Penn State’s Crimes and the NCAA: How Big Money Boosters corrupt College Sports
The Penn State child molestation scandal that is being played out in the media right now is about one thing….the corruption of big money. It should be about the young victims of that monster assistant coach Sandusky but, in the end, it will all be about the cover up and how big money makes decent people do despicable things.
The NCAA sports world is notorious for breeding scandalous activities. Remember Auburn’s star quarterback Cam Newton and the investigation into whether or not his father asked for $180,000 for his son to play for Mississippi State? Reggie Bush, of USC fame, was stripped of his 2005 Heisman Trophy because of the “perks” his family received during his high profile college football career. Currently, the University of Miami is under investigation because a big money booster admitted to providing players with money, prostitutes and lavish gifts over the last 10 years. In fact…there’s so many examples of corruption in the NCAA that I could write a book on the subject but this post is about Penn State and the worst scandal to hit college football ( in my honest opinion).
So…I ask this question to you….
Did the beloved “Grandpa Joe” Paterno look the other way after learning about his assistant coach’s monstrous activities because he didn’t want to sully the great Penn State football tradition (and his reputation)? He did report it to his “superiors” but that is where it all ended. Did he really think that was enough? Paterno did not follow up on the reports and Sandusky continued to participate in the football program. Essentially….nothing was done to punish Sandusky for raping young boys in the Penn State football locker room. It is the most vile and disgusting thing I have ever heard and Joe Paterno and anyone else who knew what was happening should be held accountable. This is a case of putting money and fame above doing the right thing.
A lot of the scandalous back room corruption that goes on in college sports can be blamed on booster clubs….and the big donors that make up these clubs. I had a friend who’s husband was a defensive coach for a high profile NCAA football team and she told me that he was scared to death every time his team lost because the booster club would come down hard on the coaches. He was constantly in fear of losing his job. She said that he liked coaching for the NFL far better than coaching in college because the booster club made his life hell. He did lose his job (the entire coaching staff lost their jobs) and he has since moved on to coach in the NFL….and he’s much happier.
So…what’s the answer? How do we clean up the culture of corruption that has become a big part of college sports? Is the governing body of the NCAA also corrupt? Do they look the other way on illegal activities in order to maintain the NCAA tradition? Do they sweep “smaller” scandals under the rug and only investigate the larger more sensational (and news worthy) things? Unfortunately, this corruption is filtering down into the high school sports scene. I’ve read several articles about high school football teams that are under investigation for offering money and gifts to recruit players.
Amateur athletics is sort of like being the preachers daughter… who’s expected to be the “good girl”…the one who’s pure and innocent… but behind closed doors…she’s always the wildest one.
What do you guys think?
© 2011, Bridget. All rights reserved.
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Minor, minor suggestion… don't use the phrase "Penn State sex scandal." What happened wasn't a "sex" scandal. It is a child sexual abuse scandal. Glad the site is back up again. What a nightmare that must have been!
Yep…you're right. Correction made. Thanks!
Any time big money is involved, you're going to find some level of corruption. And let's face it, there is big money in big university football! Now, should we just let things like the sexual abuse at Penn State (and the Citadel, by the way) just go by? Absolutely not! I can't believe the individuals involved in these outrageous scandals believed that everyone would just look the other way forever and this would never come out. I heard one commentator say that since Joe Paterno is 84 and is "of a different generation" he probably didn't really understand what the grad student was telling him. So I asked my dad, who is 86, what he would have done. He answered, "Before or after I beat the crap out of Sandusky?"
In order to avoid corruption you have to have principled people running the show. Joe Paterno always had the reputation of being a highly principled man, which is why this is SUCH a big deal. That someone with that reputation just looked the other way when a guy he KNEW, a guy who had worked for him was accused of this, and he not only didn't do much of anything, he continued to allow the guy access to Penn State's facilities in order to do it! I wonder if he ever talked to Sandusky about it personally.
Hey DGinGA, please give your dad a hug for me. He's the kind of man those cowards could only dream of being. A man does not back out of the room and pass the buck, he rushes in and saves the child.
They did take his access away after the 2002 incident. Which makes it that much worse. You can do what you want, just not on campus? wow.
They took away his access and yet there he was – on campus…..hmmmm how did that happen – I keep reading this line and it is BS – the administrators admitted that keeping him off campus was non-enforceable – my question is why was it non-enforceable and I cannot find an answer.
Big money corrupts everything every time. There is little difference between the corruption in NCAA Division 1 football teams and Congress…there's way too much money being thrown at both by people who have their own agendas that are not usually in the best interests of either football or the US.
Bridget – I've always felt this way about college football. Yes, when I was in college, it was a big thing to support our team. Later in graduate school, my university was steeply invested in its football team. I grew up watching a lot of sporting events, but I could never get involved in college football. Quite simply because it seemed to be steeped in some kind of mysticism. People were fawning over how their teams were rated. It wasn't my thing. However, over the years, I came to be disenchanted with the entire thing because the entire thing was so wrapped up money and raising money. The university president, I'm told, has only one role: raise money. He leaves it to his deans to manage the faculty and departments. But, the president's role is to raise money, particularly from rich, alumni.
I will tell you that was MOST DEFINITELY not the only role of graham spanier. It was the role of the guy before him (bryce jordan, goodness why the new facilities are named after him) and he was out in less than 5 years.
But, my job in school was to get the training I need so that I can do something with my life. But over the past few years, it is certainly a big thing to be part of a collegiate football team. And I know that there are lots of pressures for each of the teams to be ranked. So, when I read about Penn State, I knew, just knew that the reason for the coverup was due to the university's fear about its donations. There were jobs on the line, and a scandel as ugly as this one could result in a lot of people deciding not to give. I know I couldn't blame them.
that's what i don't get. it comes out after the fact, and things are that much worse. why stake one's reputation on a child molester? so crazy.
The irony of this case is that if they covered up the scandal to protect their big money stream for athletics they are now going to pay a very serious financial price. Just the lawsuits alone will cost them untold millions and I'm sure many people who would have donated or used to donate now will not.
If they had done the right thing from the beginning they wouldn't be in this debacle, and most importantly, children would have been saved from abuse. Instead the reputation of the school is shattered and the lives of many children wrecked by this disgrace. Penn State deserves the storm that's about to descend on them. Hopefully others will look at this case and decide to do the right thing if they are confronted with a situation like this.
they are already paying a price. a friend of mine was supposed to sign a contract with PSU (re: HVAC systems) and they've already pulled it. They don't have the money (or they don't anticipate it coming in.
The alumni are up in arms and there will be a cleaning of house of the trustees (rumors swirling that they knew as well). No one is getting out unscathed.
On another forum, some dimwit columnist posed the question "… why did it take so long?" To which I replied:
It’s REALLY, REALLY very simple WHY:
From the VERY FIRST second this hit the news, my response was
FOLLOW THE $$$$.
The High School, College & Pro Sports programs in this country have grown, like malignant tumors, WAY WAY WAY beyond their rightful and sensible place in American Life today. No longer are they entertainment, or character/values buidling activities. They have become Billi-Buck industries and the High School/College Athletic Programs are simply the petri dishes and incubators that provide the bodies to support this profit generating industry.
They unfortunately are filling major voids in the lives of far too many Americans.
The amount of money involved is simply staggering, and when available funds reach those levels, ANYONE can get ANYTHING they want done by simply spreading a bit of “petty cash” around. For those involved in this industry, petty cash can be hundreds of thousands of bucks.
Look at the LA Dodgers scandal. The owners were using it as a personal piggy bank to fund their outrageous lifestyles, they knowingly allowed conditiond to exist that culminated in attempted murder in their parking lot. (Brian Stowe’s lifetime medical expenses have been estimated to run into many millions of dollars)
These owners simply ransacked an iconic baseball organization into BK and yet predictions are the sale will STILL bring in at least a BILLION BUCKS!!!
Good article.
Being a Penn State alum and know a lot about Joe Paterno, it is so hard for me to understand how this was able to happen. He is an honorable man who has at times put principles above football. Doled out punishments that he knew would hurt the team and PennState football. He always did the right thing, even if it was unpopular with the team or the students. That is why it is so hard to understand this about him. You could always depend on the man to make the right ethical and moral decision. I want to know before he dies what he knew and why he did not follow up. As a Penn State alum and someone who respects this man more than any others, I NEED to know.
When all is said and done, it appears that the 'great coach' was really a cowardly lion [h/t: NYPost].
very true, palinpatriot. I am dumbfounded. I guess what we were told for all those years wasn't complete truth.
Is there any truth to the speculation that the rapist coach was pimping the young boys out to big Penn State donors? The local sports media has mentioned this as an additional crime committed and covered up by the school. Supposedly, there have been whispers about this prostitution ring for many years.
McQueary turned around and left a naked 10 year old boy who was being raped by Sandusky?
There are few absolutes in life but rescuing that child at once is one of them. No bargaining allowed. You rescue that child instantly. Period. End of discussion. Perhaps there can be a little bit of discussion about how you handle Sandusky – but it's limited to questions of the "do I cripple him from the neck down or just the waist?" variety. But those questions still fall under the law of absolutes because none of them entail walking away from a small child being raped by an older man. Like I said, there are absolutes in life and protecting that child at once is one of them.
Sandusky got money from the charity he took the children from. I don't remember the exact amount but it was well over $400,000. He is trash as far as I'm concerned, and I'm just waiting to see who steps forward to slap his hands. This is worth the death penalty! Every day there are such awful things done to little kids that I want to swear off the news–but that is just sticking my head in the sand and I won't do that.
but see, over the years, he hasn't made the decisions he made just for the money. he could have don a lot of things for a lot more money, but chose to stay where he was. chose to do a lot of things to help the football players rather than the program. The grad rate of football players is typically HIGHER than the grad rate for 'regular' students. Name one other big NCAA football program where that is the case…?
Why do you think the grad rate is higher for football players? Are you THAT naive.
This scandal was under-wraps for 10 months, pulled out at the appropriate time as a distraction from ~Obama scandals.~
How sad for the children of abuse. So innocent, and new to a world that secretly plan to steal their young impressionable minds and morals.
This article makes Paterno sound like the predator … by not reporting the issue, well, he did report it to his SUPERIORS but THEY decided to keep the incident to themselves and make Paterno believe that he had better as well…..smells fishy…Who are the SUPERIORS???