Penn State Football Scandal: Why NCAA Punishments Are Unreasonable

Mark Emmert and the NCAA got it all wrong. 

After the recent punishments that the NCAA slammed down on the Penn State football program, the NCAA itself needs to be investigated.

Monday morning, Emmert and his holier-than-thou stance strode to the podium and delivered a nationwide announcement about the fate of the Penn State football program. 

The event was watched by millions across the globe as ESPN and the NCAA managed to turn an announcement—which supposedly addressed the danger of a sport becoming an overwhelmingly large focal point—into a singular, overwhelmingly large, national spectacle.

When the dust settled, the Penn State community was handed $60 million in fines, a crippling loss of scholarships, four-year ban from the postseason and was forced to vacate 14 years’ worth of victories.

Being a student at Penn State, I’ve been through it all.  I’ve seen the 400th and 409th win.  I was there for the riots, there for the endless flood of media and there for JoePa’s death, viewing and memorial service.

I’ve seen firsthand the entire Jerry Sandusky saga played out right before my eyes—right in the middle of the place I call home.  Unlike most members of the media, and Penn State critics nationwide, I’ve read every page of the grand jury report and every page of the Freeh Report.

The opinions I’ve formed have come from years of observations.  Observations from afar, and observations from being directly on the scene.  Throughout these years, I’ve been taking mental notes of every occurrence, action and result.

I’ve also endured the endless ridicule, the blatant ignorance and the intense hatred spewed onto Penn State University.

But this?  This abhorrent display of unjust power levied upon innocent bystanders?

The NCAA created more victims than it helped.

Now don’t get me wrong.  The crimes committed by Jerry Sandusky are indefinably evil.  The alleged cover-up of the Penn State administration is equally horrific.  And the pain inflicted upon the victims in the case rewrites the definition of inhumane.

The victims in this tragedy will be in the hearts, minds and prayers of all Penn Staters for the rest of our lifetimes.

With that being said, the NCAA’s chosen method of retaliation does little to help anyone involved.

In fact, the NCAA having power to impose such sanctions makes little sense in the first place.  Since when is our justice system no longer good enough to punish people for the crimes they committed? 

What business does the NCAA have in rebuking Penn State over the misdeeds of four men in charge? 

Penn State committed zero NCAA violations.  Not a single one.  And the four people in charge?  One has passed away, two are facing trails and pending jail time, and the fourth is certainly set to follow the same path as the remaining two.

So again, why does the NCAA feel the need to step in here? 

For whatever the reason, this unnecessary display of power now threatens every other college football team in the country.  If someone related to your football team morally screws up, punishments from the NCAA should be on their way.  That’s a dangerous precedent.  But regardless, it’s been set, and the punishments have been made.

I understand the $60 million fine.  At least that money is going to help child sex abuse victims and not to the NCAA.  $12 million per year over five years isn’t paralyzing, and the money is going to a good cause.

But that’s about when everything stops making sense.

Let’s start with the postseason ban and scholarship loss.  For some reason, the NCAA decided that Penn State should be banned from the postseason for four years.  Four years?! 

What that amounts to is any incoming freshman this year will never be given the opportunity to compete in a bowl game.  Think about that for a second.  That’s a slew of 18-year-old kids who worked for more than a decade perfecting their craft—only to be told that in college they’d never be given a shot to play in the postseason.

On top of that, recruits for seasons to come will only be allowed to play in bowl games late in their career, and will have to compete against all odds.  The scholarship restrictions on Penn State has put them in the same class as a Division I-AA program.

And why? 

Because of crimes that men committed when these kids were five or six years old.

Who is being punished now?

Take a kid like Adam Breneman.  Class act.  Carries a 3.85 high school GPA and is even starting a fundraising effort to help those with Lou Gehrig’s disease.  First he goes through the initial Sandusky report, then he shreds his ACL, and now he has to deal with punishments for acts of others that came nearly 15 years before him.

It’s just not fair.

And finally, we arrive at the topic of 14 years’ worth of wins being stripped from the program.  For what?  Which victims are helped by that? 

How did these terrible criminal offenses give Penn State any type of advantage on the football field?  

Would they have lost any of those games if these tragic events did not occur?  Absolutely not.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

If anything, the program would have won more games if it wasn’t for the media fiasco that began when the case initially broke open last fall—especially if Joe Paterno hadn't been promptly fired.

I’ll say it now.  Penn State would have beaten Nebraska last year if the entire University hadn’t been under siege from a relentless media attack.

And what is Mark Emmert’s reasoning for all of this?  He needed to send a message.  A message in Emmert’s own words that maintains (as reported by ESPN): “All involved with intercollegiate athletics must be watchful that programs and individuals do not overwhelm the values of higher education.”

The result can be an “erosion of academic values,” according to Emmert.

Yeah, about that…

An erosion of academic values?  Remind me again: Which school was ranked the No. 1 academic football program in the country this year?

Oh that’s right.  Penn State was.  And they have been.  Year after year, after year.

So if I understand this correctly, the NCAA is supporting their academic message by allowing all Penn State football student-athletes to immediately transfer. 

Really demonstrates how academics are more important than athletics, right?

But it’s OK, NCAA.  Kick Penn State while it’s down.  We’ll be back.  The Pennsylvania State University is built upon so much more than just a football team; although our team just happened to be exceptionally good.

And they will be again.