One of the arguments for why the NCAA had no business punishing Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky scandal and cover up is that the NCAA ought to stick to regulating athletics only, and not make itself an extra-legal court that regulates morality.
But think about a situation like this:
What if Jerry Sandusky hadn't been a brilliant Defensive Coordinator, but an All-American quarterback instead. What if he hadn't molested children, but raped women, Ben Roethlisberger-style, or worse. See what I'm driving at here? What has been too often over-looked in this sickening story is that Sandusky was a brlliant, talented coach who helped Penn State win a lot of football games, and a National Championship.
"We didn't cheat in football," Penn St. student Alex Gibson told ABC News this week.
Wrong.
| Related: NCAA Had The Right And The Need To Punish Penn State |
It is documented that Joe Paterno and others around Penn State knew Jerry Sandusky was a child molester as early as 1998. Sandusky did not retire until after the 1999 season, which means Paterno et al were winning games with the aid of a man who should have been in prison. When players are sheltered from the law in this fashion, we get up in arms about it. Why don't we do the same for a coach?
Sandusky founded the Second Mile Charity in 1977. Sandusky joined the Penn St. coaching staff in 1969. The first confirmed case of Sandusky molesting a child was in 1998, but it's a 99.9 percent likelihood that he had been at it far longer. Did Paterno or others around Penn State know he was doing this? Probably not. Should they have? Yes.
Sandusky was committing these heinous crimes inside the Penn Statre football building. Imagnie if the Nittany Lions quarterback was raping women in the football building. We would all say that Paterno had no excuse not to know that.
As I've said again and again, the NCAA had every right to bring the hammer down on Penn State for violating the NCAA's No. 1 operating principle: institutional control. When Jim Tressel's players were selling memorabilia and driving fancy cars, we all said that he can't get away with playing dumb. Either he knew, or he should have know. So why let Paterno and Penn State off the hook?
Sandusky was a great deceiver and he deceived a great many people, including, most importantly, himself. But Joe Paterno and the entire Penn State football family let themselves be deceived. It was in their best interest to do so. It was in no one's interest -- except for the victims -- to see Jerry Sandusky for what he really is.
Much better to keep him on the sideline. Much better to let him lead Penn State football to a few more victories.
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