened at SMU, Ohio State, North Carolina, USC, Memphis, Miami or any other place the NCAA has hit hard.  It is much much worse.    Penn State let their football program run their University.  Joe Paterno's advice over ruled the President's and Athletic Director's and they let Children be hurt so they could protect the program.   Penn State's entire University was being run by an out of touch football coach.  

Penn State fans and others will say the NCAA has zero jurisdiction to penalize Penn State.   Nowhere in the NCAA laws or rules does it state they can be penalized for covering up criminal activity.   That is a fair take but a short sided one in my opinion.   Is Penn State already different? Yes, they have a new President, AD and a new football head coach.   Will Penn State pay millions in legal fees and civil damages?  Yes and Yes.   I also have to give Penn State credit for funding the Freeh report which results couldn't have been worse for the organization that funded the investigation. 

I keep going back to Loss of Institutional Control.   There couldn't be a worse example of Loss of Institutional Control then the Penn State case.   The football coach had more power then the university president and AD and children were criminally hurt.   Children, not a few thousand dollars to a 7-1 center,  cheating on a Math test, or selling your shoes.   Children were hurt, the Penn State brass knew about it and still let him on campus and even run a Penn State sponsored summer football camp.

So now it's in the hands of the NCAA.  They sent a letter to Penn State back in November asking 4 question to be answered.  Once they have those responses they will decide if any penalties are to be assessed.   The range is anywhere from nothing to the death penalty.  There is no precedent for this case and the NCAA.   That is the main point (regarding the NCAA) there isn't a precedent and Mark Emmert, President of the NCAA has to set one.   I believe he has to send a hard message to Penn State to let all NCAA institutions know they can't have their football program be bigger then their University. 

What has happened at Penn State is Unbelievable, Sad, Sick and criminal on many levels.  If Penn State covered up sexual abuse to children to protect their football brand, what else have they covered up?  Penn State students and fans will argue that the actions of  4 people shouldn't take down the University or Football Program.   Unless its the 4 that run your University.   Absolute Power corrupts absolutely.