Joe Paterno Firing: Current Team Shouldn't Be Banned from Postseason Play

The horrifying scandal currently going on at Penn State has taken the nation by storm, from college football fans to the average person watching the news or reading the paper.

The focus of all of this seems to have drifted away from the real story—the victims and what happened to them.

But the players on the Penn State football team should not be punished for the actions of the administration.

It started when graduate assistant Mike McQueary didn’t call the police, continued when Joe Paterno didn’t do it and was allowed to continue when the athletic director, vice president and president all did nothing about it either.

None of this has anything to do with the current players.

If one of the players had been involved, then maybe a postseason ban would be an appropriate punishment but innocent bystanders would be punished for the morality of others.

It is obvious at this point that Penn State put itself above the victims and swift penalties should come against the administration starting now. While the case against Jerry Sandusky is purely an allegation at this point, there is absolutely no way none of it is true. Just read the 23 page grand jury report on the case. It is beyond shocking.

Think what you may about Joe Paterno—an argument can be made that he failed morally and should not represent the university. An argument can also be made that one lapse in judgment should not be the defining moment of his career, but there were failures in the administration on multiple levels.

The NCAA is in charge of what now seem like petty things such as extra benefits and inappropriate recruiting practices.

How far they can or will get involved in this case is unknown, but if they do, punishing the current players is the wrong way to go about it.