We should not overlook the fact that the Freeh Report confirmed what was already publically known; no additional person outside of these four individuals was aware of Sandusky’s activities. None of these individuals were interviewed during Judge Freeh’s investigation. Joe Paterno has passed and the others refused to be interviewed upon the advice of their attorneys. Some commentators have suggested that the Freeh report was not thorough because its authors failed to interview these four people. I do not believe that their lack of participation significantly diminished the significance of the findings and conclusions of the report.  I do believe that the report should not have been made public. It should have been solely used by the Board for internal purposes.

Yesterday the ongoing speculation about what was to become of PSU’s football came to an abrupt end. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) which serves as the governing board over collegiate sports publically announced its penalties and sanctions against PSU’s storied football program. The announcement reverberated around the world and was even reported in the Financial Times of London. The program was slapped with unprecedented penalties in the wake of the Sandusky scandal. The NCAA fined PSU 60 million dollars. Also the NCAA banned the football program from participating in post-season bowl games for the next four years. The program was placed on five years probation. The number of athletic scholarship players that the football program can carry has been reduced accordingly for the next four years from 25 to 15. The schools victories on the field from 1998 to and include 2011 have been voided. Current players have been granted a special waiver to leave PSU and play immediately for any other university without sitting out for a year. Players who are now at PSU who do not want to play for the team can sit out and their scholarships cannot be revoked. There is no doubt that the NCAA has imposed measures that directly impact the University’s and football program’s financial purses. PSU signed a consent decree accepting the sanctions and agreeing not to challenge them.

The 60 million dollar fine will be used to fund programs related to victims of child abuse. This amount of money represents the gross receipts of the football program for a year. NCAA President Emmert stressed the point that the NCAA wanted to change the culture and mentality at PSU so that horrible events like Sandusky’s abuse of children could be prevented or, at a minimum, reported to the proper authorities.

It seems to me that the NCAA wants to return PSU’s  football program to the pre-Paterno era. Also the Chancellors and Presidents of the major universities want to reassert university control over their athletic departments and big time college sports. The NCAA thought that the imposition of the “death penalty” would impacted too many people who had nothing to do with the culture and mentality of PSU football. In my opinion the sanctions have the same impact on innocent Penn Staters.

Why would PSU’s Board of Trustees sign a consent degree to sanctions and penalties that will cripple the university financially and forever damage its prestige? It is possible that the Board believed that if they contested the NCAA action that it would have appeared that they were insensitive to the abuse that had occurred. The Board’s first and overriding duty is to protect the best interests of PSU and not the interests of the victims. The interests of the two are probably mutually exclusive. I think PSU Board and upper management “fumbled the ball” in not fighting for the University.

Yesterday morning the news only got worst for PSU and its football program. PSU is a member of the Big Ten Conference. Most sports experts agree that PSU’s membership in conference fueled the financial success of its football program. Unfortunately the conference also issued a wide array of sanctions against the University. The Big Ten action was detailed in a press release. For the next four years PSU will not participate in the Conference’s purse of post-season bowl appearances which figures to be about 13 million a year. The University is also ineligible to participate in the Big Ten Conference championship game. The press release stating the following:

“The intent of the sanctions imposed today is not to destroy a great university, but rather to seek justice and constructively assist a member institution with its efforts to reform. From this day forward, as Penn State continues to make amends, the Big Ten Conference and its member institutions will continue to engage with them in every aspect of conference membership”

 I do not believe that the action or, rather, the inaction of just four individuals should cost PSU, its students and the local community so much. Many innocent people at PSU will be adversely impacted by the sanctions even though they did not have any knowledge of what Jerry Sandusky was doing with children. Some of these people do not care what PSU does on the football field.