Jerry Sandusky Case: Penn State's Squeaky Clean Image Now Gone

For years, Penn State has been a football program whose reputation has never taken any serious hits. In times when programs would frequently fall in and out of trouble for violations, or not reporting violations, the Nittany Lions stood strong. 

That appears to be crashing down in a serious way. 

Genaro C. Armas and Mark Scolforo of the Associated Press detail some rather serious charges that have been leveled on former Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky. 

Now, it needs to be said that these are charges. Nobody has been found guilty of anything. 

It's also worth saying that the man more associated with the Penn State program than anyone, Joe Paterno, was not implicated in any wrong doing. 

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"Longtime head coach Joe Paterno, who has more victories than any coach in the history of Division I football, was not charged, authorities said, and the grand jury report did not appear to implicate him in wrongdoing. It said that when Paterno first learned of one report of abuse, he immediately reported it to Curley." 

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Curley is Athletic director Tim Curley, who Armas and Scolforo allege is going to turn himself in on Monday.

The charges that Sandusky is facing are very serious charges that detail him sexually assaulting young boys. 

Obviously, there are two sides to every story. But there are witnesses here, eye witnesses. If these aren't true, then we're looking at a pretty strong conspiracy.

No, that doesn't hold up in court, but that's not what I am going for here. Obviously, it's up to the courts to decide whether or not the witness accounts are reputable. 

But one way or the other, these are very serious charges that won't soon be forgotten by people. Sandusky isn't at Penn State anymore, but he was an integral part of the school's best years.

There is a lot that's yet to be decided and judged here. That can't be said enough. 

But when it comes to rebounding from charges like this, particularly how many there are, it's really hard to imagine this program not being significantly hurt.