Since we had links from the no-big-deal side, let's have links from the other side.
Oh jeebus. Get off your high horse. Those of us who are pushing for the NCAA to have actual rules violations in play before dropping the hammer aren't calling this no big deal. We're saying it's a huge deal that the NCAA has no real authority over. What Sandusky did was just evil. But the criminal justice system has handled him. Everyone who covered it up deserve to be punished. And the criminal justice system will handle them too. And Penn State is going to spend years and untold millions of dollars cleaning up the civil litigation that they are completely and rightfully liable for. Last but not least, there is a very good chance that the US Dept of Education could levy fines, penalties, or even without some/all federal funding for PSU because the actions of Curley, Schultz, and Spanier likely broke federal laws regarding the reporting of crime on a campus.
All of these responses are a good thing and all of them have one thing in common. They all fall within clearly written and already existing legal/statuatory frameworks. At best, all the NCAA has to fall back on is the "catch all" clause. I'm sorry, but I am not in favor of giving the thumbs up to an organization that already has power trip issues to go ahead and use a "we can make up the rule as we go" clause to punish players and coaches who had no part in this mess for actions that arguably didn't help the football program as a whole. What the cover up did do was keep Paterno, Curley, (and possibly Spanier and Schultz) from getting fired. But had they reported it, the program wouldn't have been crippled. Just like it isn't crippled now.
Dye contrasts what other programs who received the death penalty have done with what Penn St did.
There some important distinctions to make. Those other schools were A) repeat offenders and B) were clearly breaking actual, explicit NCAA rules. The NCAA was not forced to make up a ruling using a vaguely worded (i.e. would get struck down as unconstitutional if it were a criminal statue) catch-all provision. Their violations also had a clear link to benefiting the program in question.
Let's all ask ourselves, "What does Lack of Institutional Control mean, really?" It means that the school has basically lost control of the football program. It means that the school no longer does what's right and what's fair and legal and best for society and the university, it does what's best for the football program, all other considerations be damned. If that doesn't describe Penn St, I don't know what does.
Except, that's not how the NCAA describes it. The NCAA definitions of LOIC talk heavily about whether there are appropriate compliance procedures in place to catch NCAA rules violations and whether those procedures were enforced properly. That's kind of a problem here because the horrible illegal acts that took place here do not fall under the NCAA rulebook or the purview of the compliance department. The compliance officers aren't out there trying to make sure staff aren't raping kids or to make sure admins aren't covering up for the rapist. That's because this is a criminal legal issue, not an NCAA issue. What you describe is certainly accurate and it is fair to say that Penn State as an institution failed. But that is a criminal legal issue, a civil legal issue, and a federal statue issue. Not an NCAA issue.
This was not one guy off molesting kids on the side and nobody knew about it. Everybody knew about - everyone: the head coach, asst AD, AD, VP, President. They all knew. And what did they care about? The reputation of the football program. The entire school was corrupt and complicit to the core for years more - years - of grotesque child molestation and rape.
Interesting. I didn't know 4 people constituted the entireity of the school. And in the end it these horrible, evil acts are only NCAA violations if the NCAA uses a vaguely worded catch all rule to issue punishments in a way it's never been used before.
And for what purpose? People talk about those responsible needing to be punished. The NCAA can't punish them. They will however be held responsible for the criminal charges and for the civil penalties. People talk about PSU needing to be punished. Sanctioning the football team pales in comparison to the massive civil lawsuits and possible loss of federal funding they face. Both of those are infinitely worse for PSU as an institution than the loss of football. People talk about making sure other schools won't perform similar cover ups. And that's the one that I think is the most ridiculous. If the massive criminal, civil, and federal penalties in play here (not to mention their own decency as human beings) won't dissuade other coaches and admins from hiding horrible criminal acts then NCAA penalties aren't going to help. The only people the NCAA will be punishing is the currently football players and coaches. And if they impose the death penalty on FB, you can add in all the non-revenue athletes and coaches who will be affected by the loss of FB revenue.
If Penn St is not heavily punished, the next President to face a situation may make the same calculation that Penn St did, "Well, this is going to really hurt the football program if I expose this and that coach seems like a nice guy. So let's just sweep this under the rug." This kind of heinous behavior must not be tolerated.
As already noted, Penn State WILL BE heavily punished. And there is no way in hell any future president at PSU would ever think of doing the same after the feds and civil litigants get through with PSU.
