At Penn State, it's clear, President Graham Spanier knew very well that in the campus hierarchy, he ranked below Paterno. If there is one sure way to diminish the importance of football in State College, it's to close it down. That sanction would impress on coaches, administrators, students and alumni that the sport's role has grossly warped the values that should govern an institution of higher learning.
It would also give everyone connected to the school a chance to address how to repair the grave harm done to the institutional reputation that its officials sought to shelter:
Right now, the public doesn't associate Penn State with academic excellence or even gridiron prowess. It associates Penn State with a naked coach raping a boy in the locker room showers.
The value of this death penalty would not be limited to Penn State: It would forcefully remind every school that athletics, no matter how successful or profitable, must be subordinate to the higher mission of education.
Yes, the death penalty would cost other schools game and broadcast revenues. Yes, it would disrupt TV schedules. Yes, it would encourage players to transfer.
Is it worth all that to deter coaches and university officers from excusing heinous crimes in their midst, and to deter predators from committing such crimes in the future?
It's a question that shouldn't need to be asked.
