The NCAA and Penn State

In the last few days I've heard varying opinions on the Penn State situation. Some believe Paterno should stay, some believe he should be gone. Everyone is in agreement that Sandusky is a sick individual who must be punished. One opinion I keep hearing though that bothers me the most is the belief that the NCAA can't act in this case since it is a legal issue and not an issue of cheating that would give the Penn State Football program a competitive advantage over other NCAA programs. While it isn't the NCAA's job to enforce the law, they certainly have proven in the past that they will punish schools who don't necessarily break NCAA rules.

The first example is how the NCAA has enforced its rule that Native American Nicknames can not be used by NCAA schools. I graduated from a small Division II school, Newberry College. For over 100 years our school used the nickname "Indians" for its athletic teams. That was until a few years ago when the NCAA threatened Newberry to change its nickname or the school would no longer be allowed to host postseason events. Keep in mind in NCAA Division II, playoff games are played on campus. This meant that if Newberry kept the Indian nickname and was ranked #1 in the D2 polls that they would never be allowed to host a NCAA playoff game. The school was given no choice but to give in and just recently changed their nickname to "Wolves" to please the NCAA.

I don't think anyone would argue with me that Newberry did nothing to gain a competitive advantage by using the nickname "Indians". An athlete isn't going to choose to go to Newberry because of the nickname, they are going to go there for academic purposes, facilities, and the chance to play in a system that best fits their athletic gifts. Still, the NCAA showed its power in this case and Newberry is now known as the Wolves.

The power of the NCAA in the Native American Nicknames even has more power than The State of North Dakota. The University of North Dakota had used the "Fighting Sioux" nickname since 1930, but the NCAA put them on a list of objectionable nicknames in 2005. In an effort to keep the nickname, The State of North Dakota passed legislation to keep the Fighting Sioux nickname at UND on March 11, 2011 with Governor Jack Dalrymple signing the bill. Still, the NCAA ruled UND had to change its nickname, despite what was passed by the North Dakota Senate.

The NCAA has also shown its power against the states of South Carolina and Mississippi. The NCAA will not allow a pre-determined postseason event to take place in either state due to The Confederate Flag being on South Carolina's State House Grounds and being part of the Mississippi State Flag. This means that a top notch facility like South Carolina's Colonial Life Arena can never play host to a NCAA Basketball Regional, despite being one of the nicest on campus facilities in the country. There was no NCAA rules violations that led to the NCAA to come up with this decision. It's just a political decision that has gone through the political process in both states. Yet, the NCAA has shown its power in these cases. Certainly none of the schools in this state get a competetive advantage because of a flag, but the NCAA has enforced its rules in these two states.

The NCAA has gotten itself involved in criminal matters too. The 2003 murder of Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy eventually led to the NCAA coming in and investigating the athletic program. When the investigation was finished their were numerous violations reported that included Dave Bliss ignoring large amounts of drug use on the Baylor Basketball team. Baylor was placed on probation and coach Bliss was given a 10 year show-cause penalty by the NCAA.

The NCAA has powers outside of just programs breaking rules that result in competitive advantage. If they choose to do so, they can certainly act in this Penn State scandal. After all, if the term "lack of institutional control" doesn't describe Penn State's most powerful men covering up a child sex scandal for over a decade, then what does it describe? This is still a program that is employing a man who witnessed a child being raped and was to much of a coward to stop it or do anything with it. For a decade now those in power have walked side by side Jerry Sandusky as if nothing had happened. If the NCAA can act on a school calling itself "Indians" then certainly they can and should act on Penn State.

Matt Barber
Dixiefriedsports@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/#!/dixiefriedsport