Mark Zinno: Unanswered Questions
The NCAA dropped the bomb on Penn State this morning. The sanctions were unprecedented. The punishment and collateral damage was record-breaking. And in the process of moving forward begins this morning. The healing hopefully can start now. And whether you feel it was justified or not, you have to recognize the NCAA opened "Pandora's Box" and has now set itself up to be the target in the future. We all know the NCAA to be a bit hypocritical at times. I think that would be fair to say. But there are some questions left unanswered after today.
NCAA President Mark Emmert himself, admitted that he was in uncharted territory by going this far and that the NCAA had never used this kind of power before. Pandora's Box question: what is the line where you use this power again?
The NCAA never got involved before in other "criminal" activities that were handled by the law: Patrick Dennehy murder at Baylor, Duke lacrosse rape case and Yeardley Love's murder at UVA. Pandora's Box question: why did the NCAA choose to get involved in criminal cases now? And will they get involved in all criminal cases in the future?
The NCAA has chosen to punish the institution for the transgressions within the football program. Pandora's Box question: if this was the baseball program, would the penalties be as severe? And is that now the standard going forward for all other sports under the NCAA purview?
I don't have a problem with the NCAA and how they chose to punish Penn State. I just have a lot of concerns that an already questionable organization is leaving itself open to more questions in the future so that something like this doesn't happen again.
Zinno
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