Some good points in this thread, but I think the discussion is conflating a number of separate issues.
- I would not have agreed with vacating wins at the outset in this case, but once done I think it's outrageous that it can be "undone."
I strongly believed PSU's football program deserved the hammer here, but vacating past wins for the coach seemed pointless to me at the time and more of a psychological punishment than an actual one. I've never liked the "undoing what already happened" aspect of vacating wins. But once the school AGREED to this punishment as part of the settlement that avoided worse sanctions, it's severely wrong IMO that people associated with the school can reopen it via litigation and have it undone. (Sort of a "double undoing.")
- While I say who cares whether Paterno is officially the "winningest coach" or not, it's the scaling back of the scholarship penalties and bowl ban that is infuriating. PSU as a PROGRAM fully deserved punishment for this heinous situation which occurred within its football program, by individuals deeply connected to its football program, and hidden 100% because the leaders of its football program (those leaders including the AD and President, as well as the "see no evil" coach) were protecting its almighty football program. PSU fans want to argue it's a "university issue" or "criminal issue" because all they care about is the football team. Laughable position.
- Fans of every school that gets punished inevitably complain that (1) it's "unfair" because school [x] did worse and only got [y] punishment, and (2) it's "unfair" to punish the kids who had nothing to do with it. Dumb, strawman arguments. Going light on you would just continue the problem, and the nature of college team athletics is that when a program screws up its current and future players are going to pay the price.
- Some are suggesting that this settlement proves that the NCAA had "no legal right" to penalize in this situation in the first place. Baseless. The NCAA's authority is extremely broad, and moreover, PSU's BOARD APPROVED THE PENALTIES. That should have been the end of it. Books closed, end of story. The ongoing case and settlement IMO proves what this was about in the first place, that the football program at PSU comes above all else and people there will do anything to protect it, including spending tens of millions of dollars or whatever it takes to beat down the NCAA after the fact.
- Unfortunately this proves yet again that when you do something wrong, the best way out is to fight the NCAA every inch of the way rather than being honorable as an institution and taking your punishment. UNC is going to end up proving the same thing, as did Miami recently.