Death Penalty for Penn State

[utsker]

Hey....if their program gets hit big, then it's a good thing that they're our cross division rival....pencil in those "W"s

[PimpMario]

Please change the thread title. It is misleading.

[SWVAHusker]

Even if this was a matter for the NCAA to deal with instead of the police (and I completely agree that it isn't) Penn State still wouldn't be eligible for the death penalty. People forget that the rule isn't actually called The Death Penalty Rule, that's just a nickname the media gave it. The rule is actually called The Repeat Violator Rule, the key word being Repeat. As in, if you aren't already in trouble for something else you can't get the death penalty. Because Penn State wasn't already on probation for something when this whole horrid story came to light they aren't eligible for the death penalty anyway, no matter how terrible what they did is.

Ironically, since we are currently under probation for 2 years because of the whole textbook thing we would be eligible for the death penalty if we had another major violation surface, at least until our probation is over. Go figure.

If they do somehow get involved the NCAA can actually impose penalties that are akin to the "death penalty" without having Penn State as a repeat violator.

According to the Sports Illustrated article on this issue, if the NCAA were to find a lack of institutional control NCAA rules do allow for them to be able to issue "a one-year ban on outside competition." Exactly what happened to SMU. (SMU chose not to play the second year.) As we all know the NCAA also can issue scholarship reductions. According to the article they may have the power to hit schools on scholarships retroactively. According to the article, "If the committee chose, it could wipe out an entire recruiting class."

After reading the article I'm actually, amazingly, more convinced the NCAA could do something to Penn State if they so chose. Bylaw 10.1, which discusses unethical conduct, is what the NCAA used to get Ohio State and other schools/coaches who lie to NCAA investigators. Because two of the individuals involved in the coverup were the AD and football coach the NCAA could hammer Penn State for unethical conduct by athletic department employees.

Now in order to get Penn State the NCAA would have to make an unprecedented ruling. No school has ever gotten hammered for violating Bylaw 10.1 without also getting hammered for another violation. The Sports Illustrated article makes a good point that member schools won't push for the NCAA infractions committee to wield the banhammer (video gamers will get that reference lol) because that would empower the committee to punish all sorts of recent infractions that aren't spelled out in the NCAA rulebook. For example, Oregon is claiming that their $25,000 payment to Will Lyles wasn't illegal because he wasn't a parent or a Oregon booster. Lyles is a "handler" and according to existing NCAA rules Oregon is probably going to get away with what they did in that circumstance. It's also why neither Tennessee or K-State has or will get investigated in the Bryce Brown mess. I'm quite sure something went on there, it probably just isn't currently illegal under NCAA rules.

[RussianRed]

How easy it is for us to trash Penn State, Thats to sad.

[jikastew]

Everyone involved is gone. No boosters/alumni were involved. Why bust down a school when everyone who had anything to do with the situation is gone with no possibility of a repeat offense? Doing so would punish those who had nothing to do with the situation.

[HuttoHusker]

At a minimum they should also and will pay massive civil damages. I hope they are outrageous, because I expect that is the only signficant consequence actually available.

No doubt.. they will pay dearly

[abominable snow man]

Everyone involved is gone. No boosters/alumni were involved. Why bust down a school when everyone who had anything to do with the situation is gone with no possibility of a repeat offense? Doing so would punish those who had nothing to do with the situation.

I think there's a much bigger whale than sanduskey and Penn state. Who payed all that money to second mile and Penn state, and what did they get for it.

[Full Husker]

I don't want to belabor this because I care much, much more about the great year the Huskers are having in recuriting and in getting ready for the season. Nevertheless, I do not understand the opinion that this is not an NCAA issue. We are talking about a football coach, an AD, a former assistant coach, and an university athletic facility. The analogy is to argue that when a priest molested an alter boy it was a criminal and civil issue, and the church had no role in resolving the issue. Really? The 100,000 fans who came to beaver stadium had no expectation of the moral standing of their head coach? Really? Well, we have different views, except for the Huskers. GBR

[bilsker]

Thank you for pointing it out. The lack of control thing is, apparently, widely misunderstood. The NCAA would have to do some twisting to make this an NCAA rules violation.

From what I heard on the radio earlier tonight sounds like some think the NCAA COULD make it something they could twist sufficiently to bring some heat...

[AzHusker]

From what I heard on the radio earlier tonight sounds like some think the NCAA COULD make it something they could twist sufficiently to bring some heat...

I'll be surprised if there is not an attempt. Regulating is what they do...sort of like the U.S. congress getting after steroids in baseball...makework for bureaucrats.

[OldHusker]

I think the "lack of institutional control" card is at play here. Although, I don't think it'll come to that, I do think the NCAA will do something.

And, here's why:

--Did Penn State have something to lose by this news coming to light? (Yes they did, as shown by the current negative PR, civil suits, etc.)

--Therefore, did Penn State's athletic department and football program have something to gain by keeping this a secret? (Yes)

--In doing so (keeping it a secret), was criminal behavior allowed and were people harmed? (Yes)

I don't see how the NCAA could get away without addressing this in some way.

I agree with what you are saying. I don't see how the NCAA can keep from having some type of sanctions put against PSU for what they allowed to happen inside their football program. The key here, is that PSU officials allowed illegal things to happen inside their football program during the course of many years without ever doing anything about it. They were protecting their program illegally. I just don't see how sanctions cannot be put against them.

[bilsker]

I'll be surprised if there is not an attempt. Regulating is what they do...sort of like the U.S. congress getting after steroids in baseball...makework for bureaucrats.

God don't get me started...I had a whole rant ready to go with that Clemens "perjury" thing and forgot to post it...talk about a colossal waste of money. I'm still trying to figure out what Congress was doing giving a rat's *** about 'roids in baseball.

[BubbaGene]

Hey....if their program gets hit big, then it's a good thing that they're our cross division rival....pencil in those "W"s

Oh man... guaranteed conference W's.... Huskers could use those

[Cardinal]

Hey....if their program gets hit big, then it's a good thing that they're our cross division rival....pencil in those "W"s

Instead of "W's", it could be "Byes".

[BigRedIggy]

All these issues and yet they are still doing surprisingly well in recruiting this year. What in the world are these kids thinking? I understand the vast majority of the kids are local and it was probably a lifelong dream of theirs to play for PSU but good grief open your eyes. Oh well... their choice. It will be interesting to see if any bail as civil suits start pouring in and PR continues to spiral downward. Maybe they feel it's as bad as its going to get and things have to go up from here.

I know a couple PSU grads and you can't say anything to them bad about PSU or the team and definitely not about JoePa (still). I guess most of the local recruits have that same blind loyalty.

[huskernut]

From what I heard on the radio earlier tonight sounds like some think the NCAA COULD make it something they could twist sufficiently to bring some heat...

I really don't think it's a good idea for the NCAA to get involved. They should stick to enforcing their specific rules. The NCAA's authority applies to college athletics. This was much bigger than whether or not a school cheated recruiting, or took one too many assistants on the bowl trip.

There are plenty of laws in place to deal with what happened here. Let the big boys - the police and the criminal and civil courts - deal with this. They know what they are doing.

[huskernut]

Everyone involved is gone. No boosters/alumni were involved. Why bust down a school when everyone who had anything to do with the situation is gone with no possibility of a repeat offense? Doing so would punish those who had nothing to do with the situation.

If you're talking about the NCAA, I agree with you. But the criminal courts need to bust down the administrators involved and then then the civil courts need to wallop the institution with very large damages. This was a systemic crime with full awareness by more or less the three (almost certainly) or four (probably) top administrators of a very large and wealthy institution. They need to do more than get those guys out and then go on as if nothing happened. These guys had the full faith and backing of the board and the collective constituency of the institution, so at the end of the day, the entire University enabled them.

This is more like damages paid by an asbestos company to workers it should have told would get mesothelioma, long after the original management of the company has been removed. The company as a whole is liable. Both as compensation to the victims and as a lesson for other institutions, those damages should be big.