Penn State Scandal: Can the NCAA Prevent This from Happening Again?

The Penn State sex abuse scandal has rapidly transformed from big sports story into national front page news, and last night’s report that legendary coach Joe Paterno has been fired sent the media firestorm into overdrive.

The Penn State campus and community has been rocked by one of the worst scandals in sports history, and there’s just no telling how long it could take the program and the school to recover from this.

To lose a coach as iconic as Joe Paterno, who has been the face of Penn State for decades, obviously outraged many students and fans, and we saw that with the riots that quickly ensued in Beaver Canyon last night.

Given the circumstances, though, it was clear that the board of trustees made the right move by parting ways with the coach.

There’s no telling what this will mean for Penn State for the future, and some are already calling for strict penalties to be enforced on the football program. But since there were no NCAA violations that occurred, it’s difficult to tell what the NCAA can really do about this situation.

You have to wonder what the NCAA could do to possibly stop something like this from ever happening again.

What Went Wrong

When it comes to reports of sexually abusing a child, the line between legal obligation and moral obligation is razor thin.

Joe Paterno may have done the right thing by informing his superiors about an incident he was told about involving his former assistant Jerry Sandusky and a young boy in a shower, but many have severely questioned and second-guessed Paterno for never doing anything more about it.

Even though Paterno hasn’t yet been able to tell his full side of the story, and even though all the details have yet to come out, the coach has already been accused of putting his school’s brand name and his own coaching legacy above the safety and well being of young children.

That’s what ultimately started this public outcry and that’s what ultimately cost him his job.

Everyone seems to have a different opinion and viewpoint about how this all should have been handled and how much blame and guilt lies with Paterno, but the fact is, Paterno could have and should have done more after he learned of the incident and he now has to pay the price years later.

How This Differs from Other Major Infractions

Given the alleged type of offenses that we’re talking about (sexual assault of children), you can in no way compare this scandal to the recent transgressions that occurred at schools like Ohio State, Miami or USC.

Child abuse and agent benefits are in two separate worlds of crime.

The closest scandal you can compare this to is the murder of Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy, and the uncovering of major NCAA violations that soon followed.

Dave Bliss, the coach at the time, tried to cover-up NCAA violations that had occurred under his watch by telling his players to lie to investigators.

Bliss was ultimately forced to resign soon after secretly taped conversations exposed his scheme.

Although he faced no legal ramifications for his actions, the NCAA slapped a 10-year “show-cause” penalty on Bliss, which basically blacklisted him from coaching for 10 years.

The Death Penalty?

Some have proposed that Penn State should receive the dreaded “Death Penalty” after all that’s gone on, however, that should not and will not happen.

The only major football program to receive the “Death Penalty” was SMU back in 1987, when it was deemed that there was a lack of institutional control at the Dallas school.

Yes, you can say there was certainly a lack of institutional control at Penn State, but remember, there were major NCAA violations committed at SMU that led to the decision to shut the program down. There were no NCAA violations committed at Penn State that we know of.

The death penalty caused a pain-staking two-decade long rebuilding process for SMU, something that the Penn State community shouldn’t have to endure because of the heinous actions of one man and the stupidity of a few others.

Plus, legally, the NCAA really has no authority to level such a penalty if no violations occurred.

New Guidelines/Harsher Penalties

So what exactly can the NCAA learn from this and do to prevent another scandal of this nature from ever occurring again?

Since there were technically no NCAA violations that occurred, and since this is a legal issue and not an issue of athletics, it’s hard to say what type of role the NCAA can play.

What the NCAA can do is work with schools to develop new types of codes of conduct, codes of accountability and codes of morality for coaches and officials surrounding athletic programs.

Superior figures at athletic programs have to be obligated to report incidents no matter how serious in nature, and if they don’t, they must face harsh penalties.

Since Joe Paterno fulfilled his legal obligation of telling his superiors, he can face no legal consequences, but the fact that he violated the moral code of never telling law enforcement and never following up on the reports of sexual abuse he was made aware of, ultimately ended up costing him his job.

Going back to the Baylor incident, what the NCAA can do to stop coaches like Paterno from sweeping things under the rug is use a “show-cause” type of penalty to effectively blacklist them if they are found guilty of overlooking serious crimes.

The NCAA could also have the right to ban teams from postseason bowl games if it deems that coaches haven't followed the proper course of action when dealing with problems and haven't maintained the expected standards as leaders of a program.

The NCAA may not have the jurisdiction to directly punish Penn State, but it can deter others from doing what Paterno did, and hopefully prevent another scandal like this from happening again.