I'm actually with the Penn State fans (although I am one myself, so I'm biased). To my knowledge, not a single current employee of Penn State was involved in the scandal. I don't believe that the school as a whole deserves to be punished, when they did not do anything wrong.
But the same thing happens any time the NCAA sanctions an athletic program - the innocent are punished. Yes, it sucks for the Penn State players through the years who knew nothing about Sandusky's abuse.
The difference here is that what happened wasn't directly part of the athletic program. This wasn't a scandal over illegal enhancements or paying athletes. It was a sexual abuse scandal that happened to involve people in the Penn State football program. As my mom said, if Jerry Sandusky had been an English professor, would the NCAA have even gotten involved?
No the National Collegiate Athletics Association would not have gotten involved if he were an English teacher since the English dept has nothing to do with athletics. However when a coach of the football team is molesting little boys, I think that gives them every right to get involved. Yes, Sandusky was relieved of his coaching duties after they discovered it in 1999, but they still let him bring young boys on campus for years afterward. Like I said before, the school covered this up to protect a football program. Those little boys deserved better than Penn State gave them.
Now did the NCAA overstep itself with this decision? Maybe, but I can't say I disagree with it. This situation is infinitely worse than the SMU situation and they got the death penalty. I think that this is the definition of lack or loss of institutional control. You had an administration not only covering up but allowing a pedophile to continue raping little boys for over a decade after the first reported incident. I was 100% behind JoePa back when he was fired. After the Freeh report, I'm just sickened that he let this happen. I feel for the players because this really isn't their fault, but the message had to be sent. The safety of those children should have been more important than the image of the football team. By covering it up they've tainted the image of PSU so badly that it will take years to fix. If theyu had turned Sandusky in after the first report in 1999, think of how much better PSU would look right now. It would be forgotten and people would have moved on by now. JoePa's legacy is ruined, the schools reputation has been ruined. Was it worth it?