Evidently, Paterno was not the only one who knew and covered up for Sandusky. There were several others on staff(that we know of) who helped cover this up. All of them should be prosecuted and the school should be fined. Taxpayers should not have to continue supporting this kind of behavior.
If I were a ball player I would not want to play for Penn State at this point. That university willingly allowed itself to become a hunting gound for pedophiles and homosexual rapists.
Should ballplayers be punished? No, but the university should and if the team is collateral damage perhaps they will never allow it to take place on their campus again.
To those who feel the punishment is too severe, and that former Penn State football players should not have to suffer punishment (have their game winnings removed from NCAA records) because the college administration “looked the other way.” - think of this:
There is no way I will believe that some, probably very many, football players had heard about what Sandusky was doing. Colleges are full of rumors and stories. Over the years Sandusky’s behavior had to be talked about in the locker rooms, and boys on the team had to warn one another. But they kept quiet too. Don’t tell me they didn’t have some knowledge. And, so, Sandusky continued. The players continued to play, the college continued to reap in the $$$ benefits, and the players continued to be honored. No one wanted to give up anything for the sake of being forthright and moral and speaking up about the crimes being committed by Sandusky. No one wanted their own record harmed by not having a chance to play and win.
The football teams, over the years, are just as much at fault as the administration. It is nonsense to think that young men who are in such close contact with each other for days, months, years on end did not know and talk about what was going on when Sandusky went to the locker rooms with young boys. You men out there...who were on sports teams or in the military...you know you knew who to avoid and why; you were told by your teammates...and you talked about it with one another. The silence of the players in not reporting what they all had to know, or even just suspect, is just as deplorable as the silence of the administration. They all share in a portion of the guilt.