Baskin's Blog: No right answers on what's next for Penn State

CLEVELAND - Over the past few months, we have all listened to ideas about what Penn State should do with its football program.

Some argue what happened with former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky’s sex abuse conviction shouldn't affect the football team because justice is being served through the courts. I have listened to other arguments, calling for the NCAA to drop the death penalty, not only on football, but on all athletics at Penn State. 

I found it very interesting that NCAA President Mark Emmert told PBS that the school could face stiff sanctions. The NCAA is investigating whether Penn State lost "institutional control" over its athletic program and violated ethics rules.

Emmert said he's "never seen anything as egregious as this, in terms of just overall conduct and behavior inside a university." He added that he doesn't want to "take anything off the table" in terms of a possible punishment.

I'm not sure if Emmert is within the bounds of his power to shut down the football program or not. The NCAA has handed down punishments for other universities when the bad guys have been long gone, and innocent athletes pay the price. This is also the same group that allowed college football to sell off a Division I National Championship game to the highest bidder. 

This is what I do know. As one caller to my radio show who was abused as a child at football said, he gets sick to his stomach every time he sees the Penn State logo. It brings back way too many feelings of his childhood.

I know this can't be how an institution of higher education wants to be remembered for a lifetime.

Before the NCAA has a chance to make any decisions on Penn State's fate, the university needs to do something they didn't do after victim number one was handed a lifelong session of mental torment - take control. 

PSU may have put football and greed in front of the victims in the past but they now have a chance to control the future by telling the NCAA what they think is the right and moral path forward.

I don't have the answer for this problem. No matter what Penn State does, they will never come up with an answer that will make everybody happy.

This story is brutal from so many angles. We are about to see what Penn State and the NCAA really represent. The statements they make will impact the future of how universities and athletic programs run for generations to come.