Penn State Scandal Essay

In 2011, the world collapsed on Penn State. In November of that year, a grand jury indicted assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, with the charges of child molestation (Cable News Network, 2016). On July 11, 2012, Sandusky’s trial began (Cable News Network, 2016). Eleven days later, Sandusky is found guilty of 45 counts of child molestation (Cable News Network, 2016). On July 23, the NCAA outlined their punishment for Penn State (Cable News Network, 2016). They levied a four year post-season ban on the team, decreased student football scholarships by 20, forced Penn State to give up all football wins from 1998-2011, and fined them $60 million (Cable News Network, 2016). This impressive penalty was meant to further punish university and

But, to make matters worse, university officials and coaching staff, like Paterno, knew of Sandusky’s acts and did nothing to ameliorate the problem (Associated Press, 2016). The NCAA reacted as quickly and as harshly as they could. Punishment was deserved against the university; however the NCAA punished the wrong people. First off, the NCAA fined Penn $60 million (Cable News Network, 2016). It was designed to make Penn hurt. But, it hurt students and athletes as a result. The $60 million had to come from somewhere. It could have been withdrawn from athletic funds, hurting athletes in football programs as well as those who participate in other athletics (Sage & Eitzen, 2016). It could also have been taken from academic accounts hurting professors, research projects, and students. So, this penalty would have damaged more than just coaches and officials but academics, athletics, students, athletes, and

First of all, the NCAA ban Penn’s football program from attending a post-season game for four years (Cable News Network, 2016). Sure, this hurt the university. But, athletes were the main victims. The post-season ban targeted football players themselves. The post-season is the pinnacle of any athletic season. However, for four years, no matter how hard football players work, they cannot attend a post-season game. This makes their effort and training almost for nothing. Furthermore, the NCAA decreased Penn’s football scholarships by 20 (Cable News Network, 2016). Again, the athlete is the victim. This penalty denies some athletes with amazing talents the chance to attend a university and play college football. Moreover, a football scholarship may be these athletes’ only way to higher education (Sage & Eitzen, 2016). The final sanction against Penn was the required forfeiting of all of Paterno’s wins from 1998 to 2011 (Cable News Network, 2016). This penalty was clearly meant to punish Paterno by destroying his legacy and disgracing him. However, once more, it punished football players. The NCAA tainted and alienated the efforts of young student athletes who fought for those wins. They took student earned victories away. Imagine how that upset and hurt current and former Penn State football players. However, in 2015, the NCAA gave Penn State back Paterno’s wins (Longman & Tracy, 2015). Such action