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The NCAA has banned Penn State from college football bowl participation for four years, fined the university $60 million, vacated 110 victories from 1998 to 2011, and enabled all football scholarship athletes at the school to transfer without having to sit out a year. The harsh penalties stopped short of the “death penalty” but imposed perhaps the most that could otherwise be done in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
The vacating of the 110 victories over a thirteen-year span will kick the late Joe Paterno out of the record books, reducing his all-time victories below Bobby Bowden and three other coaches. 1998 was used as the cutoff date because that was the beginning of the long coverup of former defensive coordinator Sandusky’s abusive activities, according to the Freeh report. Sandusky has been convicted in state court and is awaiting sentencing.
Penn State also must reduce scholarship offers from 25 to 15 over the next four years. In addition, the Big Ten announced that Penn State will not receive proceeds from bowl games from other teams in the conference over the next four years, as per the norm. The $60 million fine and the roughly $13 million in lost bowl revenue will be put toward programs dedicated to protecting children from sexual abuse, according to the NCAA and the Big Ten. $60 million is roughly what Penn State brings into the university from their football program on an annual basis.
“Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said at a news conference in Indianapolis. “For the next several years, Penn State can focus on rebuilding its athletic culture, not on whether it’s going to a bowl game.” [...]
In a statement, Penn State President Rodney Erickson said, “It is important to know we are entering a new chapter at Penn State and making necessary changes.
“We must create a culture in which people are not afraid to speak up, management is not compartmentalized, all are expected to demonstrate the highest ethical standards, and the operating philosophy is open, collegial, and collaborative,” he said.
Some attorneys have suggested that the NCAA imposing sanctions stemming not from rules violations but a criminal matter would not be allowed. But the NCAA went ahead, relying on the interpretation that Penn State lost institutional control of the athletic program by covering up for Sandusky’s abuse.
There’s a fine line to draw on accountability between those responsible for the situation and those student-athletes caught up in it who will bear the inevitable burden of the penalties. But with the freedom of movement afforded to the scholarship athletes, the NCAA tried to draw that line while also addressing the serious nature of the scandal.
The statue of Joe Paterno that stood outside Penn State’s stadium was removed this weekend.
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Here’s a perverse opportunity. Penn State has an excuse to chuck out athletics UFN, and get back to the three R’s.
Good. Division I athletics is a cancer on higher education.
Several people have pointed out that when Sandusky ‘retired’ early, still apparently in the prime of his career, no other school took him. Reports by Sandusky’s victims show that trips to away games and banquets out of state were some of the bait, including sitting at the head table with Sandusky. So, I have to wonder, who else knew, at how many other schools?
I agree with Charlie Pierce:
The Hammer Drops at Penn State
How will the university finance itself without football.
I wouldn’t call it ‘harsh’, DDay. I’d call it insufficient.
Notice that the University signed on, and isn’t complaining. That’s rather telling. They were probably expecting worse.
great dialogue came from someone in my office;
first person) “This really tarnishes paternos legacy”
second person) “this IS his legacy’
You may be right, but as a “cancer” it’s a big money maker, and most of these schools are more into self perpetuation than they are into the task of education. The populace loves their big time college sports, imo, even more than they do professional sports. Just like people love their guns, no one is going to try to curtail what millions enjoy.
All good.
I’d have liked to see a year or two of the “death penalty”, but this aint a slap-on-the-wrist.
I also like vacating those wins…to move Paterno off the top of the wins list.
It’ll be interesting to see how many of their players decide to move to a bowl-eligible program and away from Penn State. I’m guessing quite a few of them.
“…and isn’t complaining…”
They had not one inch of slack to complain.
If the NCAA told them to replace Paterno’s statue, with one of the Nittany Lion being buggered by an Abyssinian jackass, they would have had to ask:
“Any particular color you’d like?”
same guy, another great line (he believes in death penalty);
“they should exhume him and shoot him in the head”
My point exactly. The University was expecting the worst and had resigned themselves to it. The NCAA pulled the punch.
This is a racket.
The athletes risk permanent injury every time they walk onto the field, yet they are paid nothing; and the colleges they represent are plantations that actually benefit very few.
Nice analogy.
It is still amazing that the NCAA did this. I expected the kind of punishment reserved for banks. This one actually has teeth. I wonder if it isn’t because Penn State Football is not TBTF. There are a lot of players out there, and the NCAA loses nothing in revenue by slapping down Penn State. Releasing its players to find another team to make their reputation on is a give-away.
As noted above, the business is a racket that exploits kids and their parents, who are hoping to win the lottery at the risk of a brain concussion.
I haven’t really followed the nitty gritty details about this, but wouldn’t Sandusky, Paterno’s estate (he’s dead, right?) and Penn State be positioned for numerous civil suits from the victims? While the consensus is that this is a harsh punishment, any awards and damages that could come about from those civil suits would make it that much worse!
If they can’t, then sell the site for a trailer park or condos. . .
I thought it was a pretty good lick, myself. I wouldn’t have minded it being even harder, but Penn State’s football program was given a fair reaming. Given the numbers of blue-chippers who will probably leave, and the difficulty they’ll have in recruiting, they’re going to move to doormat status in the Big 12.
I don’t know what their intersectional game schedule is, but I’m thinking that any big name out-of-conference opponents would quietly pay to drop them.
“…numerous civll suits…?”
‘Gal! You jes’ betcha!
The victims list will be a hot item for Pennsylvania lawyers…and should be. The NCAA “drop” is just the first shoe.
Can you say “Catholic-Church-payout precedent”?
If I, as a person, had covered up the sexual abuse of multiple kids over the span of 3 decades, I would go to prison for at least 10 years or so. Why does the Penn State football program not face the same consequence?
The entire program should’ve been shut down. I think fair would’ve been excluding their football program from NCAA competition for 13 years, the same amount of time that they covered up the abuse.
True. I think the NCAA has to move to some kind of modest cash payout. How it will be structured, and when it will happen, is not known, but just like the playoff, it will happen.
I should also add that I don’t necessarily agree with the NCAA’s authority in this situation to levy some of the penalties they did, like the $60M fine. PSU is a public institution, and the NCAA a non-profit. Do they legally have the ability to fine a University in this manner? I think it’s a bit sketchy.
Excluding PSU from NCAA sanctioned competition, however, is entirely within the rules.
I think a monthly stipend for college athletes is a wonderful idea. With the billions of dollars thrown around now at the college level, I think it’s only fair that the boys and girls actually producing the product be compensated in some way. Although, one could argue that the education they’re receiving free of charge is compensation in itself.
I’m with you on this.
OTOH, I do think that there are people who are being punished, athletes at this school (in the midst of their athletic careers), who did nothing wrong. I have a problem with that. UNderstand I had friends who were affected by the real “death penalty” SMU suffered.
INdeed, at some of these schoold a “free ride” for 4 years s worth a qyarter million dollars.
The principle of mass punishment, for people who had nothing to do with this, other than their zealous and sometimes overzealous support, for the Penn State program, has been established. I’m not against it, but I think that letting them function at a much lower level of success, while bearing the onus of what some of the authorities allowed to continue, along with everything else, is about right. Allowing the players there to leave with no time restriction is a huge blow to the program
.
Likewise, Paterno is damned forever. No chance for rehab…nor, for his family, despite all their pissing and moaning. Spanier is utterly tarred, as are some of the others most responsible for the cover-up.
All in all, not a bad result, especially considering that the coming lawsuits, even if they’re settled out of court (and boy, would I like to negotiate some of those…) are probably going to equal, if not exceed, that $60 mil.
The NCAA has offered to allow all of the athletes to transfer without being ‘red-shirted’. They can shift to other schools and play immediately.
The blame lies with Penn State, not with the NCAA. The NCAA didn’t do this. Penn State ruined their reputation, their football program, and the lives of young men by allowing this to happen in the halls of their institution. If student athletes suffer because of the fallout, they have only Jerry Sandusky, Joe Parteno, and the others at Penn State to blame.
True. My wife and I were discussing the penalties this morning and agreed it’s the equivalent to a ’25 to life’ sentence. If the Penn State program is ever successful again, it will be at least a couple of decades from now. Their recruiting ability has taken a huge hit, their funding is severely compromised, and their reputation is in the toilet.
All well-earned by the University staff that allowed these atrocities to happen, IMHO.
I understand. But innocent people are “suffering”. Many of hte athlestes in the program may likely NOT get a deal at another school. Besides, they may not want to go to another school.
I’m not saying I have a solution. Just that the innoicent are being punished along with the 4-5 obviously guilty people. And Paterno, not so much.
I sispect he and Ken Lay are playing pinocle. Assuming they are not sweating too much on the cards.
It took SMU ten years to rebuild their program. That is to say, just to get it “back”. Your 25 years for PSU may be very accurate.
I don’t get this. The entire football program did this?? the main part of the “football program” consists of the players on the field. Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno, Graham Spanier, Tim Curley etc committed crimes and covered them up, not the entire football program. Read Kevin Gostozla’s excellent article up thread on what happened. This is a criminal and civil case to be judged by criminal and civil courts. This has nothing to do with the NCAA as Kevin outlined. Emmert acted as judge, jury, and executioner as NCAA president. this matter is outside his authority….this is an extension of NDAA mentality.
I was pondering, as I often do, and came to the conclusion that it would be good of the NCAA to take a chunk of that $60M fine and use that money to assist the student athletes at PSU in relocating to other schools. Also use a chunk of it to pay the scholarships at these other schools (most universities have already committed their athletic scholarships for the year, obviously), and write exemptions for each of these schools to add the additional scholarships.
Dude, I think you and me are in the minority.
don;t tell Kris I said that.
Ya’ know. That’s a good idea. Ya did some good “pondering”
That’s why I am fan. You notice how smart all of us commenters are from Texas????
I’ve read Kevin’s piece, thanks. Commented on it, too.
While the NCAA may not have legal authority to levy a fine against Penn State, they certainly have the right to sanction Penn State’s ability to participate in NCAA sports. They are the body that governs national sporting at the collegiate level and PSU chooses to participate. The NCAA has every right to limit a participant based on that participants actions as an institution, on or off the field.
And when I refer to the football program, I of course refer to the institutional side of the program, not the athletes themselves. Read my other comments and I’m sure you’ll get some better context for my statements.
Smart Texans end up on the internet a lot. There are so few of us that we’re forced to look outside our local community to find like-minded individuals.
Me, the old cynic, says this is a sacrifice play, a limited hangout. And the other places that are just as bad and perhaps in the same way, will hope that nobody will look too hard in their direction. This goes *way* beyond Penn State.
At my high school it was the principal and the cook (!) but the network was larger, as I found out years later. Spread into one other local high school that I know of (art teacher) and most likely much further. No one ever got caught, in a tiny town, so I assume that the cops were in on it too.
I like the way you think.
You just break me up. Indeed. BIG state. Lotta miles between us smart Texans. That;s what you meant, right????
You know, sometimes I go to Hooters.
Oh, I’m not saying there a smart people there.
I just go.
It’s cuz I’m part Pisces and part vindictive sonofabitch.
Indeed. Me living down the street from oldnslow and cbl could be considered a ‘dense’ level of population distribution when it comes to smart Texans.
tejanarusa, Margaret, Ruth, RevBev, you… There are a bunch of us here. But we’re albinos in our communities.
I’m young enough and marginally attractive enough to have landed a smokin’ hot wife, so I don’t frequent the Hooters. I just hang out with her :)
Paterno and the admin at Penn State were fond of saying that the program was about more than winning.
Over the next decade, they’ll have the chance to prove it. :o)
Just a question, did the SMU death penalty act to clean up all corruption at the division 1 NCAA level?? These punishments will fix nothing in the corruption at big time college sports. Emmert simply gets to be a hero for making an example at Penn State. Perhaps it is deserved. Perhaps not. I honestly can’t say. Just another case of an evil alpha male, Paterno, doing whatever he could to protect himself and it all came crashing down.
What really needs to happen is for the NCAA to ban every single big time football and basketball program for one year and re-evaluate things seriously. This PSU stuff is meaningless in the long run as was the SMU death penalty. It accomplished nothing long term in the corruptness.
The only thing good about this is unlike the morons in the Catholic church hierarchy covering up heinous crimes for years with no repercussions, people are paying for this at PSU. People lost jobs (even their pope prior to his death!!), and penalties are being paid.
I used to be there. Been married 42 years now. We enjoy our grandaughter (11 months old) but argue most of the rest of the time. Just a “heads up”.
Actually I only go to Hooters for the onion rings. And rarely to be honest. I think I was born 20 years too early.
You go to Hooters for the onion rings like men read Playboy for the articles.
I’m waving the bullshit flag!
I don’t know anyone who’s saying that Emmert is a hero.
He, and the NCAA did what they should have done. In fact, they did what they HAD to do. The slightest appearance of a slap-on-the-wrist, and the tar would have been sloshing up on them.
Some people think they should have done more. Practically no one, on here at least, thinks the punishment was excessive.
It’s sad to say it, but SMU was not a paragon of college football, neither in terms of winning, nor, of Paterno’s much-preached-about running of a clean program. It was relatively easy to hit SMU hard. Not so, Penn State. They are now permanently stigmatized for moral issues that go far beyond recruiting or grade-altering scandals.
Also, today, there is a growing feeling that celebrity sports in general (and that certainly includes college sports…) are out of hand, in terms of the compensation that coaches and some players get, as well as the slack they get for outrageous and sometimes criminal behavior.
Every coach of every college athletic program is now on notice that they and their staffs and their players are not above the law.
The president and board of every college and university are now on notice that they HAVE be aware of, and take public responsibility for, what’s going on in their athletic programs. I will be very surprised if there are not some quiet “retirements” of coaches whose institutions have decided that no matter their winning record, they have become liabilities instead of assets.
I’m just not sure. What Penn State football player was convicted of a crime and covering up a crime in the Jerry Sandusky matter?? To me it reeks of Lyndie England type thing…just step on the meat. In this case 18 to 23 year old kids take the brunt of crimes committed by others. The stench of college athletics is massive and complete. I simply think this was an easy case with easy prey to make the NCAA appear “moral” and “tough”. the complete opposite is true and will continue to be true.
It also reeks to me of the Iraq war runup where all the talking heads were in general agreement and those dissenting were just morons. I have reached the point where when everyone agrees on something like this…all the “experts”, I tend to reach the opposite conclusion. Punish Paterno…yes, take away his records, punish Spanier…no one every give him another job, punish Tim Curley…send Sandusky to prison for life. Punish the 18 to 23 year old kids just doesn’t sit well with me.
Put the NCAA in charge of Wall Street
I’m of two minds on the removal of the wins from the books. Though it is galling for Paterno to continue to be honored for his time spent covering up for a pedophile while coaching, Paterno didn’t win on his own. He made no touchdowns, kicked no field goals, got no yards rushing. There were a hell of a lot of other people who were intrinsic in each and every win on the books. So there are a hell of a lot of additional people who get to suffer for Paterno’s betrayal.