By Forcing Order, The NCAA Has Created Anarchy

With the decision to gut the Penn State football program post-Sandusky, the NCAA is allowing Penn State players to transfer to any school without having to sit out a year. Though many current players say they are going to stay, some are being openly recruited by the top programs in the country. It’s hard to imagine every single one of them staying in State College.

The move by the NCAA to throw the book at Penn State exposes the hypocrisy and lack of moral authority the NCAA truly has. A huge problem with the current system is that there are no real checks and balances. In other words, no one can hold the NCAA accountable. At least our judicial system has back stops from judges recusing themselves from cases to appeal courts. The NCAA has no such system and stands as the judge, jury and executioner in college athletics. As a result of the penalties the NCAA passed onto PSU, it’s open season on the players. Most recruiting rules and ethics (if there are any) have gone out the window.

You want to talk about the underbelly, watch all the rumors about players like Silas Redd over the next few days. It’s like it’s the first week of February all over again. Is Rivals.com updating their star system? In all seriousness there’s already sketchy practices in major college recruiting, especially for football. This is why penalizing Penn State football now makes no sense. It is burning the village to save it. The side effects only create other problems.

No one is against Penn State paying the price for what Sandusky did and the ensuing coverup. But if there will ever be a possibly for justice it damn sure can’t come from the hands of the NCAA. Here they were giving Joe Paterno the Gerald Ford Award in 2011. If anyone was guilty of putting Joe Pa on a pedestal it’s the NCAA. They used him as an example of what’s right with college sports and to justify it’s current state. Now we have some evidence that Paterno covered up the actions of a pedophile, the NCAA decides to drop the hammer. Seems like it would be fair, only if the vultures wouldn’t be placated as a result.

This is the main reason why the NCAA should not be penalizing Penn State. Leave it up to the judicial system to work the way it’s supposed to work. By forcing order the NCAA has created Anarchy. They once again are making a mockery of amateurism. Whether Mark Emmert’s intentions are in the right place is irrelevant. The system of which the NCAA has created is partly to blame for what went down at Penn State. This Golem has gotten out of control and Emmert and the NCAA aren’t the right people to reign it in.

Ari Russell
As a college sports fanatic, Ari Russell leverages 15 years of experience and irony to bring you an unrivaled experience. Ari provides unconventional insight with his in-depth college sports knowledge. He is the former Executive Producer of College Sports Programming on Sirius XM Radio.