As a governing body, the NCAA has the power to strip any or all phases of a program if need be, to make a point of discipline.

With the current situation at Penn State, and the old Southern Methodist University scandal as a template, journalists across the country are calling for the NCAA to take action with something known as the “Death Penalty,” where an entire sport is nixed for a year, or more.

Adding fuel to the fire are institutions associated with Joe Paterno who are wiping him clean from every part of their organizations.

A Connecticut middle school is painting over its mural of Paterno.

Brown University, Paterno’s alma mater, removed his name from its head coach position, a student award and may even remove him from their Hall of Fame.

Nike took Paterno’s name off of his child care center.

Paternoville, the pregame student camp, is now Nittanyville.

And civil suits are on the way.

With all of this mess, the NCAA is surprisingly holding its hand back. They’ve moved much quicker in the cases of schools such as University of South Carolina and Ohio State for infractions much smaller.

The keyword, however, is infractions.

In order for the NCAA to get involved in this kind of case, it must prove that a school has lost “institutional control” over its athletics program and violated ethics rules.

Those are the two infractions in question.

Rival fanbases are taking to social media to encourage a quicker decision, with the college football season being right around the corner. Though a decision on PSU’s fate isn’t expected to affect this season, with lawyers on both sides pointing fingers.

On the side of the school, they’re saying that the Freeh report on the investigations has inaccuracies and therefore can’t be used as reason to ruin the season.

On the other hand, undeniable proof in the Sandusky case has been out for a couple of weeks, though it may not carry enough weight for the death penalty.

It’s more complicated than giving a kid a car or a house. Those rules are on the books, and when the NCAA sniffs it out they can simply throw the book at the institution and have it done with.

This situation is new to the officials, so discretion and patience is being employed for now.

Until then, the dirt continues to pile.

Joshua Bryant can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].