As the developments in the Penn State University sexual abuse case get uglier by the minute, one thing has become clear: The NCAA continues to turn a blind eye to legitimate concerns while focusing its energy in all the wrong places.
It took Penn State University officials just inside of a week to fire and cut ties with legendary head coach Joe Paterno – and even that was too long. The NCAA has done nothing to officially speak out against the alleged crimes or work towards prevention of such horrific events.
The NCAA has stood pat amidst the biggest and most egregious scandal ever to hit college athletics. It has failed to live up to its core value of providing presidential leadership over the tragic events taking place in State College, PA.
A disappointment within the tragedy has been the NCAA’s inaction. There has been no announcement of an investigation being conducted by the organization – only a statement that it will defer to law enforcement before seeing if any of its own rules were violated. In other words – it is going with the status quo.
Why not speak out against sexual abuse or educate its member institutions on the protocol for preventing and reporting such horrendous crimes?
Instead of being a leader and standing at the forefront of the largest issue at hand, it has stood idle, continuing to dole out hand slaps to institutions that violate its often silly rules.
While it is true that the legal process takes precedent over any formal investigations or sanctions the NCAA could impose, there is certainly more it could have done in the wake of what will go down as the worst scandal in the history of collegiate athletics.Penn State is going to suffer a great deal because of the acts of one of its own and the inaction of many within the institution. The NCAA will further damage its already poor reputation as failed leader in a sport that is out of control.
Most importantly, though, no one paying attention to this case should ever forget the ones who will suffer exponentially more than anyone – the victims of these alleged crimes.
Michael C. Jones is a Yahoo! Featured Contributor in Sports and has attended courses at Penn State University. He follows all major developments in its athletic programs.
Follow Michael on Twitter: @MJisyourhomeboy