In listening to and watching NCAA president Mark Emmert grandstand these last few weeks as he cleverly manipulated public sentiment to the point where he could have inflicted any pain he wanted on Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, this thought occurred to me:
If Emmert wants to run for public office, if he wants to use his position as president of the NCAA to launch a political career as Mitt Romney used his role as president of the Salt Lake City Olympics, then he should throw in his hat today and be done with it.
“We want everyone to pay attention,’’ he crowed, which is what every politician wants when he piles on a popular issue. “This is indeed a cautionary tale, that the athletic tail can’t wag the academic dog.’’
The academic dog?
Wait a second, weren’t the penalties Emmert doled out — four-year bowl ban, loss of scholarships, loss of wins, a $60 million fine and five years of probation for the football program — because a few men did nothing to stop the monster known as Jerry Sandusky and not because of academics?
If academics are the issue then Penn State isn’t a dog; it’s a lion.
According to the NCAA’s own statistics, Penn State football program’s most recent APR (Academic Progress Reports) was 971 — 23 points higher than the FBS average.
The Penn State Football Letterman’s Club also found Emmert’s comments off base.
“His assertion that a balance between academics and athletics [specifically Penn State Football] did not exist previously is baseless and intellectually dishonest,’’ the club said in a statement.
Emmert, so clearly wrong about Penn State’s commitment to academics, makes us wonder what else he is wrong about. What if there are errors in the Freeh Report? Why not allow his own investigators to investigate?
“I wondered what the urgency was to make a decision now,’’ Toledo law professor Geoffrey Rapp told The Post.
There is no denying that members of Penn State’s administration made some unforgivable decisions that allowed a pedophile to savage the lives of young boys. Those individuals need to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Paterno, who died of lung cancer in January having never had a chance to speak to former FBI director Louis Freeh, certainly is answering to a higher authority and his name is not Emmert.
Though Emmert didn’t name Paterno, he said Penn State had allowed one person to become too powerful, but isn’t that exactly what Emmert has become?
For instance, what happens if a year from now a coach with a history of DWI arrests plows into a car causing injury or death. Is that an NCAA matter or an Emmert matter?
At a round table discussion in February, Emmert was asked where does money the NCAA makes go. His response was, ‘‘If we keep the athletic programs financially healthy they can create more opportunities for students to participate in athletics.’’
So why strip any school of scholarships?
If Emmert wanted to send a message he should have put Penn State on probation for life. If he really wants to help sex-abuse victims, he would use NCAA money to establish confidential help centers on every campus.
This Penn State story is far from over, which will give Emmert ample opportunity to be seen and heard. Pay attention. One day this political animal might ask for your vote.