Penn State Scandal: NCAA Must Lay Down the Hammer on Penn State and Joe Pa

The NCAA has to get involved with this Penn State scandal that allegedly involves Jerry Sandusky sexually assaulting a minor in the Nittany Lions’ showers.

It would be the first time Penn State has been punished by the NCAA. They currently have a clean record and absolutely no violations in the history of the program.

It’s sad that Joe Paterno and his legacy must be tarnished like this, but the fact of the matter is that if he, and other school officials involved with the football program, indeed did know of a child being raped by a former coordinator, they must be reprimanded.

Schools are often punished for much less than 40 counts of felony and misdemeanor charges being handed down to a prominent former defensive coordinator. Twenty of the charges against Sandusky happened between 1995 and 1998, while Sandusky was still on the job.

The most chilling account of an approximately 10-year-old boy allegedly being subjected to anal intercourse by Sandusky happened right on campus and in the Penn State locker room, although Sandusky was reportedly retired at the time of this incident.

The fact that the school knew about it because of assistant Mike McQueary’s eyewitness account makes it a cover-up and is another thing that the NCAA, as well as law enforcement, must punish.

There isn’t much precedent set in the NCAA for dealing with charges of this nature, but it could be comparable to the penalties levied by the organization against Baylor during their shocking 2003 season which saw one player murder another and the coach try to cover up elements of the resulting investigation to avoid being found out for infractions.

The NCAA put Baylor on a five-year probation, barred the team from non-conference games for a season and severely hindered their recruiting ability after that awful scandal was investigated. Coach Dave Bliss was also given a 10-year show-cause order that effectively banned him from coaching for that period.

I don’t know how the NCAA will handle this, but I imagine after a lengthy investigation they will similarly punish Penn State for what happened on the campus under the knowledge of major school officials and coach Joe Paterno.