Regardless of how you feel about Jerry Sandusky and what happened over a 10-15 year period at Penn State under Joe Pa, I believe the NCAA has righted a terrible wrong by increassing the number of scholarships and scholarship players over the next two years leading up to 2016-2017. In addition, there may be a lift in the bowl ban as well.
You can read all about it here.
Why the MMQ believes this is the right thing is simple: The collective now at PSU both in administration, in the coaching staff and on the field had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT HAPPENED in what was an atrocity of immeasurable proportions! Not only that, but you are taking an education away from student athletes which is what the NCAA is supposed to stand for! The utterly dispicable acts are being accounted for in the only way we currently have as a society, the US legal system. Whether you like that or not. It's a legal issue, not an NCAA issue.
I'm not saying the NCAA should not hold PSU accountable. That the $60M fine wasn't reduced was more than satisfactory to this fan. In fact, I would have preferred a trade-off of sorts (an increase in the fine) for the increase in scholarships, but I'll take what I can get. I've never agreed with the penalty of punishing a shool and current players for the sins of players and coaches from the past. That the University should go unscathed is not what I'm saying at all. Punish PSU and make it hurt so bad that they will never fall into the same situation they found themselves in with a legendary coach calling all of the shots when it came to his staff. For that, PSU (the University) should suffer. But the students, coaches and players in the here and now should be allowed to enjoy the PSU experience to it's full extent.
I hope that makes sense.
At least PSU will be able to field some semblance of a team in a year or two.....And they will be ready once they are eligible to go to a bowl.
So, while I agree with this, the MMQ can't help but have some trouble when it comes to the sniff test and the question of, "Why now?"
Why is this coming when the NCAA is at the crux of what many of the in the know bloggers are saying is a critical point in time for the NCAA? Meaning that the power schools are ready to hand the NCAA their own set of rules on just about everything and tell the NCAA organization to get lost. Is this a political move to gain some sort of public support for an institution that realizes that once it loses the power conferences in football that the only true revenue generating event, the NCAA Tournament, probably won't be far behind? Are they concerned that the beuracracy they operate under is so overwhelming that they cannot get administrators to come to the NCAA Enforcement and Investigation Departments, much less stay in those assignments for any extended period of time? IS the NCAA coming to the ugly realization that what they stand for, "Amateurism in Athletics" and the "Student Athlete" are a thing of the past?
I think they are slowly starting to realize it...but like anything else the NCAA does, it will take too long before they react.
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