Penn State deserves death penalty for Sandusky cover-up
Joe Paterno and other Penn State officials enabled the actions of Jerry Sandusky. (AP photo)
(Updated: 12:45 p.m.)
If we make a big deal about a college football program playing dumb when a recruit takes free shoes or tattoos, or his family lives in a house rent free, how can we look the other way when evidence screams that one of the nation’s most powerful universities enabled a pedophile?
How can we sit through something so sick and vile as the testimony in the Jerry Sandusky trial and conclude that this was a one-source scandal worthy of only one individual or entity suffering consequences?
Penn State should not be allowed to play another football game. It put sport, image and fundraising above everything else. That is what every cheater in college athletics does, and because of that it deserves the NCAA’s “death penalty.”
Southern Methodist University, one of the nation’s top academic schools, saw its football program given the death penalty in 1987 because it put athletic success above what so obviously was considered morally acceptable. Isn’t it now clear that Penn State did the exact same thing?
In fact, what the powers Penn State did was worse. Their actions involved not materialistic goods but defenseless victims who will suffer for the rest of their lives.
According to a 267-page report by former FBI director Louis Freeh, the four most powerful men overseeing the university and the football program – president Graham Spanier (since fired), athletic director Tim Curley (on “administrative leave,” under indictment for perjury), vice president Gary Schultz (suddenly retired, also under indictment) and the late coach, Joe Paterno (fired in what would be two months before his death) — knew far more about Sandusky’s sick perversions and abuse than they let on. They knew it far longer than they let on.
And here’s the punctuation, your honor: They “concealed critical facts,” according to Freeh.
There’s a term for that: cover-up.
“Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State,” Freeh stated.
We don’t need to know anything else.
When this story first broke, Paterno said, “This is not a football scandal and should not be treated as one.”
Many agreed. Many still do, including some misguided alumni and football All-Americans and probably surely those numbskull students who marched on campus, embraced Paterno’s statue on campus and protested his firing without any regard for the victims.
The problem is concluding that because Sandusky’s reprehensible acts did not lead to a competitive advantage, the football program shouldn’t pay. But the cover-up changes that. What the powers at Penn State did was beyond anything any college athletic program has ever done, beyond free clothes or free rent and academic fraud.
To hell with a free Camaro. We’re talking about sweeping allegations of a child sex offender under the rug in order to protect a school’s image, fundraising and recruiting. There is no more extreme example of a lack of institutional control.
Penn State deserves to be hit hard. That may seem unfair to the student-athletes, officials and fans who knew nothing of Sandusky’s acts or the cover-up. But that’s the case with all NCAA sanctions.
This investigation was commissioned by Penn State at a cost of $500,000 per month. So much for Freeh having some anti-Penn State agenda. The report numbers 267 pages, resulting from 430 interviews and 3.5 million emails and documents. Freeh’s staff included former prosecutors, FBI agents, police officers, attorneys and a Navy SEAL.
Freeh said he found “more red flags than you could count, over a long period of time.” He said the leaders at Penn State had a “callous and shocking disregard for child victims.”
He said an “inference could be drawn” that the school was trying to protect the football program, noting, “bad publicity affects a panorama of different events, including the brand of Penn State, the reputation of coaches [and] the ability to do fundraising.”
He said Paterno was not being singled out, but at one point declared: “The facts are the facts. He was an integral part of the act to conceal.”
Emails reveal Paterno was clearly following the school’s internal investigation into allegations of a 1998 assault of a young boy by Sandusky in the Penn State locker room showers, something Paterno publicly denied. The same school leaders “proposed a plan of action” after learning of a 2001 incident reported by an assistant coach, but then decided against informing authorities.
“The most powerful leaders at Penn State … repeatedly concealed critical facts,” Freeh concluded.
The “Tone at the Top” of the school, he said, dissuaded school janitors from coming forward after witnessing incidents: “The janitors were afraid of being fired for reporting a powerful football coach.”
Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in prison. He could’ve been stopped sooner. But Paterno and the powers at Penn State were too concerned about the ramifications, off and on the field. That makes it a football scandal, as well.
By Jeff Schultz
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810 comments Add your comment
Little Giant
July 12th, 2012
12:26 pm
I would like to see PSU get the death penalty, but I suspect the NCAA will find that it does not have the authority to do so. Nevertheless, I think a compelling case can be made that the reason for the coverup was to protect the program, which allowed them to gain a competitive advantage. There is some speculation in that (would coaches/recruits have gone elsewhere because of the Sandusky issues?), but Penn State football was in a free fall at the time. It appears from the Freeh report that Paterno and the AD did not report Sandusky to the authorities to protect the image of the program.
With regard to not inflicting harm on the current student athletes, I’m sensitive to that, but many (if not most) NCAA sanctions impact those with no involvement. The fact that Freeh castigates the Board for not taking proper action even when the charges were announced in March 2011 shows a continuing lack of control that needs to be addressed. The coverup was all about protecting the football program which, to me, puts it within the control of the NCAA. I hope they take action.
Donald Pridgen
July 12th, 2012
12:26 pm
Off with their heads.
The present players will find new homes. The message has to be sent. It has to be loud and fast.
TRS
July 12th, 2012
12:26 pm
Screw the PSU family. They ALL deserve to be penalized. The cover up occurred to protect the school and football program. The students and other PSU idiot fans that paraded outside of Paternos home after the scandal was made public in support of the school and Paterno deserve to be punished. The football program…Paterno…athletic department all were involved with the cover up. Shut the program down until all of the criminal prosecution is complete.
Woody Hayes
July 12th, 2012
12:26 pm
And all I did was punch a punk from Clemson…..Figures
Yurtle_the_Turtle
July 12th, 2012
12:27 pm
I hope the Big Three that are still alive are raped in prison. I hope Sandusky is raped in prison and molested. I also hope that Penn State is sued for $500 milllion and shut down for 2 years of football. Seems right to me.
Dawg Tired
July 12th, 2012
12:27 pm
Hindsight is 20-20.
However, I don’t think the NCAA has the authority to hand out the death penalty for the criminal and heinous conduct of a former coach. The head coach reported it to university administrators who failed to act as they should have. The deserve whatever the legal system can do to them. In addition, the civil liability of the univeristy and its administrators may be astronomical. Just don’t see the NCAA doing anything, but if they can find a way to do something they should.
Heck, the NCAA doesn’t often do much when they have direct and clear violations of their own rules. Will be shocked (admittedly pleasantly shocked) if the NCAA does anything of significance in this matter. You can bet the NCAA has legal counsel advising what the NCAA can and can not do in the PSU scandal. In any event, it is much more complicated than Jeff makes it out to be. Now, I am not shocked by that.
Stacy
July 12th, 2012
12:28 pm
“This is not a football scandal and should not be treated as one.”-Joe Paterno. I concur with this statement 100 percent. This scandal is much larger than that. This is a scandal rooted in a lack of institutional control over an individual who effectively controlled the university and those that were supposed to be in control but were too afraid or too ignorant to do their job. This reeks of institutional malfeasance and the institution is criminally negligent as they allowed a sexual predator to prey upon victims using his influence at Penn State to continue his treacherous ways. The NCAA needs to death penalty the football program immediately as this will be the punishment that hurts more than any fine would. Put the program in the dark for two years with no scholarships for football afterwards for a few years. Allow those players on the team now to transfer without penalty or stay with their current scholarship intact to get their degree. And don’t say that we should not punish the current players business and blame the NCAA for being cruel when they should blame the lack of control and blatant conspiracy committed by Penn State that put them in that situation in the first place.
Joe Paterno
July 12th, 2012
12:29 pm
Remember…winning is all that is important. I’ve got the students and fans in my pocket.
cattledawg
July 12th, 2012
12:29 pm
Success with honor……….. What a crock of bs….
GTBob
July 12th, 2012
12:29 pm
Comparing this to SMU is a weird comparison. SMU was essentially paying all of their players through a slush fund and had been on probation 5 times before they got the death penalty. They didn’t do anything illegal they just completely disregarded NCAA rules multiple times. For this case it is very murky what should happen and who should enforce it. I am not fully convinced that the NCAA is who should be making a decision like this. Especially with how corrupt and incompetent they are. I would rather see some real legal ruling that hurts Penn State football in a major way.
Anybody that knows me
July 12th, 2012
12:29 pm
Can you see it now. Joe Paterno and Woody Hayes exchanging water cooler jokes right now. Woody says, “I choked the S out of that Clemson player.” Joe says, ….
Hillbilly D
July 12th, 2012
12:30 pm
I don’t really care about college football and even less about Penn State. I do care about this because it’s a disgrace. They didn’t cover this up for 14 days or 14 weeks, it was 14 years. 14 years is more than just a momentary lapse in judgement, it’s a conspiracy of silence, at the very least. I guess a lot of people’s first instinct is to cover up bad things but decent people suck it up and do the right thing. They don’t take the easy way out, especially when children are the ones being victimized.
This whole thing is a little hard for me to comprehend. These are troubled times we live in.
rational person
July 12th, 2012
12:30 pm
Still waiting to learn what NCAA regulation was violated.
Anybody that knows me
July 12th, 2012
12:31 pm
Hey Woody, great minds. I did not see your post prior to mine.
Jan Kemp
July 12th, 2012
12:31 pm
I thought giving out grades was bad…boy, was I wrong.
Jaded Dawgs Fan
July 12th, 2012
12:32 pm
Imagine how heartbroken the good people in the Penn State community must be over what’s transpired. They have had to deal with and will continue to have to deal with a tremendous amount of embarrassment for being associated with the university. They’ve been betrayed by people they pedastalized. Furthermore, they have no idea what’s going to happen to the football program or the university as a whole from here.
I really do sympathize with people, and that’s why I feel we need take a deep breath before putting Penn State’s football program on the guillotine. It’s not Tim Curley, Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky’s program anymore. It’s in the hands of coaches and players who had nothing to do with Sandusky’s atrocities, and it’s supported by mostly good people who are as horrified by the crimes as we are.
Getting rid of the program would not solve anything. It would be a symbolic move that’s motivated by anger.
The demise of CFB is upon us
July 12th, 2012
12:32 pm
I don’t think the NCAA has the grounds nor the stones to act on this.
That being said, I have a friend who is a PSU alum and booster, with season tickets and big donations and when this all started coming to light he actually said he thought they might have to shut the program down for a couple of years. It has been a painful ordeal for all faithful PSU alums who had nothing to do with it. The University’s image has been tarnished beyond belief.
Now we will see if the University leaders have the stones to inflict the just punishment on themselves. Doubt it, but you never know. If a alum/booster who admits his life revolved around PSU football thinks it needs to happen, surely the new President has similar feelings.
BRW
July 12th, 2012
12:33 pm
“rational person
July 12th, 2012
12:19 pm
No Bob, I don’t think.
”
Actually I believe you think too much. Believe me when I say the NCAA will find enough “evidence” to come up with a punishment for this. They most assuredly are not bound by your “legal” interpretation of the document you know so intimately.
totallydisgusted
July 12th, 2012
12:34 pm
I don’t even believe in the death penalty, but this case is an exception. Everyone responsible for the cover up should be punished to full extent of the law. What they did is beyond deplorable. I have no empathy for any alumni, present/past students and/or present/past employees. Anyone who is unable to understand the magnitude of this crime will never receive my compassion.
chris
July 12th, 2012
12:35 pm
this is not a football scandal! the players on the team did no wrong, why should the players suffer for a couple of stupid old men who are no longer with the university. If anything the scandal itself is a death penalty to the image of Penn state and hurt them in the long run, don’t create more victims like the young men whose futures could be ruined
Always a Jacket
July 12th, 2012
12:37 pm
NCAA probably didnt consider that a major college would inable child molester, but I think this covers it.
Jeff Has it right.
NCAA CORE VALUES:
The Association – through its member institutions, conferences and national office staff – shares a belief in and commitment to:
• The collegiate model of athletics in which students participate as an avocation, balancing their academic, social and athletics experiences.
• The highest levels of integrity and sportsmanship.
• The pursuit of excellence in both academics and athletics.
• The supporting role that intercollegiate athletics plays in the higher education mission and in enhancing the sense of community and strengthening the identity of member institutions.
• An inclusive culture that fosters equitable participation for student-athletes and career opportunities for coaches and administrators from diverse backgrounds.
• Respect for institutional autonomy and philosophical differences.
• Presidential leadership of intercollegiate athletics at the campus, conference and national levels.
drew
July 12th, 2012
12:37 pm
Wish you had stayed on vacation Jeff….
Punish every single administrator/coach…but don’t punish the kids who play football. They are pawns and should not have to suffer becaue of holier-than-thou ‘grown-ups.”
Anybody that knows me
July 12th, 2012
12:37 pm
I can wait to see the Paterno family’s response. His son is another John Edwards in training.
rational person
July 12th, 2012
12:38 pm
@brw- Yes they are bound by it. Tha’ts why it is entitled the “NCAA Constitution.” Now, they may amend it after the fact, but that wont give them the authority to retroactively do anything about this situation.
DocDawg
July 12th, 2012
12:39 pm
While the scandal did not involve players or on the field results, which I think the “institutional control” phrase is all about, PSU must be punished. It is unfortunate that current players and others who had nothing to do with the scandal will pay the price of a death penalty, but this is the only way to punish a fan base and a university that enabled a child rapist. Because ultimately it is a fan base and donors that revel in a football team’s success with no questions asked. It is a university administration that protects the goose that lays the golden egg with no questions asked. Those people are best punished by taking away their football team. I would vote for a permanent FBS death penalty, with a review after 5 years as to whether they could field a team at the FCS level. Let PSU be a cautionary tale to other programs about what can ultimately happen if you don’t keep it clean.
Steve
July 12th, 2012
12:40 pm
Dawg Tired @ 12:27
Did Paterno tell officials about it, or did he conspire with them on how best to handle the situation. As more evidence from this report comes to light, it seems more like the latter.
Billy
July 12th, 2012
12:41 pm
This is football related. The damn coaches covered it up along with AD, Pres and VP. Why? To protect the football program and school.
If ever a school deserved the death penalty its PENN STATE!!!!!
The football players at PS should be allowed to transfer to other school.
rational person
July 12th, 2012
12:42 pm
Well, its a shame that Jeff decided to completely ignore the obvious legal fallacy in his argument with his update. He could of at least said he thinks it would be appropriate but doesn’t know if it will happen due to the fact that the NCAA does not have jurisdiction over these sorts of issues.
PSU Alum
July 12th, 2012
12:43 pm
It’s not like they murdered someone or got caught with drugs. That happens all the time at UGA by the way.
The death penalty is unwarranted. There are far worse things that could of happened, but didn’t.
rational person
July 12th, 2012
12:45 pm
Its also a shame that he continues to state “there can be no more extreme example of a lack of institutional control” when he hasn’t cited one regulation that was violated and this clearly is not a lack of institutional control as defined by the NCAA.
SSIgator
July 12th, 2012
12:45 pm
rational person -
No need to wait any more. There is none. This is not about football, although, because of some of the people involved, there are those that would try to turn the picture that way. This is about a sick individual that was enabled (by others and their spineless lack of discipline) and allowed to continue his perverse activities. The mouting lawsuits and subsequent convictions of others as well as the horrible PR for the school will do far more damage than the NCAA could ever do. For the people that are trying to equate this with the SMU incident, try taking football out of the equation and look again at the situation in a different perspective.
Erk
July 12th, 2012
12:46 pm
Hey Rational, don’t worry, it might be outside the scope of the NCAA but the future lawsuits against the university might ultimately have the same effect as the death penalty.
PSU Alum
July 12th, 2012
12:48 pm
I bet if this happened at UGA, you all would be against the death penalty.
Anybody that knows me
July 12th, 2012
12:49 pm
PSU alum, you are a flammer, correc?. Far worse things? For who?
True
July 12th, 2012
12:50 pm
Welcome back Jeff……If they didn’t give USC the death penalty, they’re not giving Penn St. one over non recruiting, legal issues (no matter how dispicable).
The NCAA are pusscatores about handing out the death penalty after SMU. So the dirty tricks keep going on by the Bamalama’s, Auburn’s, USC’s, Texas’, Oregon’s, Ohio St.’s, etc.
They feel they can recover from whatever slackass punishment the NCAA throws at them, if they ever do. And if they do it takes the NCAA 10 freakin’ years to get through an investigation. The culprits are usually gone by then.
BRW
July 12th, 2012
12:50 pm
I’ll go with this statement over any “rational” legal interpretation:
“To hell with a lease for a Camaro. We’re talking about sweeping allegations of a child sex offender under the rug in order to protect a school’s image, fundraising and recruiting, all of which impacts wins and losses. There can be no more extreme example of lack of institutional control.”
We shall see. Neither of us knows the final outcome at this point.
And PSU Alum, if you are one, allow your child to be molested and see if a far worse thing could happen. Jerk.
Tumbledown
July 12th, 2012
12:51 pm
If there is a death penalty, it needs to be imposed sooner rather than later. The innocent players and coaches now at Penn State need to get on with their lives and not have to exist under a cloud not created by them. The NCAA would need to do everything in its power to facillitate the players’ ability to play college football somewhere else. Hopefully, these players can realize that it would be better for them to play somewhere else without this dark cloud. Penn State is about to be hit with many civil suits.
MC
July 12th, 2012
12:51 pm
It is disappointing that anyone would defend Penn State regardless, and really it show how much they lack class, integrity, and honor. I can understand bias, but its clear they covered this up to protect the football program. Furthermore, it wasn’t just one reported separate incident; there clearly was two, 1998 that resulted in the failed “investigation,” and the shower incident. I could see a potential argument for limiting the punishment to the individuals involved had in been only one incident, and Sandusky was removed entirely from Penn State. That wasn’t the case, even after the incident in the shower. How can anyone suggest that isn’t evidence of a cover up by the administration in conjunction with the Football Program, i.e. Paterno.
I don’t want to stop there. Let’s not pretend that anyone that supported Paterno/ Penn State throughout this ordeal isn’t guilty by association. When the victim finally came forward in 2008, authorities pressured his mother to not go through with it, that its not possible, basically tried to persuade her from involving authorities. I don’t have children, but I know to complete certainty that had someone tried to tell that to my dad, it would have been a bad day for that individual; had it been me, I don’t know how I could control my rage. Keeping that in mind, and the reaction from Penn State supporter who won’t take the blinders off regardless— the attitude, that Penn State Football is above all is how this happened, and the Penn State Fans are guilty too because of it. Yes, Fans and players weren’t involved, but their GroupThink/ total screwed up morality and view that football more important than anything created an environment that allowed this to happen. I’m sure a few will read this and get all upset and say they had nothing to do with it. But I guess where do you draw the line? Where do you dig in and say you will not tolerate malicious or evil acts? Because apparently, child rape isn’t on the other side of that line for the Administration at Penn State (University Vice President Gary Schultz and University President Graham Spanier), the Penn State Athletic Department (Tim Curley), or the Penn State Football Program (Joe Paterno).
Where does your moral compass point?
Billy
July 12th, 2012
12:51 pm
PSU..what happens all the time at UGA? what could be worse?
SSIgator
July 12th, 2012
12:51 pm
Erk -
Agreed
rational person
July 12th, 2012
12:52 pm
@erk- Thats fine. I have no problem with that as that is the proper way it should be handled.
Chuck
July 12th, 2012
12:52 pm
@Bob Sacamano: Are you suggesting that anytime anyone commits a crime that we should just shrug our shoulders and just say, “it’s OK, we forgive you?”
Well
July 12th, 2012
12:53 pm
Jeff, I agree with you 100% on this issue. It’s a sad day in America when this kind of thing happens.
FDRome
July 12th, 2012
12:53 pm
Agreed Schultzie. Shut it down.
TallaDawg
July 12th, 2012
12:53 pm
Rational Person – Your posts are irrational. The recruiting advantage that was gained, and more importantly intended, by the cover-up makes this an NCAA violation. This involved coaches and staff of the football team. Like it or not, it is related to the “institutional control” at Penn State.
You do not want justice. You want injustice on an imagined technicality. You are probably the type of attorney who advertises on billboards. Ignore justice; just make money.
5150 UOAD
July 12th, 2012
12:54 pm
Sorry………But we don’t punish Children for the Crimes their parents commit.
We don’t Fire the janitor for what the Board of Directors do.
The PEOPLE that did this have to be held accountable.
The people now playing sports, teaching, attending classes and maintaining the facilities don’t deserve to be punished for what OTHERS did.
I still think Penn State 7 Notre dame need to make a move to the ACC
rational person
July 12th, 2012
12:54 pm
@talladawg- That was a nice rant. Can you point to a single NCAA regulation that was violated?
Chuck
July 12th, 2012
12:54 pm
@PSU Alum: If a schol I attended (or where I worked) did this kind of cover up, I would be the first person writing to say the program should be shut down.
“Far worse things” than child rape? Are you seriously comparing years of covering up for a child rapist to a teenager using drugs?
PSU Alum
July 12th, 2012
12:55 pm
Drugs
TallaDawg
July 12th, 2012
12:55 pm
@PSU Alum – No, I would be clamoring loudest for the death penalty. I would not even own a UGa t-shirt if this happened here.