The NCAA blew it. Again.

Last year, the NCAA chose not to give the Penn State football program the "death penalty," despite determining that the administration "concealed critical facts" -- translation: covered up -- related to the deviant and reprehensible actions of eventual convicted sex offender Jerry Sandusky, the team's former long-time defensive coordinator. Instead, the NCAA levied a five-year probation that included a four-year bowl ban, the loss of 40 scholarships over four years and a $60 million fine.

The NCAA suddenly believes those sanctions were too tough. Citing Penn State's "continued progress toward ensuring athletics integrity," the executive committee announced it will restore five scholarships beginning in the 2014-15 academic year and said the redemption will continue to increase each year until the school reaches the full allocation of 25 scholarships in 2015-16 and 85 total scholarships in 2016-17.

This action follows the recommendation of former senator George Mitchell, the NCAA's independent monitor of Penn State, who said in a statement: "While there is more work to be done, Penn State has clearly demonstrated its commitment to restoring integrity in its athletics program. The university has substantially completed the initial implementation of all the Freeh Report recommendations and its obligations to the Athletics Integrity Agreement, so relief from the scholarship reductions is warranted and deserved."

Sorry. But do we do this in real life? Convicted felons with 40-year sentences can get their time reduced after several years. Penn State gets its penalty reduced after 14 months?

I'm not going to doubt that some in the Penn State administration have finally come to realize the severity of their actions. I'm not going to doubt that school officials are now doing the right thing.

I've written this before: Penn State deserved the "death penalty" for its actions. Covering up sex crimes of a former or current employee, obstensibly to preserve the image (and therefore success level) of the football program is worse than any conceivable NCAA violation: academic fraud, paying players, illegal enticements to recruits.

Penn State put sport, image and fundraising above everything else. Southern Methodist University, one of the nation’s top academic schools, did the same thing before seeing its football program given the death penalty in 1987. The only difference is SMU didn't do anything that was so morally represensible and contributed to ruining the lives of innocent victims: The young boys that Sandusky preyed upon.

Here's an excerpt of what I wrote in July of 2012, referencing the Freeh report on Penn State:

According to a 267-page report by former FBI director Louis Freeh, the four most powerful men overseeing the university and the football program – president Graham Spanier (since fired), athletic director Tim Curley (on “administrative leave,” under indictment for perjury), vice president Gary Schultz (suddenly retired, also under indictment) and the late coach, Joe Paterno (fired in what would be two months before his death) — knew far more about Sandusky’s sick perversions and abuse than they let on. They knew it far longer than they let on. ...

“Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State,” Freeh stated.

We don’t need to know anything else.

I understand the argument that current student-athletes and coaches should not pay the price for the actions of the administration. But that's the way it works in college athletics, and all players and recruits had the option to leave for another university last year. Coaches could have done the same. The university needs to pay the full price for its actions of putting football above all else.

Freeh concluded in his report that the “Tone at the Top” of the school dissuaded school janitors from coming forward after witnessing Sandusky's vile assaults: “The janitors were afraid of being fired for reporting a powerful football coach.”

How can the NCAA suddenly determine it was too hard on Penn State?

It blew it. Again.

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