1 Penn State 6:10 - "The love of money is the root of all evil"

I read with horror the details of the NCAA sanctions against my beloved Penn State.  To hear that there will be no bowl appearances for the next four years, a wide open door for players to leave the program and the reduced ability to recruit new players was a kick in the gut.  It is a pretty good indication that for at least the next five years PSU football will not be anything like what we have seen in the past. 

In addition to the dismantling of a NCAA Division 1 power house football program, a revered and almost saint like coach; Joe Paterno has had his reputation all but destroyed.  Financially, the cost is incalculable.  The 60 million dollar fine is the starting point, but dozens of lawsuits and loss of revenue and goodwill that Penn State will suffer will most likely end up costing the university hundreds of millions of dollars.  

What Jerry Sandusky is convicted of doing is so horrible I don’t think many of us can comprehend the scope of the wickedness.  It is something that simply does not compute in some of our minds.  But as horrific as those actions were, the burning question is; why was it not exposed for the last 15 years.  According to the Freeh Report, President Graham B. Spanier, Senior Vice President of Finance and Business Gary Schultz, Athletic Director Timothy Curley and the late head football Coach Joe Paterno showed no concern about the alleged victims of Sandusky.  The question that begs to be answered is why?  Why would four individuals who seemed to be incredibly respectable and pillars of the institution and society not come forward to do something to put a stop to this this despicable behavior?

PSU Football was one of the most profitable college football programs in America.  Alumni contributions flowed in to the school. The team’s roster of sponsors kept growing. The huge stadium was always filled.  And revenue from television contracts was very profitable and only expected to get much richer.  According to this article in Forbes.com in 2010 -2011 season the PSU athletic program had $72.7 million in revenue vs. operating expenses of $19.5 million. That $53 million profit is even more staggering when you realize that the rest of the school’s athletic program lost money.  This does not include the intangible goodwill, student enrollment and revenue that came to Penn State and local business as a result of the high level of visibility from the football program.  It is clear that the program annually generated millions and millions of dollars for Penn State.

So why did Mr, Spanier, Mr Schultz, Mr Curley and Coach Paterno (and probably others) keep quiet and not say anything for 15 years while they apparently knew this heinous behavior was going on?  Could it be the major reason for their silence was they did not want to lose the millions of dollars that were flowing into the Penn State budget each year?  Only God knows their hearts and the answer to this question, but my guess is the love of this seeming unending flow of money was the reason.  And why do I think this is the reason?  1 Timothy 6:10a says the love of money is the root of all evil.  Not money, but the love of it.

It doesn’t matter if we are an individual, a church, a government or one of the most prestigious universities in the nation, God’s principles are applicable.