Are The NCAA’s Sanctions For Penn State Fair?

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Written By:
Rob Port

Jul 23, 2012
9:58am

In the wake of the child abuse scandal at Penn State, and the release of an investigation showing that university officials up to and including iconic football coach Joe Paterno covered up the crimes of former coach Jerry Sandusky, the NCAA has lowered the boom on the university in the form of sanctions.

Here’s a summary:

- $60 million fine
- Banned from post season play for 4 years
- Reduced to 15 from 25 scholarships for football
- Vacates all wins from 1998 to 2011 (this means Paterno loses the all-time record)
- FB is on a 5 yr probationary period
- NCAA reserves right to a formal investigation after criminal proceeding are complete
- Penn State must adopt formal reforms and hire monitors
- Penn State must enter into an athletic integrity agreement, again monitored
- The NCAA will hire a monitor to oversee Penn State’s reform efforts

The parts I’m not sure are fair is the vacating of wins and the ban from post-season play. Those seem like penalties for student athletes who won games under Paterno, and some of whom play for the university even today, but had absolutely nothing to do with the cover-up perpetrated by Paterno and other university officials.

Could there have been a way for the NCAA to punish the Penn State officials, who richly deserve it, without punishing the students? The Penn State football program will eventually live down this ugly episode, but for the student athletes, they only get one shot at their college football careers.