andy staples agrees with the minority
http://sportsillustrated....l?eref=sihp&sct=hp_wr_a2
To use a term the NCAA coined, how can this not represent a Lack of Institutional Control? Because it doesn't -- at least not in the NCAA sense. It is a case of a university having too much control. It is a case of a massive abuse of power with horrific consequences, and the perpetrators of that abuse of power deserve jail time. It is not a case of broken NCAA bylaws, though.
There is a reason the IRS doesn't punish murderers who pay their taxes. That same reason applies here.
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When arguing with NCAA Death Penalty advocates on Twitter, a common refrain from them is that if the NCAA doesn't punish Penn State's football program, no one will learn the proper lesson from this case. Canceling football games and revoking scholarships will do nothing to teach the necessary lesson --
which is that if a man doesn't exercise human decency and do the right thing to protect those who can't protect themselves, then he'll be fired and could go to jail.
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Nothing meaningful will be learned if the NCAA crushes Penn State's football program despite a lack of evidence that any NCAA rules were actually broken. This could change if Judge Louis Freeh's investigation turns up evidence of actual NCAA violations. If the Freeh Report contains evidence of academic fraud to keep athletes eligible or any other chicanery banned in the NCAA's manual, then the NCAA will have jurisdiction. Failing that, all the NCAA could do is commit a massive abuse of power -- which is exactly the same thing that got Penn State in trouble in the first place.
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What rule would the NCAA claim Penn State broke? Ohio State fans should be intimately familiar with Bylaw 10.1, which forbids Unethical Conduct. The NCAA manual includes a list of circumstances in which 10.1 would apply, but makes sure to leave it open-ended by using the phrase "may include, but is not limited to." This bylaw is the NCAA's catch-all, and it usually is used to hammer coaches or administrators who lie to NCAA investigators. Conceivably, the NCAA could tag former athletic department employees Paterno, Curley and Mike McQueary with violations of Bylaw 10.1 for their failure to act after McQueary said he witnessed Sandusky raping a boy in a shower. (Cumulatively, these violations could draw the Lack of Institutional Control charge.) I studied 177 cases involving violations of 10.1 last year for a column about Jim Tressel, and every one of those 10.1 violations was attached to another violation of an existing NCAA rule.
To apply it without attaching it to another violation would also be an extraordinary precedent.
An extraordinarily dangerous precedent.
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Unless Freeh's inquiry turns up actual violations of NCAA bylaws, Penn Staters should not have to worry about the NCAA destroying their football team. That doesn't help anyone. Hopefully, the people involved in the cover-up at Penn State will pay dearly. Hopefully, that will send the necessary message that protecting children always outweighs professional concerns. Given the weight of the other aspects of this case, tearing down the football program would just be petty.
