If you haven't followed the news in the past day, let me give you a run down on what the sanctions against the Penn State football program will be:
- A $60 Million fine, with money going to benefit the welfare of children.
- 4-year ban on postseason play. This includes any bowl games, the playoffs (coming in 2014) and the Big Ten championship.
- Reduction of the number of scholarships Penn can offer to players from 25 to 15 per year over 4 years, losing a total of 40 scholarships.
- Any current or entering player may transfer without any restriction. Players may also keep any scholarship granted to them and decide not to play.
- All victories by Penn State from 1998-2011(111 total) have been vacated. This reduces the late Joe Paternos number of wins from 409 (an FBS record) to 298. Moving him down to 12th and making Bobby Bowden the winningest head coach in FBS history.
- Five-year probationary period
- Hiring of an Academic Monitor of the NCAA's future
The president of the University, Rodney Erickson, has accepted the penalties so there will be no appeal on the matter. Many have argued that this may not have been harsh enough and that the "Death Penalty" (the shutting down of the program for a year or two) would have been more effective. I disagree. This punishment is very harsh and rightfully so. It will take a very long time for the football program to recover. What player will want to play for a university that has this kind of reputation and is unable to play in any type of postseason game for the next 4 seasons? Think about it, that the rest of most of the players careers as an athlete. For incoming students this year, it could be their whole career. In a conference as competitive as the Big Ten is, losing the 10 scholarships will be devastating to the program as Penn will not be able to compete with other schools for those 10 players. No player will chose to play at any school that isn't offering them a scholarship over a school offering a free ride, nevermind a school with a now tainted reputation like Penn State. Penn State will now be a losing team for the next decade, at least. It will take a long time for this program to get back to where it was before and be able to compete with other schools. One part of the punishment that I can't pick a side on is the vacating of wins from 1998-2011. Yes Paterno had a hand in covering up the awful events that occured, however I am of sound mind that coaches get too much credit for winning and too much criticism for losing. The players had to go out there and play. You have now stripped hundreds of players of victories, seasons and in many cases entire playing careers of wins they worked hard for. I just can't pick a side on that part of the sanctions, the rest I do agree with entirely.
All the discussion has been about the football program and how that will be affected, but lets look at it from a different side that isn't talked about often. What happens now for the non-football students of that school. Yes the sanctions were handed down by NCAA, however this will affect the recruitment for Penn State for all the other students. Any other athlete will have second thoughts about coming to a school where their largest program helped cover up crimes of this magnitude. Who would pick a school that has a bad reputation now over a school that has a (seemingly) clean background? Penn State was on my top 10 list of schools to apply to for undergrad, and if I had to do the search again I don't know if I would even consider it. High School students don't always make the most informed decision (this is purely based on my opinion of working with students) and these events will hurt the number of students who will apply for admittance.
How about the donors of the University? Their more generous donors may now be considering reducing or cutting off their donations to the school after this is all said and done. Donors who only wanted their money to now go to football program may also cut off their donation. The potential loss of revenue could be devastating for Penn State as a whole. The affect of the loss of money may not be felt in the next year or so, but in 5-10 years it definitely could be. Alumni will also be affected by this and my feel shame for being an alum. Often times people try to tell high school teens to apply to their Alma Mater, but if you are an alum of Penn State do you keep trying to do that? Do you stop going to events in which you are invited to. Some people just hate to answer the questions: "What do you think about these events at Penn State? Did you know him?". It could get to the point where people just avoid Penn State at all costs.
I am not saying that all of this will happen, but the potential is there. The higher ups will be put in very tough positions over the next few years. Don't be surprised if you see some more shake-ups over the next few years within Penn State. Also other schools will be cracking down and I wouldn't be shocked in the slightest if scandals of the same magnitude are brought to light at other schools. Maybe not the same as abusing a child, but big nontheless. Think baseball when steroids first became an issue, concussions in the NHL, video taping in the NFL, and gambling in the NBA. Crackdowns will happen all over the country and more things may come to light.
The only thing I can really say for sure is that I would hate to be any of the Penn State higher ups right now. I have a feeling that even though the football sanctions are in the forefront of the news, the effects of this whole situation have only just begun.
