I think you nailed it exactly. There is essentially a lynch mob mentality right now in this case. He clearly mishandled, but the extent is being bent way out of proportion. I wish the NCAA had waited for more info than just the Freeh report....although for the current players, this decision now actually helps them since they are released to play elsewhere without any penalties. Although, it is still late in anticipation of this season, any ,later and they would have definitely wasted a year of eligibility.
I totally agree with your comments. Well said.
Not the same but welcome to the world of the NCAA
USC was sanctioned without precedent because of a violation between a step father and a sports agent in a city 200 miles from the school. No one at the school had any incolvement in this action but they were “cited” by the NCAA for lack of institutional control, no trial was held and it was a decision from a Board of Trustees, not a trial.
The actual trial of the supposed participant in the whole situation Todd McNair is still pending and the NCAA is not happy about the discovery they are being subjected to, it has yet to take place. There is a very ood probablility they will try to settle out of court as they have shown excessive bias and poor foundation for their activities related to this school. A lot has yet to be known but if this keeps going the NCAA may eventually be pulled down across the board IMHO.
USC lost:
Games from the record book
A Heisman trophy awarded to a player
Scholarships reducing the total amount to 75
Bowl Ban
Players allowed to leave for another school and play immediately (which some did)
The school, players etc. suffered as a result of this “infraction” and failure by the school and coaches to provide “Institutional control”
What the NCAA did is under their bylaws as it pertains to Sports related issues, and no “trial” per se will change it, that will be and has been a separate event that uncovered what had been going on for years
I am personally not a big fan of the NCAA, too much to post here but unless and until this is changed their decision will stand
Sorry PSU, you are a great school and were let down by authority figures for their own reasons and you are paying a price for it and will be stained by their human failure for a long time.
And I'm sure you can guess the effect of lynch mobs dictating the law.
My own take on this mess is that Paterno dismissed the allegations against Sandusky as false accusations motivated by jealousy. Had this been the case, he of course was horridly wrong. But, consider what this take means for the future.
Ever hear of "defensive medicine?" It's one of the practices that keeps health-care costs up. Defensive medicine is the practice of ordering up tests that the physician is sure aren't necessary, in order to exhaust the possibility that the patient isn't afflicted with some illness that's very hard to detect in a routine examination. Why? Because of a lynch-mob mentality in the courts that equates honest mistakes with culpable negligence.
Look, if you will, at the coming era of "defensive athletics." The lesson learned by any non-clueless administrator is that a coach or an assistant coach who's accused of molesting children, whether those accusations are substantiated or not, has to be either suspended or canned outright.
Now: imagine, if you will, a less-than-ethical competitor who's skilled at working the rumour mill. Granted that such malignments (or slanders) are mud that won't stick in some cases, but in some cases it will. Particularly, at the high-school level.
What better way to take down the state champ than to spread that mud around and impugn the school's coach?
As I said, welcome to the era of defensive athletics. Given the emotionality, it's a safe bet that miscarriages of justice will be part of it.