Monday was a historic day in college football, but for all the wrong reasons. It was the day where Penn State Football - and, largely, the university itself - was forever changed. In response to the Freeh Report, a damaging document that implicated Penn State school officials, including legendary football coach, Joseph Vincent Paterno, in the cover up of child sex abuse allegations levelled at Paterno's long-time defensive coordinator, and the man once considered Paterno's heir apparent in Happy Valley, Jerry Sandusky, the program was hit with major, long-lasting penalties.
Sandusky was found guilty of numerous counts of sexual abuse of at-risk boys, mostly identified through the charity he founded for under-privileged kids, and faces a life behind bars when he is sentenced at a date to be determined. Not quite as shocking as Sandusky's acts but horrifying nonetheless, was the cover-up apparently engineered by Paterno, a man who had been known to spruik Penn State's integrity and morality in recruiting visits and who like to make snide remarks about coaches who fell foul of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). All the while, he was harbouring an evil man.
This week, it was Paterno who fell foul of the governing body for college athletics, with the NCAA forcing Penn State to vacate their wins stretching back to 1998 - when the first allegation of wrongdoing by Sandusky emerged, but was not strong enough for any form of prosecution - as well as face a bowl ban of four years, crippling scholarship losses over four years and issuing a fine of $60 million, to be paid to organisations who seek to eradicate child sexual abuse. For mine, this was the most pleasing part of the entire set of penalties. The money will go to an exceptional cause, and hopefully can go at least a little way to undoing some of the hurt that Jerry Sandusky caused.
Penn State and everything Joe Paterno said it stood for died on Monday. Paterno dropped from the winningest coach in major college football right out of the top five, and his reputation will forever be tarnished. He preached integrity yet allowed a monster to roam freely, using PSU facilities and football events to groom victims who will never, ever be able to have a proper life. Being sexually abused by a father-type figure must be the worst sort of betrayal imaginable, and worse for kids coming from already broken homes and broken lives.
Sure, it's sad for the legions of players who attended Penn State and who effectively never won a game, sad for so many players in the future who will miss out on a scholarship to play Big Ten football at Penn State University, and for the new coaches, the program's fans and anyone else caught up in and perhaps somewhat unfairly punished by these sanctions. That said, these penalties were absolutely and critically necessary. The NCAA had to draw a line in the sand, to show that any school who attempts covering up something of this nature will be dealt with in the harshest - and most deserved manner - imaginable. These penalties that will cripple Penn State football for years, are deserved. Well deserved.
There can be no condoning what happened, the cover-up that allowed Sandusky access to however many more victims than he might have had the allegations not been tossed under the rug. Despite what anyone may say, there is no way to make excuses for what Paterno and the other PSU officials did. Just as there is no way to condone or make excuses for what Sandusky did. Jerry Sandusky is a monster, one aided and abetted by men who had a chance to stop these terrible acts, yet were more concerned about a PR backlash against the football program. Look how that worked out for them.
Penn State University will never be the same. Perhaps, given what's been uncovered since last November, it's just as well.
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