Penn State Scandal: Jerry Sandusky Forever Taints Nittany Lions' Reputation

Penn State’s football program under head coach Joe Paterno has been the model of consistency and should be held to a higher standard than virtually any other school in the country. So when Jerry Sandusky’s scandal came to light over the weekend, it was clear that things would never be the same.

Sandusky, who was the defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions from 1977-1999, was arrested Saturday and charged with 40 different counts of sexual abuse of young boys.

While this news should not be a black eye on the resume of Paterno, who is arguably the greatest college football coach of all-time with 409 wins, whenever someone associated with a program does something negative, it ruins their entire reputation for everyone else.

Paterno was the one who informed Penn State officials that Sandusky was showering with an under-age boy in 2002.

Paterno said in a statement released Sunday that he had no idea what was going on all those years.

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"If this is true, we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things. While I did what I was supposed to with the one charge brought to my attention, like anyone else involved, I can't help but be deeply saddened these matters are alleged to have occurred."

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Now, every question that Paterno gets asked for the next month will have something to do with Sandusky. His team is in the heat of a Big Ten race, but he is stuck having to talk about the action of a disturbed man.

Penn State had nothing to do with Sandusky’s problems, but whenever a scandal happens, that supercedes anything that is going on with the team on the field.

Paterno is a great coach and motivator, so he should be able to compartmentalize all this. Still, his reputation and that of his program will never be the same again.

It is sad because there are so few college programs in the country that do not have a black eye of any kind; Penn State was a role model for every other school in the country.

Now, thanks to one sick, disturbed man, the Nittany Lions’ reputation from a national perspective has gone completely out the window and it will take years before it ever comes back. If it does.

For all that he has meant to Penn State, college football and North American sports for the last 50 years, Paterno deserves better than this.