Penn State Makes Good on Payment to Sandusky Victims, but Money Isn’t Everything

On Monday, Penn State announced they will be paying 26 victims of former coach Jerry Sandusky a total of $59.7 million in individual settlement agreements. 

It marked another important public milestone on a long journey of healing for all involved.

However, money isn’t everything, and Penn State president Rodney Erickson recognized just that in a statement released on Monday (h/t to ESPN.com). 

“We cannot undo what has been done, but we can and must do everything possible to learn from this and ensure it never happens again at Penn State,” said Erickson.

For Penn State, these dollars aren’t just a way to move on. They also serve as a way to get the public at-large to begin to regain some of the trust that was lost by the Sandusky scandal.

Not going to trial was also a smart move, saving the victims from reliving the nightmares they endured any more than they have had to during the original trial and in private during these settlement negotiations.

What Penn State has done since the new leadership has come on board has been to say and do all the right things publicly, and this announcement was another example of that.

The NCAA clearly thinks Penn State means what it is saying, announcing just this past month that it was reducing some of the sanctions it had imposed.

Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell told a new conference that Penn State wasn’t just giving lip service to doing the right thing, according to the Centre Daily Times: 

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.

Yet the real test for Penn State will come when all of the money is paid out, the NCAA sanctions are completely over and the spotlight has moved on.  

It’s on the administration at the university and in the athletics department to make sure Penn State’s culture continues on the path the NCAA’s athletics integrity agreement has them on—without fear of the NCAA’s hammer coming down on them.

The early returns on this new administration tell us they don’t just say things, they mean them too.

As long as they see this process through, Penn State could be well on its way to restoring its name in time.

Having an administration that furthers the healing process and proves the athletics culture has really changed for the better—those two things are more important than any money Penn State could pay out, ever.

*Andy Coppens is the lead writer for the Big Ten. You can follow him on Twitter: @ andycoppens.