Without getting into the legality of it, I really have been disappointed with the response of Penn State to the sanctions. It really feels like they missed the point entirely.
The "us against the world" mentality really feels great for the players and coaches and if that is what it takes for them to be motivated then that is fine. However, for the fans, boosters, and donors to take such a stance as well is disturbing. It is almost as if they have forgotten about the kids and have moved on to caring about Penn State football again. Maybe it is unreasonable to expect people to carry the burden who were not directly involved, but lets be honest, it's the football culture that the NCAA is trying to punish, and it isn't working. The people around the university feel wronged by the NCAA, as if they are not responsible, and yet they are. The public at large has thrown all the blame on Paterno, Schultz, Spanier, and co but I'm not confident that we should. Emmert in his speech when the sanctions were announced spoke of "hero worship" as being dangerous in college athletics. Ask yourself who really built up all this pressure on the image of Penn State football and the answer isn't Joe Paterno, its the fans, boosters, donors, and people who hero worshiped someone who clearly was just another guy.