The Pen State case
The first step would be to report any violations by any stakeholders immediately to the NCAA. If more violations are reported in a prompt and timely manner, offenders will be effectively reprimanded (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015). As a result, fewer violations would occur since the reporting violations would serve as a deterrent to other future offenders. Self-reporting of violations and cases of non-compliance by coaches and institutions would also mitigate the effects of the offenses. For instance, in the Penn State case, the timely reporting of the unethical conduct of the assistant coach would have meant fewer students would have been sexually assaulted. Therefore, the cover-up by the university and the head coach was a mistake since a proactive response would have been more effective. The Pen State case shows that prompty reporting violations to the NCAA for action is a proactive way of promoting ethics and compliance in the sport.
University administrators should use the NCAA guidelines as a minimum benchmark for ethical conduct in their sports programs. These guidelines provide a framework for compliance and ethics in the sport while stipulating the consequences for non-compliance (Harrison-Dyer, 2011). University administrators and coaches can use the NCAA guidelines as a benchmark to formulate football programs that emphasize ethical conduct. The universities can use these programs to run their sporting activities in an ethical manner that is compliant with set rules and guidelines. However, researchers have found that money in college sports sometimes blind administrators to the unethical conduct of student-athletes and coaches. Therefore, by using NCAA guidelines as a benchmark for ethical conduct may act as a moral compass to university administrators. The realization of the importance of the guidelines set by the NCAA and their use as a benchmark for ethical conduct, helps universities have an effective proactive approach of promoting ethics in college football.
Lastly, universities should focus on building an ethical culture in their sports programs through education and training. Universities need to build internal structures for promoting ethics in sports (Burton & Peachey, 2014). For instance, ethical conduct can be encouraged through training courses and periodic educational seminars on the importance of ethical conduct in sports. The periodic workshops will instill an ethical culture among the students and employees. For instance, in the Ohio State case, the students would never have traded their sports gear for tattoos if they were conscious of the unethical attributes of their actions. Therefore, Ohio state university should have instilled a culture of ethics and compliance in its students to deter them from taking part in such violations. Ultimately, the development of training courses for students and employees is a proactive step in promoting ethics and compliance in college football.