The sexual abuse scandal with the Pennsylvania State University football program is without a doubt one of the most tragic series of events to occur in the history of collegiate athletics.
Former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky deserves whatever punishment comes his way for the disgusting acts he was claimed to have performed on eight different children from the Second Mile daycare he established. Members of the Penn State athletic department, the football program in particular, should also face severe consequences for covering up the scandal, but there seems to be a group that is getting off the hook.
The National Collegiate Association of Athletics.
Penn State isn’t the only college football powerhouse program to commit major legal and NCAA violations in the past decade.
The University of Miami (Fla.), Ohio State University and the University of Southern California have won at least one national title in football in the past 10 years and have also committed NCAA violations.
Miami nearly received the death penalty for its football program. It was discovered that booster Nevin Shapiro provided banned gifts such as cash, jewelry, vacations and organizing sexual activities for 72 players who attended the school from 2002-2010, which added up to $930 million.
Former OSU football coach Jim Tressel lied about not knowing about some of his athletes selling mementos ranging from title rings to game-worn uniforms. Tressel was let go and five players faced five-game suspensions this year. Quarterback Terrelle Pryor fleed to the National Football League.
USC paid for a home for Heisman Trophy, running back Reggie Bush’s parents to live in while he attended the school.
Southern California is in its second and final year of bowl ineligibility and has forfeited 30 scholarships over a three-year period.
Bush gave up his trophy after much debate about whether he should have it taken away.
I don’t have a problem with most of the punishments the NCAA have given, but the incidents should not occur to begin with.
Schools will cheat and carry out other scandals and the athletic departments will forgo reporting the incidents to the NCAA unless it becomes more proactive to prevent the problems.
The NCAA needs to find a way to be more of a parental figure to athletic departments so scandals don’t continue to develop.
Sandusky, the Penn State athletic department and the other institutions listed obviously have no clue how to treat athletes or people in general. It’s time for the NCAA to act and make sure things don’t get worse.