Joe Paterno, Tragedy

There’s more to tragedy than misfortune. The fall of Joe McCarthy was not tragic because nothing was lost, quite the opposite. Joe Paterno’s situation is tragic because he was highly regarded in his profession. His reputation had much to do with the scholastic achievement of his players. On a personal level he was quarterback at Brown during part of my time there. But the cold simple fact is that he and others at the college, including the president, withheld knowledge from proper authorities of criminal behavior by a member of his coaching staff. Equally important is the offender’s known proclivity for this behavior.

Beyond the details of this scandal is its reflection of college sports, particularly football. It’s hard now to believe that there was a time when college athletic teams were simply the best that could be assembled from a given student body. The famous 5^th down game in 1940 was important because Cornell, eventual loser to Dartmouth, had been ranked second in the nation. Cornell, from the little old Ivy League, whose teams these days lose most early games to relatively unknown regional schools until the schedule gets easier when they start playing against each other.

Sure, money was involved then as it is today. Alumni have always been more generous to the old alma mater when its teams are winning. But in those days wealth, and consequently college donations, were more evenly divided. Now the lion’s share comes from really big spenders.

But alumni donations are only the tip of the iceberg. The real bucks in college sports come from TV. The football program alone at Penn State took in $70 million last year, of which $50 million was profit. Alumni money shouldn’t and can’t be controlled. But money from TV can. Professional football, a business by definition, divides TV revenue equally among all its teams.

Because much of college football is amateur in name only it is in need of similar supervision which can only come from the NCAA. More of this money can be better used for purposes other than winning games, for example education.

If the situation at Penn State is unique it’s only in the specifics. Regarding the corrosive effect of money in intercollegiate sports on the integrity of our educational system it’s just par for the course.

Addendum: I’ve read and heard a lot of punditry viewing the affair in a religious context. I disagree. In my opinion it’s business as usual.