Should Penn State Football Get Death Penalty? No.

A lot of people have been calling for the “death penalty” for the Penn State football program in response to how the school dealt with Jerry Sandusky child molestation case. There seems to be a clear coverup by a few of the top individuals at the school. Not just at the football level but the presidential level. According to the Louis Freeh report, a few individuals knew there was something going on and tried to keep it underwraps to maintain the image of the school. The decision of those people was completely wrong and dispicable but, letting the actions of a those few destroy the opportunity of thousands is what the death penalty would do.

This is not a violation of NCAA rules, it is a violation of the law. The justice system doesn’t impose the death penalty the NCAA does. The death penalty was put in place to punish frequent violators of NCAA rules. It essentially is a way of keeping power in the hands of the NCAA and not letting schools do whatever they want with no governing body. When Southern Methodist University was given the death penalty, they were blatantly violating NCAA rules even after being told to stop. Their football program was trying to be above the rules.

The Sandusky case isn’t in that same relm. This is an issue of a few individuals breaking the law. They should be punished by the justice system. They will receive jail time, as they should, for their what they did. Their actions didn’t affect the results on the field and players weren’t give special treatment for playing sports at the university. Their actions affected people’s lives in a more dramatic way. Reggie Bush didn’t get jail time for taking money at USC. Sandusky and the others involved should be sent to prison.

By shutting down the football program full of people that had nothing to do with the crimes commited, you will affect more than just the football team. Football generates enough money to support all sports at the school. Women’s tennis, men’s swimming, lacross and so on, will be hurt by such a dramatic punishment. There are people that rely on working at football games for income, plus all the local business that count on those weekends for their yearly revenue. Penn State’s Beaver Stadium holds 107,000 people, that is a lot people coming to a game. All those people would be affected in some way by the loss of the football team. All those people that had nothing to do with the coverup that involved Sandusky.

If you look at punishments given to schools in the past, you will see that people pay for the violations of others. Look at the USC Trojans this past season. The players and coaches weren’t allowed to play in a bowl, because of Reggie Bush and the coaching staff that was in place in 2004. I understand that the school needs to be held accountible to an extent, but how many people really knew what Reggie Bush was doing? So, you have an entire group of people that were probably in junior high or middle school or at other football programs that serve the punishment for others. If you are worried about the Penn State paying, they will. Civil lawsuits from the victims and their families will cost the university millions of dollars.

This is a time where the individuals that are guilty are being punished for their actions and future players, coaches and employees aren’t paying the price for the actions of others. I don’t think there is reason for the NCAA to step in and punish the school further. The guilty are receiving prison sentences and the school will lose money in lawsuits. Let the innocent learn from the actions of the guilty and go forward. Penn State needs to better itself and that starts with the people that are in charge now. Students, athletes, coaches, employees and the community don’t need to suffer more.

Ben Kelley

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