LITTLE ROCK — A nut case walks into a movie theater and kills 12 innocent people. He’ll end up in prison, maybe death row, without much delay.
A sicko walked the campus of Penn State and destroyed countless lives, and he eventually ended up in prison convicted of 45 counts of child sex abuse. But for more than a decade, he was allowed to roam free, a predator on the hunt, in what should have a been a safe environment.
Four men chose to cover up Jerry Sandusky’s evil rather than give the school a temporary black eye.
Monday, the NCAA threw Penn State in prison with a sentence just short of the death penalty, probably proving it will never give the death penalty again.
The NCAA penalized Penn State $60 million - the equivalent of one season’s football income - and that money will go to agencies, with no affiliation to the school, that deal with child sex abuse.
It also gave the Nittany Lions a four-year bowl ban and reduced scholarships from 25 to 15 each of the next four seasons, essentially putting them on the level of a school competing in the Football Championship Subdivision.
Such a reduction in scholarships is crippling. Yes, an argument can be made that the players were innocent and will still pay, but it was the only way to punish an institution. And, it should be pointed out, the players are being allowed to transfer and gain immediate eligibility.
Finally, the NCAA went back to 1998, when Sandusky was first accused of child molestation, and vacated every victory of the Nittany Lions through 2011.
On Sunday, Joe Paterno’s statue was removed from outside the football stadium. On Monday, Paterno, the once highly respected head coach, went from the winningest major-college football coach to No. 15 with the loss of 111 victories. It leaves him at 298, and hopefully no one will ever add an asterisk.
Paterno and former Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden went toe to toe for years, but Paterno took a substantial lead when Bowden (377-129-4) was stripped of 12 victories from the 2006-2007 seasons.
All of this was groundbreaking for the NCAA, which did not do its own investigation but relied on the one Penn State sanctioned from former FBI director Louis J. Freeh, who accused Paterno and three other administrators of concealing allegations made against Sandusky.
Penn State, an outstanding academic university, said it will accept the sanctions.
It is trying to do what is right.
New President Rodney Erickson has not tried to cover up or even soften any of the horrific events that occurred on the Penn State campus, where Sandusky, who was banned from bringing children to the facilities, still used facilities to trap his victims.
Erickson is trying to right the ship.
He and the NCAA have made it clear that no sport and no coach are bigger than an institution.
In recent months, we have seen this at Ohio State and Arkansas.
The great evangelist Billy Graham was asked once why he still answered to the deacons in his church. He said: “Accountability.”
It will be debated whether or not the NCAA weighed in on a criminal matter. But as the governing body of college athletics, it needed to take action, even if that action destroys the football program.
No game is bigger than life.
Now, for the first time since this sad saga began, there is full disclosure, and with that starts the healing process for the university, its students and alumni.
As for Sandusky’s victims, it might not help much, but they have the knowledge, especially those who bravely stepped up and testified, that the $60 million fine will go to help prevent others from being violated.
Sports, Pages 15 on 07/24/2012