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The firing of Joe Paterno from Penn State after 46 years in light of the whole Sandusky sex scandal at Penn State is just another, albeit the worst of a long line of scandals involving College Football programs, officials, head coaches and players, making 2011 quite a bad year for the sport despite the great thingsĀ happeningĀ on the field.
Fiesta Bowl Candal – John Junker Fired
Fiesta Bowl CEO John Junker was fired after a 276 page report came out, exposing political contributions made by employees, later reimbursed by theĀ organization, a federal crime for a non-profitĀ organizationĀ like the Fiesta Bowl (which brought home profits of over 11 million dollars in 2007), and of course the personal frolics of Junker, who had the Bowl pay for his 50th birthday party, creating a bill of $33,188.
Jim Tressel – Ohio State Scandal
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Another story that started small and ended with Jim Tressel leaving resigning from his position as Ohio State head coach after 10 years, one national title and five more conference titles. Tressel was earlier fined $250,000 for not reporting his knowledge of his players tradingĀ memorabiliaĀ (Championship rings,Ā jerseys, etc.) for tattoos at a local tattoo parlor, which wasĀ coincidentallyĀ under federal investigation for drug trafficking.
What began as a fine and a suspension for Tressel became a serious charge from the NCAA, which forced Tressel to resign, saving the school from more severe penalties than it already received. The university vacated all of its 12 wins in 2010 and star quarterback Terrelle Pryor announced he won’t return for his senior season.
Nevin Shaprio and Miami
The Miami Hurricanes, or simply, The U, aren’t strangers to scandal involving the football team. Nevin Shapiro, currently in jail for a nearly Billion Dollars Ponzi Scheme heĀ orchestrated revealed hisĀ involvementĀ with the football and basketball players from the University between 2002 and 2010.
Shapiro spent over 2 million dollars on benefits – Prostitutes, cars, vacations and more on many players who becameĀ professionalsĀ in the NFL – among them Devin Hester and Vince Wilfork. An incredible 73 players were implicated in the report.
* Conference Realignments
Not exactly a scandal, but something’s not right here.Ā ConferencesĀ are falling apart when every day someone seems to be leaving. Nebraska already joined the Big Ten (which has 12 teams), while the Pac-12 aims to become a Pac-16, the SEC are bringing in Texas A&M and tempting pretty much every marquee Big 12 school. The Big East is trying to lure in every possible school west of theĀ MississippiĀ not in a AQ conference while the ACC is bleeding the Big East dry.
The Jerry Sandusky Sex Scandal
On November 4, 2011, Sandusky was indicted on 40 accounts of sex crimes against young boys, following a three yearĀ investigationĀ against Sandusky regardingĀ allegationsĀ of a four-year relationship he had with a 15 year old boy. The Boy’s parents turned to the police in 2009. On November 5, he was arrested, and the thing turned into national news.
Joe Paterno, Penn State’s head coach for 46 years, was fired due to the report and allegations, portraying a disturbing scene of which many people knew about Sandusky’s crimes, but didn’t go to the police about it, instead stopping the train at school level.