Penn State Football: The Nittany Lions Deserve the Death Penalty

Forget about Ohio State's "Tat Five" or the Miami Hurricanes' illegal booster investigation. Forget about USC's two-year bowl ban. Heck, forget about Southern Methodist's scandal that involved 21 different players receiving payments, resulting in a banishment of the football program from 1987-88.

This is far worse.

According to ABC News, Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant Penn State football coach, was arrested Saturday for sexually assaulting at least eight young boys over a 15-year period, all whom he met through his own charity, "The Second Mile," a group home and outreach program for troubled boys.

These repulsive acts began as late as March of 2002, when graduate assistant coach Mike McQueary witnessed Sandusky molesting a boy in a locker room shower inside the football department. McQueary immediately reported the incident to head coach Joe Paterno, who instead of notifying the authorities, told athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president Gary Schultz.

Neither reported to the police.

The Pennsylvania attorney general said Monday that Curley and Shultz were legally required to alert police to the incident, while Paterno was only legally obligated to tell his superiors. But Paterno has come under fire for failing what police called a "moral obligation" to alert them to the crimes and decided to retire at the end of the season.

Nevertheless, the Board of Trustees took swift action, releasing JoePa of his duties late Wednesday night, along with school President Graham Spanier. Paterno, 84, has coached the team for 46 years and is the winningest coach in college football history.

As for Curley and Shultz, it's apparent that they will be on their way out, as well, in the midst of what could be a "clean house" situation.

In 1986, Southern Methodist faced allegations that players were being paid a good amount of money for their participation on the field. An investigation found that 21 players received approximately $61,000 in cash payments, with the assistance of athletic department staff members, from a slush fund provided by a booster. Payments ranged from $50 to $725 per month and started only a month after SMU went on its original recruiting probation just one year prior. 

After SMU officials had assured the NCAA that players were no longer being paid, the school's board of governors decided that the school had to honor previous commitments made to the players. However, under a secret plan adopted by the board, the school would phase out the slush once all players that were still being paid had graduated.

This resulted in a cancellation of the entire 1987-88 seasons and a loss of 55 scholarships over four seasons. The team was allowed to hire only five full-time assistant coaches (instead of the typical nine) and no off-campus recruiting was permitted until August 1988.

However, we are no longer talking about football.

What Sandusky did is a crime, no doubt. It's a degenerate, corrupt act of transgression and he will do his time. That said, there is no excuse for those who were aware of the actions that took place nearly a decade ago. Anyone who knew of Sandusky's assaults and failed to report it to authorities is just as much as fault as he is.

Accusations are premature, sure, but time will tell as this appalling story unravels. The hearing is December 7, and it's hard not to think things will get worse before they get better.

If what Southern Methodist officials did in the late '80s was enough to provoke a "death penalty", then anything but the same in this case would be an atrocity.