The Penn State Mess

The Freeh Report came out yesterday and gave ESPN some actual news to talk about. (No, I don't care about the MLB playoff picture. It's July for cryin' out loud.) The report was scathing and didn't pull any punches, faulting Penn State's President, upper administration and Joe Paterno himself for not doing enough to check Jerry Sandusky's child abuse- making the point that the school could have prevented this but in a culture where protecting the football program from damage mattered above all else, they didn't.

There's been a fresh round of calls for Penn State to either self-impose the dreaded 'Death Penalty' on the football program or having it handed down to them by the NCAA. Florida State legend Bobby Bowden thinks that Joe Pa's statue should be removed from in front of Beaver Stadium and in general, Penn State is getting beaten up (by amongst others, this guy and this guy) for it's institutional failures and to be honest, it deserves what it's getting.

So what should be done? I'm leaning towards the pro death penalty camp. I don't think the NCAA is going to hand that down because although an immense institutional failure took place, it's not clear (from what I'm seeing) that too many NCAA rules were violated. Penn State is going to get hammered by lawsuits and get in a world of trouble for violating the Clery Act (which mandates timely warnings for sexual assaults, crimes, etc) but should it shut down the football program entirely?

I don't know. I don't think that's especially fair to the players or to the community but the fact of the matter is that until a demonstrable, clean and complete break is made with the past, the specter of this horror will always haunt the University and the football program. And that's even more unfair than putting it on hiatus for a season or two. (I saw a commentator on ESPN.com asking if a columnist had called for the Catholic Church to stop worship after their scandals. Personally, I think it'd be a damn good idea. That's why I stopped going.)

After watching Jay Paterno engage in acrobatics in an attempt (laudable perhaps, after all Joe Pa was his Dad) to protect his Dad's legacy on ESPN yesterday, I think the sad truth of the matter is that he knew. They all knew. And the buck stops with the people at the top- including Joe Pa. Sorting this out is probably beyond even the wisest of people- but I think a drastic break with the past is needed by Penn State- a strong, clear and unambiguous signal that they will stop at nothing to make sure this never, ever happens again.

What that looks like, I don't know... but the sooner it happens, the better.