Worst Scandal of All Time

[TheSultan]

Again, it can be dealt with in the courts AND by the NCAA. There is nothing saying that both can't handle it.

However, the issue is clearly relevant to the athletic program. You have an institutional cover up of serious crimes of a former assistant football coach by the football coach, the athletic director and the president of the university. If you can't punish the athletic program of the institution for something like that, the NCAA is a bigger joke than it is even made out to be.

And the "guilty party" from the NCAA point of view is the institution...not just the individual people. It was a complete organizational breakdown. Part of what the NCAA is doing is making sure that the athletic department is operating correctly in the future - and that is certainly relevant to its authority. It's like saying you can't fine a corporation for something they did wrong 20 years ago because the management and shareholders changed. It doesn't work that way.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Why the need for the NCAA to give them what is probably worse than the death penalty? These sanctions will hurt every athletic program at PSU as the financial penalties will result in cuts to all PSU sports. The NCAA has now determined that on top of issuing penalties, they can fine schools significant amounts of money.

I'm sure PSU agreed with the NCAA sanctions as they had little time to react, and the public outcry was to ban football.

Why the need? Because this isn't just about the guilty parties. It's also about preventing this in the future. This sends a message not just to the guilty parties, but also anyone who had suspicions and did nothing. The wealthy boosters, the athletes both past and present that may have known or suspected what Sandusky was up to, the lesser coaches and staff members that had heard the rumblings, and those at other universities where something like this might be happening. There needed to be a bold statement that said if this is allowed, we will crush your program, because for all those aforementioned people that had knowledge or suspicions but won't be punished, they also have to know that there is a consequence for those actions.

Do innocents get hurt? Sure, a bit. Is this damning to the athletes that are allowed to transfer? Not much, they can still compete immediately. Is losing wins over the past decade really going to tarnish the reputations of the athletes that were there at the time? I don't think so. Is there collateral damage? Sure, but there's always some collateral damage. But that collateral damage is exactly what should prevent this from happening again either at PSU or somewhere else.

As far as the PSU reaction to the sanctions...this morning it came out that the initial NCAA plan was a four-year death penalty. I imagine this is far more appealing to all involved, though why the NCAA would allow PSU to pick their punishment is beyond me. If the plan was a four-year death penalty, then I see no reason they shouldn't simply impose that plan.

[MUMac]

Why the need? Because this isn't just about the guilty parties. It's also about preventing this in the future. This sends a message not just to the guilty parties, but also anyone who had suspicions and did nothing. The wealthy boosters, the athletes both past and present that may have known or suspected what Sandusky was up to, the lesser coaches and staff members that had heard the rumblings, and those at other universities where something like this might be happening. There needed to be a bold statement that said if this is allowed, we will crush your program, because for all those aforementioned people that had knowledge or suspicions but won't be punished, they also have to know that there is a consequence for those actions.

Do innocents get hurt? Sure, a bit. Is this damning to the athletes that are allowed to transfer? Not much, they can still compete immediately. Is losing wins over the past decade really going to tarnish the reputations of the athletes that were there at the time? I don't think so. Is there collateral damage? Sure, but there's always some collateral damage. But that collateral damage is exactly what should prevent this from happening again either at PSU or somewhere else.

As far as the PSU reaction to the sanctions...this morning it came out that the initial NCAA plan was a four-year death penalty. I imagine this is far more appealing to all involved, though why the NCAA would allow PSU to pick their punishment is beyond me. If the plan was a four-year death penalty, then I see no reason they shouldn't simply impose that plan.

You don't think jail time, scandal and loss of job/image doesn't send a message? So, the NCAA's responsibility is to send a message here - but when it is something specific they are supposed to police, they ignore?

If it was institutional and to send a message - why is this limited to football? Really, the issue is with the university - that is what Sultan and others have said. If that is the issue, then all sports should be implicated, not just football.

As for the student athlete's ability to transfer, yeah right. That is a real option for most of these athletes. You do realize that most camps start in a couple of weeks. A lot of time to look into a transfer. Yeh, they are not impacted much at all.

As I said, I will not change anyone's mind, nor they mine, but frankly this comment really seemed oddly placed. Bizarre to me.

That will be my last comment on this matter, as I said - no one's mind will be changed by comments on this board.

[Goose85]

...As far as the PSU reaction to the sanctions...this morning it came out that the initial NCAA plan was a four-year death penalty. I imagine this is far more appealing to all involved, though why the NCAA would allow PSU to pick their punishment is beyond me. If the plan was a four-year death penalty, then I see no reason they shouldn't simply impose that plan.

Normally this type of process takes a year or more. The NCAA conducts an extensive review. The NCAA presents its findings to the school. The school gets a certain amount of time to review the results of the findings, and then responds to the NCAA. The NCAA then reviews the schools response and decides on a final penalty. This process often takes a very long time, which is why those involved are often gone when penalties are finally imposed.

In this case (due to the nature of the events) it was in everyones best interest to just resolve it quickly. The NCAA leveraged heavily on the Freeh report. PSU didn't want to have to go back to the NCAA and fight sanctions as they would then be perceived as viewing football and their athletic programs as more important. Best case is for all to settle on violations quickly and be done.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

You don't think jail time, scandal and loss of job/image doesn't send a message? So, the NCAA's responsibility is to send a message here - but when it is something specific they are supposed to police, they ignore?

If it was institutional and to send a message - why is this limited to football? Really, the issue is with the university - that is what Sultan and others have said. If that is the issue, then all sports should be implicated, not just football.

As for the student athlete's ability to transfer, yeah right. That is a real option for most of these athletes. You do realize that most camps start in a couple of weeks. A lot of time to look into a transfer. Yeh, they are not impacted much at all.

As I said, I will not change anyone's mind, nor they mine, but frankly this comment really seemed oddly placed. Bizarre to me.

That will be my last comment on this matter, as I said - no one's mind will be changed by comments on this board.

No, I don't think that jail time, scandal, and loss of image sends the message they want to send. Not to the boosters, not to the unaffected but knowledgeable coaches. I agree it shouldn't be limited to football. Mainly because I have no doubt this knowledge went beyond the football staff. Looking back, I still don't think it's coincidence that Ed DeChellis left when he did, a move that seemed crazy at the time. And if these SAs weren't looking into transfers already over the past year, they have themselves to blame. And I have no doubt that rival coaches have been sniffing around PSU for awhile, expecting something like this. Maybe they won't all be able to transfer into an Alabama or Oregon, but do you really think the average PSU player can't quickly fit in at a non-BCS level school? I might just have a higher estimation of PSU's players, but I have a feeling they'd manage okay.