Ralph Wilson for The New York Times  Donald Miller is a coach in Mill Hall, Pa., a small town near Penn State where the youth athletic program has been shaken.  The case of Jerry Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator for Penn State’s football team accused of child sexual abuse, is now working its way through the courts. But it is already having an impact on thousands of other coaches, both volunteer and paid, who find themselves facing new scrutiny from parents, sports organizations and even state legislators.  Since the Penn State scandal came to light in November, lawmakers in more than a dozen states, including New York, California and Pennsylvania, have introduced bills adding coaches, athletic directors or university officials to the list of “mandated reporters” of suspected child abuse or neglect. In the past month, such bills have been signed in Virginia, Washington and West Virginia, with several other states expected to follow suit.  While the bills vary, some would impose significant punishments, including fines, felony charges and potential prison time for coaches or officials who violate the new laws that require the authorities to be notified.  Taken as a whole, the bills are meant to guard against what critics of Penn State said was a lax response by officials there — including the late coach Joe Paterno — that may have allowed Mr. Sandusky to continue his contact with children for years after suspicions of abuse arose.  “What we saw in Penn State was a conspiracy of silence, and that’s what my bill is directly aimed at,” said State Representative Kevin Boyle, a Democrat who introduced a bill in Pennsylvania in mid-November. “I want to stop institutions that keep sex abuse under wraps.”  According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks such laws, most states spell out exactly which professions must report child abuse, including everyone from teachers to social workers to health care providers. Legislators say the proposed new laws are not meant to cast doubt on innocent coaches, but to close loopholes in states where they are not explicitly named in abuse-reporting laws.  “Hopefully, this is a positive step rather than a punitive step,” said Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, the California Democrat who sponsored one of the state’s several pending reporting bills.  Background checks of potential coaches are also on the rise, as are efforts to close gaps in such inquiries. This month, the National Council of Youth Sports is expected to announce expanded and tightened criteria, specifically adding any conviction or pending charges involving indecent exposure, prostitution or a crime involving harm to a minor to a list of “red lights” meant to warn sports leagues away from questionable volunteers.  The new guidelines, expected to be used by leagues in a range of sports to determine who can coach, are meant to strengthen a set of “zero tolerance” guidelines that already list crimes like cruelty to animals and drug possession as potentially disqualifying offenses, no matter when the violation occurred.  “If somebody wants to volunteer, and thinks they shouldn’t because they are worried about whatever happened to them in the past, then don’t,” said Sally S. Johnson, executive director of the council. “I’m sure there’s other people out there who want to coach.”  For all the concrete changes affecting coaches, the new oversight has also led to more subtle shifts in attitudes and approaches. “I know my players’ parents would never suspect me of misconduct,” said Raven Scott, a college volleyball player at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., who also coaches 14-year-old girls. “Yet at the same time, I know that they are now even more inclined to be present at practices to monitor with that ‘just to be safe’ mentality.”  Coaches, many of whom are parents themselves, said they were more conscious of how they communicate with players. Some said they had taken to sending more e-mails and texts to teams to provide a record of interactions in case accusations ever arise, while others said they had also shifted how they congratulate winners or console losers.
As a result of the Penn State scandal, lawmakers in many states are proposing rules that specify who would be required to report cases of child abuse or neglect.