[tweeterhawk]

News from The Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- The warning signs were there for more than a decade, disturbing indicators that Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was breaching boundaries with young boys - or maybe worse.

Yet the university's top administrators kept allowing, even encouraging, Sandusky to invite some of those boys into campus sports buildings - locker rooms, showers, a sauna and a swimming pool - where prosecutors now say he fondled, molested and sexually assaulted some of the most vulnerable in the place known as Happy Valley.

Too many, from the university president to department heads to janitors, knew of troubling behavior by this revered, longtime coach who founded a charity for children with hardscrabble backgrounds. But at this school whose sports programs vow "success with honor," the circle of knowledge was kept very limited and very private....


... It matters greatly what Penn State officials knew and how they reacted to sexual abuse allegations because failing to act could imperil the future of the university's athletic programs.

Under NCAA regulations, the overall ethical conduct of a college sports program is paramount. Administrations at all NCAA-member programs must exert "institutional control," meaning they must strictly adhere to the rules and have an appropriate level of oversight in place to detect and investigate violations.

Failure of institutional control can result in a range of sanctions, including a ban from participation in intercollegiate sports, ineligibility for lucrative bowl games, and a loss of athletic scholarships.

[OO44]

This timebomb is why PSU will have a difficult time getting a proven head coach to succeed Joe.