Penn State Penalties

The word has come down from the ever and over powerful NCAA on the fate of Penn State football in light of the Sandusky scandal.  For the future, Sandusky was an assistant coach who assaulted and abused little boys over several years through a foundation he supported and part of the foundation perks involved Penn State athletic facility access.  Among other places, some of the abuse occurred in the athletic complex.  The problems escalated when it came out that the head coach, the legendary Joe Paterno, some of his staff and some in the administration knew about the abuse and did nothing.  People lost their jobs, Joe Pa's reputation was destroyed and as of today, he lost his "winningest head coach" title.  The University lost 14 seasons of wins, future bowl games, scholarships and everything else involving the reputation and pride of Penn State football.   And the NCAA fined them $60 million dollars, with another $13 million piled on by the Big 10.

I agree with every sanction except the money.   The NCAA says it is the money will "fund programs that serve the victims of sexual abuse".   Yeah, right.  Who will be monitoring the NCAA?  And more important, where is the money coming from?  The football program?  Maybe.  The late Joe Paterno?  The jailed forever Jerry Sandusky?   A few people lost sight that the University is there for education, not football.  And granted, most Universities need that lesson.  But I truly think taking the money from a public university is going to do more harm than good.  Take the money from the football program, put it in a general scholarship fund.  Fund good things...research, scholarships for students that cannot normally attend college unless they play football, certainly education about child abuse so this does not happen again.  But paying the NCAA?  Nope.  Not their business.  They have overstepped their bounds.   And this is only the beginning of the bleeding...I'm sure lawyers are lining up, licking their lips as the civil suits start.  It's going to take years before this heals.   The pain is going to last for a very long time and a whole lot of people are going to be affected who have nothing to do with the almighty NCAA.