NCAA missed mark punishing Penn State: Your Say

Last week, the NCAA announced a settlement with Penn State in a lawsuit challenging the validity of a 2012 "consent decree" punishing the school. The settlement restores 112 wins to Penn State. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Right on! We all think that justice should be served to the guilty parties. In this case, that does not include Joe Paterno or Penn State football.

NCAA President Mark Emmert should be forced to resign and formally apologize to Penn State University. We are 409! (Paterno's total wins with victories restored.)

— Lager Hunter

I find it irresponsible to give Paterno any accolades for the winningest coach. He probably would have been prosecuted if he hadn't died first.

Don't make a mockery of Jerry Sandusky's victims.

— Diane Flock

ESPN and activist journalism got Paterno and others punished. The child abuse was the work of one very sick man. Penn State was just one place this creep used to molest kids.

To say that Penn State facilitated this activity is nuts.

— Michael Bassett

I don't blame Paterno specifically, but the entire structure at Penn State was corrupt. Now they are being let off the hook.

— William Coultas

The entire structure isn't corrupt, just a few people at the top. We won't know about them until their trials are over.

— Matthew Stamm

The situation seems silly all around. The NCAA "taking away" those victories was just an empty gesture, as is this one of "giving them back."

— Dan Pitz

I do not think that Paterno's record should have been stripped in the first place. The reactionary culture we live in is so frustrating.

The NCAA should have never weighed in on a non-football-program issue. It and sports programs should not feel the need to be judge and jury for their people. They should let the justice system handle it.

— Scott Childs

Penn State should have received the death penalty: Its football program should have been abolished.

— Dave Russell

Letter to the editor:

Sports columnist Nancy Amour scored a touchdown with her commentary "NCAA failed victims in rush to judge Penn State." But she missed a two-point conversion by not blaming Penn State's board of trustees and the news media for complicity.

After allegations of a cover-up, the trustees fired Joe Paterno in a panic, thereby placing the victims on the sidelines, while many in the news media applauded. The NCAA penalized Penn State for its football culture, and a few in the news media even heckled the NCAA for being too lenient. The NCAA settlement of a lawsuit is seen as an admission that it overstepped its authority to punish Penn State for failure to act in the Jerry Sandusky case. But the trustees and the news media must share the blame in rushing to judgment. Today, we're no closer to understanding what really happened at Penn State to prevent more kids from becoming victims.

Charles Lutz; Salem, S.C.