In a few minutes from now (sometime in the past when you read this), the NCAA will announce “severe” punishment for the Penn State football program, because the school, including “Saint” Joe Paterno covered up the child molesting activities of an assistance coach. The NCAA can punish Penn State all it wants, but it is not going to solve anything. What they will offer, no matter how “draconian,” is simply a fake solution. The problem here is not what happened at Penn State. That is a symptom. The problem (big surprise) is that the huge influence of money in College sports, especially football, has distorted and corrupted the entire system.
Shortly before he was canned, Paterno renegotiated his contract. In return for shortening (yes, that’s right) his contract by one year, Paterno demanded, and got, a package worth over $5 Million, including the use of Penn State’s private aircraft for him and his family for 25 years. (You might ask why a state college even has a private airplane). Seriously? $5 Million? A football coach? A tax payer supported college?
What the NCAA needs to do is set some rules about the flow of money. Here’s an idea. Why not limit the pay of the football coach to the average salary paid to a tenured professor at the college? Why isn’t that good enough? If that pay is sufficient to attract quality professors (believe me, earning a Ph.D. is a lot more difficult than getting a coaching license. O wait, there are no requirements to be a coach) then it should be good enough to get coaching talent.
At if not? So what. College sports is all about building character. I love college football, the kids will play their hearts out whether you pay the coach a million dollars or something a lot less than that. In the meantime, let’s be clear what college is all about — an education.