Amid the hoopla surrounding Penn State’s inevitable removal of the Joe Paterno statue Sunday morning and the Paterno family’s amusingly ironic statement, are reports that the NCAA will drop the hammer on the university on Monday for its egregious conduct in handling the Jerry Sandusky scandal, as outlined in the Freeh Report.
A press conference is scheduled for Monday morning in which NCAA president Mark Emmert is expected to announce “corrective and punitive measures” against Penn State. Multiple reports say the school will avoid being slapped with the crippling “death penalty,” which would have shut down the football program for at least a year. But, according to CNN, the degree of Penn State’s punishment is expected to be harsh, with the school receiving “significant, unprecedented penalties” that are “well beyond what has been done in the past.”
ESPN adds that the penalties will be so severe that Penn State might as well wish it were getting the death penalty. It’s still not clear what the NCAA’s punishments will entail but loss of scholarships and bowl games are likely to be included.
Given that the entire cover up by Penn State officials was designed to protect the football program, some argued that it would only be right for the school to lose the football team via the death penalty, if the NCAA were to act at all (which wasn’t a given). While others might have considered that to be too harsh of a punishment and unfair to the players and coaches (and even other athletic programs at the school that leech off the revenue football brings in) who had nothing to do with the scandal, the NCAA does have a tendency to punish those who are far from being at fault. Anyway, come Monday we’ll see if the death penalty advocates will be satisfied with whatever hammer Emmert decides to drop.
