Penn State fallout: Did NCAA do the right thing?

We could make this really short and just say--Yes, but there is more to it.

By now, most of you have read about the sanctions handed down by the NCAA to Penn State over their appeared coverup for Jerry Sandusky.

4-years without a bowl, 4-years with 20 scholarships lost, $60-million ($15 mil a year) and all victories since 1998 vacated, just to name a few.

No, it isn't the "Death Penalty", but it could be. It will be a decade...at least before they could be a potential powerhouse again.

But the questions remain: Was it too much? Was it not enough?

And the answer: It was neither.

Like it, agree with it or not, the NCAA had to do it. Yes, we know it is precedent setting, but the scope of what happened in Happy Valley was too.

No, they could not issue a "Death Penalty".  And though many argued they might as well have, it's not the same thing.

Killing the program doesn't just affect those in the program. It affects EVERYONE in the Big 10. It affects all the other teams on the Nittany Lions schedule. And ultimately, agree or not, the NCAA had to take that into consideration.

What this does do is make Penn State essentially a MAC team. And we don't mean to insult the MAC. For the sake of perspective, it's not the worst thing that could happen to them. Hopefully, it does give PSU some perspective and a bit of look at life on the other side of the BCS. Considering all that appears to have gone on, that may be a welcome--and needed change.

As much as many would like it to be this way, Football does not run the school. The school runs football, and that got lost somewhere in the shuffle. Yes, we know, the SEC is not too dissimilar to that, but when push comes to shove, the academia's will step in and to our knowledge none conspired to keep criminals close to the team...for the good of the team.

Oh, one thing needs to be said: The Paterno family needs to SHUT UP!

Nobody expects you to agree with this, but it is no longer your fight. Would we like to have heard what Joe had to say about the Freeh report and everything else? Yes. But we can't. Do we believe Paterno did what he did maliciously? No. But ignorance and hoping things will go away are not a good excuse. And by all indications, that is exactly what he believed.

The family just needs to walk away. Stop whining. Stop complaining. We know you feel wronged, but you are coming across as just wanting to keep Joe as the record holder. Never do you mention why what happened what was wrong. Never do you mention that there is no way he couldn't have known about Sandusky...but you keep whining.

Now, this decision was not perfect. The NCAA and in particular Mark Emmert avoided the 800-pound gorilla in the room and made no mention of Graham Spanier, Tim Curley or Gary Schultz...and that is a mistake.

A big mistake.

And we know the big argument here: Why punish those who are there now?

The answer is simple: That's the way it works. You may not agree with it, you may not like it, but the NCAA can't punish individuals for things after the fact. Their only recourse is the school. And that means the current players and staff. It just works that way. It's unfortunate, but do you have a better idea?

Spanier, Schultz and Curley will have their day in court. And maybe things will come out to exonerate them. But nobody really believes that. The legal system will take care of them. As will Karma.

Like we said at the beginning, the NCAA didn't get this perfect. But they didn't do badly either. They had to step up and do soemthing. And they knew full well not everybody would agree with it. But consider the alternative. If they sat back and did nothing, they lose even worse.