OK. My son wanted me to blog something about the NCAA sanctions placed on Penn State. These were obviously based on the Sandusky trial and the Penn State investigative report by Sporkin and Sullivan. LLC.
The NCAA is an athletic organization. thus, my opinion is that they should be viewing any information from the viewpoint of how the athletic department and teams responded to the Sandusky affairs AND how the university reacted to isolate and protect the athletics (money maker) at Penn State.
The investigative report was quite informative, but still left a lot of questions in my mind. For example, Paterno's involvement. The report reiterates details we all herd of through the media and trials. I do NOT see any convincing evidence re Paterno other than he passed the ball to the executives of the university to handle rather than trying to do something beyond his legal knowledge.
What I find strange is that in 1998 when the an abuse was first reported, the university police and Department of Welfare (after a County organization accused itself for conflict of interest with Second Mile), and the DA knew almost immediately -- thus, it was reported (by the mother of the victim). Unfortunately, a "bear hug" was NOT deemed sexual abuse by any of them and the investigation was CLOSED. So, I ask you, if you were the president of Penn State and in addition to these three groups plus another independent consultant who reviewed the case and agreed with them, would you not have reacted the same way, i.e., that it was close? Well, they did not stop there and did consult Sandusky to inform him of potential inappropriate conduct with children and asked him to be more aware.
When McQueary reported an incident in February 2001, all things changed! First off, why was Sandusky even there and did he not understand that touching a boy was off limits? He was told this in 1998. Yet, the Penn State executives did NOT take immediate action and report it this time despite their winnings in 1998. So, yes they screwed up, as their emails attest too. Getting back to Joe Paterno, he did too. He also knew the results of the 1998 investigation and words said to Sandusky, yet, he tipped toed around and passed the ball off ignoring his moral obligations.
That leaves me to believe the abuse process at Penn State was faulty and never corrected in 1998. This led to the 2001 incident also being mismanaged to the point of covering it up. I could excuse Penn State after the 1998 incident because it was the DA and DPW that dropped the ball and told Penn State all was fine legally. But, I cannot excuse Penn State for the 2001 incident and failure to even report the incident and investigation to its board. I can not excuse the board after they did learn about it for not initiating their own investigation immediately.Too many high level officials of the university were at fault at the mercy of the victims who continued to accumulate.
Now, the sanctions. Paterno ignored his moral values. Values that should be positive and constructive and passed along to his staff and team. Legally, he is probably not liable for anything since he was relying on executives to handle it. But, he dropped the ball badly by letting Sandusky continue to prey on victims ON THE CAMPUS! Paterno should be penalized by the NCAA, and taking wins from him since 1998 was the worse case. Maybe I would have done it from 2001 instead, but regardless, he will now not the the winningest coach in history. So be it. Since the university has already collected millions of donations targets for abuse organizations, the alumni and students should NOT be penalized. Nor should the active football team and new coach who would like nothing more than the time to clean things up. I do not agree with banning the team from bowl games for four years. If anything, I would allow them to go but to turn over any proceeds from the bowl games to a fund for abused children. Why punish college kids who have earned scholarships at Penn State? Just wrong. AS far as the $60M fine. Good.
The real problem was that everybody wanted to take the most direct and easiest way out of the situation, rather than to thoroughly investigate it as a crime against young boys! This was the crime Penn State is guilty of. They should never have accepted the incorrect (my opinion) reports of their own consultants or local authorities without taking some action to prevent it from happening again.
Students at Penn State can still be proud. Proud of the excellent opportunities to learn and to participate in sports and other organizations of choice. This will pass in their mind. I just hope the university gets their act together and improves their abuse process AND TESTS it! We are Penn State.
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