Penn State Scandal: You Might Not Like It, but the NCAA Shouldn't Be Involved

The NCAA just opened Pandora's box.

They announced that they would be examining Penn State's institutional control. This is a slope of uncharted waters for the NCAA.

This process began when NCAA President Mark Emmert sent a letter to Penn State informing Penn State of this examination.

You can view the full letter here. Here is an excerpt:

"

"The recount of these tragic events in the grand jury report is deeply troubling," the group's president, Mark Emmert, said in a letter to the university. "If true, individuals who were in a position to monitor and act upon learning of potential abuses appear to have been acting starkly contrary to the values of higher education, as well as the NCAA."

"While the criminal justice process clearly takes precedence over any NCAA actions, the association is closely monitoring the situation."

"

While there is no doubt that the allegations levied against Penn State indicate the possibility of a lack of institutional control, they revolve around criminal matters. This is not an area in which the NCAA has chosen to step in in the past.

Former NCAA investigator Tom Yeager told the NY Times this move was "unprecedented."

This fact is certainly not lost on Emmert. They did not enter into this examination without considerable examination. Emmert addressed these concerns via a phone interview with the NY Times. Emmert:

"

"The circumstances are uncharted territory in many ways. This is not in my mind or in many other people’s minds an unprecedented application of our bylaws and our constitution. It is a very unusual set of circumstances."

"That’s going to be the difficult part, untangling what parts are criminal and what parts are relevant to our bylaws,” Emmert said. “Those are two different things."

"

Yeager does not agree with Emmert's stance. Here is Yeager from the above linked article:

"

"I think that NCAA enforcement relates to NCAA rules. And I’ll be interested to see how it plays out. If the board and membership wants the NCAA to get involved in these other issues, fine. Historically, they sure haven’t."

"

While it may be "fine" now, it opens itself up to a slew of problems in the future.

The real problem with this can be found in Emmert's comment, "If a coach is off somewhere and gets a DUI it’s completely different than allegations of covering up a crime being committed in your locker rooms."

While those two scenarios are completely different, this examination opens the door for the NCAA to getting involved in matters like a DUI.

This is an examination of a school's handling of criminal matters. Once that line is crossed, that line is erased. As soon as another criminal matter arises people will be calling for the NCAA to get involved, and they will be citing their involvement with Penn State as the basis for their argument.

Penn State is going to face their punishment without the NCAA's involvement. This will come via federal law and the perception of the public. Penn State has already launched their own investigation largely due to the outcry of the public.

This is the natural order of these kinds of assaults on the public trust. The NCAA is spread thin enough without having to worry about issues that will be dealt with by other entities.