Penn State Scandal Will Leave Permanent Black Eye on Prestigious Program

There are times when you cannot shake a scandal that is at the magnitude that this Jerry Sandusky scandal is.

It’s why Penn State University, for as much good as it does, will be forever linked to the horrific news that was released about what the former defensive coordinator allegedly did.  

Other schools have had “black eyes” linked to them in the past. For example, you cannot go into the University of Texas without hearing about the sniper that climbed into the University’s Bell Tower in 1966 and started shooting fellow students. 

But that was a non-football related offense. However, schools like Ohio State and Miami (FL) have football-related scandals that will forever put a stigma onto the program. 

You cannot bring up Ohio State now without linking them to selling game-worn apparel for tattoos and other benefits. The same goes for the Miami Hurricanes program.

How many times have you wanted to kill that program for being linked to drugs, prostitutes, illegal benefits and other NCAA sanctions? 

It’s a shame that one scandal can rock a school to its foundation. But when you have a scandal that is as vile and disgusting as this one, there is no excuse to the backlash that your university will receive. 

Coaches, when recruiting, like to use negative press against other schools when they are trying to score a prized high school athlete. How many of those competing coaches will use this story against Penn State?

Probably all of them, because recruiting is a cut-throat game that coaches play. 

Let’s take a step past the football program, because as big as football is, it isn’t the main reason why students pick a university. 

This Jerry Sandusky scandal is going to affect their admissions numbers. There are kids in high school right now that are probably rethinking their intentions of going to Penn State. Not just because of the Sandusky scandal, but their friends are probably poking fun at them for now going to a school that has this stigma attached to it. 

The current student body is rallying behind Paterno, as shown by last night’s rally at the coach's house. But there is a growing population of Penn State alumni that are renouncing their diploma, trying to distance themselves from the university. 

We do live in a world today where all news is fast, and we want to know everything right now. We hate to wait around for things, as our patience has escaped us. So it’s hard to think about what life will be like in five to 10 years. 

But when there is a story that is this big, you cannot run and hide from it. People will be talking about Penn State and the Jerry Sandusky scandal tomorrow, next week, next month, in five years, 10 years and so on and so forth. 

This type of scandal will be handcuffed to one of the prestigious universities in America until the end of time. 

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