The NCAA has finally taken the time out of their busy schedule of over-administrating their archaic rules to comment on the ever-growing scandal involving Penn State and their former head coach Joe Paterno. College football's governing body usually focuses on punishing coaches who buy players dinner instead of much less pressing matters - like sex-abuse cover-ups - but it must have been a light week in Indianapolis.
NCAA President Mark Emmert released the following statement about the case:
Regarding the ongoing Penn State criminal investigation, the NCAA is actively monitoring developments and assessing appropriate steps moving forward. The NCAA will defer in the immediate term to law enforcement officials since this situation involved alleged crimes.
As the facts are established through the justice system, we will determine whether Association bylaws have been violated and act accordingly. To be clear, civil and criminal law will always take precedence over Association rules.
While it is obvious the NCAA must take a backseat to the criminal investigation, they could easily do more in terms of making sure the safety of players and fans at Saturday night's game between the Nittany Lions and Nebraska is guaranteed and the NCAA certainly has the right to make sure certain coaches are not on the sideline for the game.
Oh well, back to making sure coaches are only making one call per day to recruits!