Hey Folks,

Well, by the time you read this post, you will have known what kind of sanctions were imposed on Penn State for the child molestation scandal.

That doesn't even include the sanctions that will be announced by the Big Ten Conference.

Do you folks feel that the NCAA imposed the right amount of sanctions?

Should more have been done?

My opinion? I think the NCAA gave out the right amount of sanctions, especially the part about reducing the scholarships from 35 to 15 for the next 4 years. That more than anything will fuck up Penn State not only for the next 4 years, but at least 4-5 years beyond the conclusion of the sanctions.

Your thoughs?

sunrosc

A lot of people think that this is worse than the death penalty, but I disagree. At least they're going to have an active program with a team on the field, with practice, and with fans in the stands. with the death penalty, they wouldn't even have that. Also, the Big Ten announced that Penn State would be ineligible for the comference championship game and would forfeit their share of money from bowl games.

violations it may not be enough. If they wanted to make a statement then it should have been the death penalty.

allow the kids to transfer and waive the year eligibility clause.

My comparison is USC. They were hit w/NCAA sanctions a few years ago as result of Reggie Bush receiving improper benefits, i.e. cash, a car, blah, blah, blah.

USC gets hit with a 2 year bowl ban, PSU 4 years. USC like PSU's scholarships were reduced to 15 for 3 years, while PSU was reduced for 4 years. USC is in its 2nd year of reduced scholarships. They will be ranked either #1 or #2 at the beginning of this season. Instead of recruiting 25 or 35 kids, they will have the best recruiting class in the history of recruiting for 2013. Their 15 scholarships are all 5 or 4 star athletes. They are getting real good at recruiting.

PSU gets hit with a $60M fine, which I have no clue where they money comes from considering PSU is a public university. I guess it comes from the taxpayers, or student fees.

Am I missing something? Is there some loss to TV revenue? What happened at PSU was unconscionable, and their penalty is not even 2X USC's. Something is not right.

P.S. I'm a Bruin, and I hate everything about USC (lol).

I have no problem with the sanctions-I do though wonder out loud why the NCAA would automatically elevate Bobby Bowden to number one in wins and yes I know the record calls for it.
However, if Louis Freeh did the same level of review into FSU's seasons that they did to Paterno's (after all-FSU isn't referred to as "Free Shoes University" for nothing-they would skip Ol' Bobby and give it to Eddie Robinson on a permanent basis then throw the statistic out for good as it is now a useless number.  Penn State got hammered because they let a deviate pervert hang around-not for recruiting violations, or juicing players!!

I disagree-they have been hit with an extreme penalty for an extreme set of long term ongoing issues that even the NCAA would have-over that period of time-had wind of........however......the team that is there now-the staff-etc....had nothing to do with this deal....so once it is lifted let it be...I still don't feel that Bobby Bowden should be recognized as the winningest coach-a better approach would have been to eliminate that statistic as it has no relevancy in anything.  By the way-really like your website-Perhaps we can get together sometime and hash out our views on this deal over a drink!!

Student athletes are allowed to transfer with immediate eligibility if the school is banned from postseason play provided they have the number of years of elgibility left equal to or less than the number of years of the ban.  Obvioiusly with a four year ban, all PSU players can transfer.  With the case at USC, since they were only banned 2 years only Juniors and Seniors could transer and play right away.

Your USC comparison has no merit whatsoever.  A few examples:

Ohio State had SEVERAL players caught selling off school memorabilia...the school knew about it...the coach lied to the NCAA about it....yet they were still allowed to play in the bowl game (after some serious lobbying by the bowl committee president)...and they only got a one year bowl ban and no loss of scholarships.  (BTW, FBS programs are allowed to have 85 full scholarships per year, not 35).  They were cited with a lack of institutional control...the same thing that USC was cited for.

UCLA had a player (DeShaun Foster) who was seen driving around campus in a new SUV given to him by an agent.  The coaches saw him, you know some people in the administration saw him...yet they got NO sanctions (probation, a mere slap on the wrist).  He was named ineligible for the remainder of the season, but UCLA did not vacate any wins, lose any scholarships, or lose any post season games.

USC had one player receive improper benefits and the NCAA handed out the worst sanctions since SMU.  Clearly they made an example out of USC (as any college football analyst will say).  Should they have been punished..absolutely.  Should it have been nearly as harsh (or basically half of what Penn State got)...hell no.  Any one other than a UCLA fan will agree to that.

The $60M fine that PSU was slapped with is the average revenue that the football team brings in every year.  Your large football schools (PSU, Michigan, Alabama....) generate roughly $90M a year in football related  revenue, or 95% of the athletic revenue.  Football teams spend approximately 70%  of that revenue....the remainder finances the other sports teams.  Basically, all PSU athletic programs wil sufffer as a result of this.   Considering that this went to the top of the university, they are lucky to be allowed to field any teams this year.

Was USC unfairly targeted? Absolutely! I get your points re UCLA, Ohio State, but considering what PSU did, I believe the penalty should have been harsher. I was trying to emphasize how adroit USC has been in dealing with the penalties, specifically their recruiting approach, and how you can effectively manage your program even with significant sanctions.

The question on sports radio today has been how long will it be before PSU is competitive again, i.e. top 25 ranking? Do you hand out a punishment that basically neuters their football program for 10 years? If they follow the USC model, they could be back within 5 or 6 years.

I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon reading the Freeh Report.
My tv was tuned to ESPN all day...Didn't get naked so what's a girl to do! Anyway...what bugs me is the constant whining and complaining that the sanctions are so tough and all because of one man, Sandusky.

Everyone at Penn State should have the Freeh report as required reading.
The report is an eyeopener. When Paterno tells Sandusky that he has to choose between "Second Mile"or football and family, it's like he's saying either you give up your boy toys or no head football coaching position.
The schools most powerful leaders knew they had a 'Pandora's Box" and even used that same term in 2001 when Sandusky was caught in the shower....they asked between them  if The Pandora's Box was going to be opened?"
When Penn States most powerful leaders let Sandusky USE Penn State to rape his victims even after he retires in 1999....what kind of sanctions does the school deserve?

If you haven't read the report...check it out. It tells it all and it is revolting and sickening.
Forget about football and bowl games and take a look at how far school officials and super heroes like Joe Paterno will go.....for the good of the program??
It's mind blowing

I am a Big Ten Fan.  I have my own opinions on the Penn State football sanctions which what happened today by the NCAA. Take a different approach to this... whole situation.
If Joe Paterno was still alive, would he or not be indicted as a conspirator to Sandusky's crimes? YES!  
Was Joe Paterno the first thing you thought of when you said "Penn State" YES!  
Did Joe Paterno notify his immediate boss of the situation? Yes
After notifying his boss, did Joe Paterno keep his friend Sundusky around the coaching staff and access to the sports complex, locker rooms, football stadium? Yes
Was Joe Paterno responsible for everything football? Yes
Was Joe Paterno and a whole list of administrators guilty once they knew and tried to hide it? Yes
Why did Penn State athletic and administration boards write a memo for record, telling the NCAA they will not fight whatever the NCAA gives for punishment? Even now... noone at Penn State wants to take charge and clean their "own" house....they want someone else to be the bad guy and Penn State University can be the victim from the sanctions.... the victims were young boys that had terrible things done to them.
   Personnally take all those who knew about the crimes and take them to Indonesia where rape is handled by taking broom sticks up the rapists asses or have their dicks cut off.(sanctions look pretty good right now)!

by vacating all his wins from 1998..the NCAA is simply trying to eliminate JOE from any future discussion as the winningest or the best..if he would have come clean when he had the chance..he would be..what goes around comes around..

I see your point and agree that the penalty should have beeh harsher. But the next step would have been the death penalty.  Going there would have opened up a whole new set of issues.  It is the duty of the NCAA to monitor schools and there adherance to NCAA policies.  What PSU did was more of a criminal matter than a policy one (I emphasize the word "more").  You are really starting to get into dangerous territory there.  I don't think the NCAA wanted to go there.

I think this puts them back 10 years. No recruit will want to go there with no hope of going to a bowl game....they will basically lose 3 years of blue chip recurits....they will suck for 6 years...and take 4 years to rebuild.  It took SMU 25 years to reach a bowl game.  (BTW, watch the 30 for 30 show on ESPN about the SMU sanctions...great stuff!!!).

And to think that the new BCS system will eliminate any question marks about college football....HA!!

I love the fact that we have sprited debates on college football and it is only July!!!!!

They are erasing history. I don't give a shit about NCAA sports, but you don't erase history.

when during that time they were aware that a predator molested young boys in their house and they looked the other way to protect themselves and the university and keep their precious reputation?
They enabled Sandusky. They are just as sick.
Penn State is lucky that they are just losing their team records for those years and not the revenue.
I wish cheaters records would be erased too.
Maybe we should leave their name in the world record but next too it just mention it was erased and why....gambled on games, paid off players, Head Coach closed eyes while coach was raping 10 yr old boys in shower as he DAILY walked by for who knows..maybe 30 years?

While I do agree with removing jopa from the record books thereby making him NOT the winningest coach. Negating all those wins also removes all those players too.
Yes it has been said a million times they had nothing to do with and had no knowledge of all the vile disgusting acts upon those kids.and I’ll say it again , the players had nothing to do with it.
Now the players who won all those games, including many bowl victories is off the books too.
I just wish there was a way to remove the names of the guilty and leave the rest in tact.

I have no problems with any of the other sanctions.

I do hope there will be others going to prison for a long time for their actions in the cover up.


Also it will be interesting to see how many of the 106,000 plus seats in the stadium are filled this season.


Thank you
2012 = 28  

Sandusky and Paterno no longer exist now, if they don't exist it didn't happen.

Maybe we should leave their name in the world record but next too it just mention it was erased and why.

That's what I think should happen.

You can't re-write history, and Joe Pa is still the winningest coach in college football history in most minds.

and in most minds... he enabled a child rapist!

agree 100%. the ncaa is guilty of "erasing history" much more often than just this one time though. i think it is a dumb penalty. i will ALWAYS know JoePa is THE coach in college football. reggie bush will ALWAYS be a heisman winner. the fab 5 will ALWAYS have 2 ncaa tourney title games under their belts. we just need to ignore the ncaa and the bs they try to pass.

fine them, give them the bowl ban, take some scholarships away...take them off of tv for a few years...whatever you want. 2 things you cant do...1. try to pretend like these games were never played AND won, and 2. the "death penalty". im just glad they were smart enough to not go hard after the second.

Vern,

You cannot erase the history of child rape by that Jerry "I'm A Pedophile" Sandusky did for 13 years.

Since you don't give a shit about the NCAA, then why are you worried about Penn State's football history?

sunrosc

Mancave...

Sorry... a coach who covered up the pedophile for 13 years deserves to have his wins during that period vacated. Period.

sunrosc

DITTO!!

Kweezy,

If we follow your logic...

We should ignore the Penn State football coach named Joe Paterno and his bosses covered up a pedophile for 13 years.

We should try to pretend that whole child rapist did not happen.

No freakin' way!! It's NOT going to happen!!

Your logic is all wrong.

Penn State almost got the 4 years of the "death penalty"... and that *may* still happen if the NCAA, the Justice Department and other agencies find more evidence of wrongdoing.

sunrosc

i did not say lets pretend it never happened. show me where i said that. go ahead, im waiting..........do NOT put words in my mouth. i CLEARLY said you CANT erase history. these punishments are the NCAA trying to erase the past. that is all this is. the NCAA trying to look like they did something about it. it is very pathetic that they want to punish these young boys for what some old men did. not to mantion how spineless they are to be attacking the legacy of a man that is not here to defend himself. all the other people who knew, i would bet my left nut at least 20, and they arent being crucified like paterno. hell, paterno is catching more heat for all of this than sandusky is. how is that possible???? only in america, land of the free and home of the idiotic