NCAA Sanctions Against Penn State

Written by: Kahan Vaidya

A year ago, Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) was a household name known for strong academics, a historic football program with a legendary coach, and a “party school” reputation. A lot has changed in one year.

            The surfacing of a child sex-abuse scandal at the institution has been anything but ignored in the last few months by the media, university officials, and students across the country. The allegations of pedophilia towards Jerry Sandusky, ex-assistant coach and defensive coordinator for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team, have shaken the school. Not only has this cost the team their squeaky-clean reputation of “Success with Honor”, but it has also tarnished the legacy of the school’s beloved long time head coach, Joe Paterno, when it was reported that Paterno had kept the incident a secret for years.

           

Lovingly called “Joe Pa” by students and the Nittany Lion faithful, Paterno was coming off a record breaking season: becoming the winningest coach in Division 1 football history with 409 wins, passing Florida State’s Bobby Bowden. However, this and much more changed when the NCAA invoked sanctions against the university.

           

On Monday, July 23, 2012, NCAA President Mark Emmert held a press conference in which he stated the sanctions against Penn State. These sanctions were based off of the “Freeh Report”, an independent investigation of the university held by Louis Freeh, former FBI chief. The sanctions given by the NCAA include a $60 millon fine, a four year post-season ban for the Nittany Lions Football team, the vacation of all Penn State wins from 1998 to 2011 (111 from Joe Paterno, 1 from Tom Bradley), a significant loss in athletic scholarships, and a five year probation period for the program. The NCAA have also granted the student athletes in the football program the ability to transfer to a school of their choice and play immediately, opening up “poaching” of players by coaches and staff at other institutions.

           

The question remains whether justice has been served. Many question the NCAA’s ruling as being too harsh. Those who critique the sanctions say that the wrong people are being punished: the football players, the students of the university, and those living in the community. Others agree that the punishment is adequate for allowing Sandusky to continue coaching while leaders of the program and institution withheld information regarding his crimes. It is believed that these sanctions will affect the program for the better part of a decade, perhaps longer if a strong recruiting class isn’t constructed. For those Nittany Lion supporters, it is now a waiting game to see where the future of their institution lies.

How would you describe the NCAA sanctions against Penn State in response to the Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal?