The Blog

  • July 23, 2012
  • I Don’t Get It

    The NCAA just fined Penn State $60 million and kicked it out of the post season for four years as punishment for the Sandusky child abuse scandal.  There will also be diminished recruiting and scholarships that will cripple the football program for many years.  Maybe I am just think but I don’t see what the NCAA’s role is in all this.

    As horrific as the incident is, this looks like the NCAA inserting itself into a purely legal matter to grab a headline. Penn State administrators and former administrators have a lot to answer for in criminal court, not in the NCAA. Of course, NCAA can’t have criminal activity in its ranks, but the body’s purview should be criminal activity related to athletics such as drugging athletes, betting, game fixing or other activities directly related to its sphere of interest. If Joe Paterno had been an alcoholic, would the NCAA show the same interest? If one of the coaches had robbed a bank or run a Ponzi scheme? I think the courts should throw the book at the perpetrators and the enablers but the NCAA, rather than showing strength here, shows how out of touch it is.

    Published: 12 years ago


    Discussion

    • July 23rd, 2012 at 11:28 am    

      Denis – I agree with you on this one. I don’t recall the NCAA previously getting involved in offenses that weren’t directly tied to the athletic programs in question, such as recruiting or amateur status violations. As heinous as what Joe Paterno did, it was not directly tied to the football team.

      I think the NCAA is doing what many political bodies do, which is to do something, anything, just so they can’t be accused of not acting.

      Cary

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