E-Mails Suggest Paterno Role in Silence on Sandusky

[TSteven]

An opinion piece by Mark Schlabach on ESPN.com on why Penn State should be hit with NCAA sanctions.

Penn State deserves NCAA wrath

Some excerpts…

If Ohio State can't play in a bowl game this season because former Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel lied to NCAA investigators about his players' receiving free tattoos, how can Penn State play in the postseason after former coach Joe Paterno helped cover up the horrific actions of a serial child rapist?

If North Carolina can't play in the postseason this season because some of its players received improper benefits from agents and committed academic fraud, how can Penn State be eligible for the postseason after its former president and vice president, athletic director and legendary coach fostered a culture in which a pedophile used the school's facilities, sideline passes to games and bowl trips like candy to lure the young boys he molested?

And if USC was banned from the postseason for two years and lost more than 20 scholarships because the school failed to oversee the compliance of its most high-profile players, how can Penn State go unpunished by the NCAA when the university's most-high ranking officials failed to even do what was morally right when they learned young boys were violated and the victims and others were probably still at risk?

The article ends with this.

In 2001, after former Penn State assistant Mike McQueary witnessed Sandusky raping a boy in a shower, Schultz helped The Second Mile acquire a university-owned parcel for the same price the school paid a couple of years earlier. Even though Schultz investigated McQueary's claims only a few months earlier, he helped Sandusky continue his efforts with The Second Mile, which was established to help troubled kids.

Freeh said, "There's more red flags here than you could count over a long period of time." But to protect Paterno and themselves, Penn State's administrators chose to ignore those warning signs.

During the next several months, the NCAA will weigh whether the Nittany Lions will face on-field sanctions for the Penn State administration's lack of action in stopping a child predator.

Fortunately, Freeh and his group already have done the NCAA's work. If a massive cover-up of a child rapist's disgusting actions isn't a major violation, I'm not sure anything else is.

(Bolding mine)

[AOII Angel]

I guess the question is, does sanctioning the entire team of student athletes who had nothing to do with this solve this problem or make it less likely that it would happen again? It certainly doesn't hurt Paterno, Spanier or the other bozo who I won't bother looking to Google to find his wortless name. It hurts the athletes. I'm no fan of Penn State Football, but I think a little creativity is needed to make the punishment fit the crime.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I guess the question is, does sanctioning the entire team of student athletes who had nothing to do with this solve this problem or make it less likely that it would happen again? It certainly doesn't hurt Paterno, Spanier or the other bozo who I won't bother looking to Google to find his wortless name. It hurts the athletes. I'm no fan of Penn State Football, but I think a little creativity is needed to make the punishment fit the crime.

I agree. In the other situations, the players also broke the rules. In this situation, they did not.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I agree. In the other situations, the players also broke the rules. In this situation, they did not.

But 99.999% of the time, the players who broke the rules are NOT the ones punished by the NCAA actions ... so I'm not sure it's really all that different.

That is to say, when USC/Oregon/OSU/Miami/etc. are punished, it's often years later, and the offenders are already gone. How is this different for those kids?

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

But 99.999% of the time, the players who broke the rules are NOT the ones punished by the NCAA actions ... so I'm not sure it's really all that different.

That is to say, when USC/Oregon/OSU/Miami/etc. are punished, it's often years later, and the offenders are already gone. How is this different for those kids?

I don't necessarily agree with it then either. But if it doesn't involve any players at all, then I see a difference.