Penn State Penalties

**wickedsolo** · 07-23-2012, 09:12 AM

Don't know if anyone posted this already:
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports...hip-reduction/

1) A $60 million fine, the funds of which go to external programs for child abuse. According to the NCAA, that amount “cannot come at the expense of non-revenue sports or student-athlete scholarships.”

2) A four-year postseason ban.

3) All wins from 1998-2011 will be vacated (111 wins). Joe Paterno is no longer major college football’s winningest.

4) A reduction of 10 initial and 20 total scholarships each year for a four-year period. This will drop the limit of offered scholarships per year to 15 and cap the total number of scholarships to 65.

5) Five years probation with a monitor.

6) The NCAA can investigate the program further after criminal proceedings.

Thoughts? Too Much? Not enough?

**Kevlar** · 07-23-2012, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by wickedsolo

Don't know if anyone posted this already:
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports...hip-reduction/

Thoughts? Too Much? Not enough?

Wow, they just erased JoePa from the history books.

**wickedsolo** · 07-23-2012, 09:17 AM

They removed his statue over the weekend as well.

**bensmotorcyclehelmt** · 07-23-2012, 09:26 AM

They are moving the JoePa staute in front of the PSU library though.

It will serve as a reminder for everyone to keep their mouth's shut.

**Terpsfan82** · 07-23-2012, 09:27 AM

I'm surprised the NCAA was this heavy handed. This may have been worse than the death penalty. This was fair.

**JAB1985** · 07-23-2012, 09:28 AM

I dont get taking away the wins. Especially considering that they took them away the years when Sandusky was no longer with the team. The only thing it does is kill Joe Pa's legacy which was already diminished. When you look up who won the game its still going to say Penn State and he still has those wins so theyre really going out of their way to remove him from the record books. As far as everything else I think its fair. I keep hearing people bitch that "this is only hurting the players and they did nothing wrong", i get that but theyre just collateral damage. This is about money and thats the only way to punish them. The fine might be 60 million but the cost of everything else is going to be substantially more when its all done. Its unfortunate, but theyll be alright, theyll be able to transfer or choose different colleges.

Joe Pa has done a lot for the community and unfortunately one large mistake that he repeatedly made is going to tarnish that forever. sadly theyll probably remember him and forget sandusky over time. "Joe pa covered up that rape scandal, you know whats his name that raped all those kids".

**Ravens75** · 07-23-2012, 09:36 AM

Good.

This is just the beginning of what will set back that university for years.

It also goes to show that doing the right thing is very important and that self importance is not what's right.

To me its funny in a weird way that a guy and a university that enabled him spent his entire life trying to uplift his own significance yet if he had the decency of a below average human being he could've stopped a monster and been exhalted to heights he couldn't imagine.

Now his program and his school is in ruins because when faced with a test of his so called high moral compass, he failed miserably (and yes the are more involved that are culpable).

**RavensNTerps** · 07-23-2012, 09:38 AM

The Big 10 is going to punish them too. This is good.

**bensmotorcyclehelmt** · 07-23-2012, 09:44 AM

I just find it interesting that no games were taken away.

NCAA and PSU know the ratings for the Ohio game at Beaver Stadium will be large.

**Rxdoxx** · 07-23-2012, 09:47 AM

To draw people to the mountains of central Pa, the administration needed national prominence, and football was the calling card. As we are learning now, the sacred cow that increased enrollment, endowments, and gave them a gereral student body recruitment edge over what would have been similar schools like Rutgers.... was protected with a cover-up.

Yes the punishment seems very unfair to the athletes who left their blood sweat and tears on the field, but the corporate mentality of the institution needed surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
Shocking, but in a sense no more shocking than the abuse and cover-up.

Mike McQueary needed protective custody? Just another indication of the cancer that needed to be addressed.

While I don't have great love for PSU, I am not rejoicing at their downfall either, it is sad, but cancer treatments are never pleasant. Just hope they got it (and other institutions understand how serious a thing it is to take the easy cover-up path)

**festivus** · 07-23-2012, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by JAB1985

I dont get taking away the wins. Especially considering that they took them away the years when Sandusky was no longer with the team.

The penalties were not for what Sandusky did, the penalties are for what the university and its leadership did.

Starting in 1998.

I think these penalties are both severe and as lenient as possible on the kids who are in the football program now. They can stay, and play their games, or they can leave, or they can quit football and stay at PSU without penalty.

I think this set of penalties was a very clever, more compassionate remedy than any kind of "death penalty" would have been. Kudos to the NCAA.

**pslholder96** · 07-23-2012, 09:55 AM

Wow. The NCAA brought the hammer and them some. It would have been better if Penn State just received the death penalty because these sanctions will only cause a slow death.

**JAB1985** · 07-23-2012, 09:57 AM

Originally Posted by festivus

The penalties were not for what Sandusky did, the penalties are for what the university and its leadership did.

Starting in 1998.

I think these penalties are both severe and as lenient as possible on the kids who are in the football program now. They can stay, and play their games, or they can leave, or they can quit football and stay at PSU without penalty.

I think this set of penalties was a very clever, more compassionate remedy than any kind of "death penalty" would have been. Kudos to the NCAA.

good point, i still dont get what it accomplishes though.

**festivus** · 07-23-2012, 10:04 AM

JAB, the culture at the university made it possible, in security matters, for the football program to effectively control the athletics department, the university leadership, and perhaps even local law enforcement.

In that environment, victims can be sacrificed for the good of the team. "You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs," they might say, as they decide to sweep some shenanigans under the rug.

The NCAA is saying that a football program is not as sacred as the protection of the innocent. Now PSU knows, and now they all know.

**pslholder96** · 07-23-2012, 10:14 AM

As I think about the penalties just hand down it's almost like the NCAA had to something because you couldn't find any punishment that would fit the crime of child sex abuse in this situation. An adminstration lending a blind eye to this unfortunate situation for so many years probably deserves every ounce of punishment it got today and sadly that includes Joe P.

**JAB1985** · 07-23-2012, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by festivus

JAB, the culture at the university made it possible, in security matters, for the football program to effectively control the athletics department, the university leadership, and perhaps even local law enforcement.

In that environment, victims can be sacrificed for the good of the team. "You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs," they might say, as they decide to sweep some shenanigans under the rug.

The NCAA is saying that a football program is not as sacred as the protection of the innocent. Now PSU knows, and now they all know.

yeah i get that, but taking away wins is just pointless imo. you cant rewrite history, those wins happened despite what the NCAA is saying. you go back and see who won a game in 2001, its going to say PSU whether the NCAA acknowledges it or not. It does nothing. The rest of the punishment sets the tone for the other teams to follow. overturning wins in past games isnt a deterrent at all for other schools, its simply to hurt Joe Pa and not have the all time winningest coach be a guy who covered up a rape scandal (allegedly). i see why they wouldnt want that but it doesnt change that he is. Thats like Pete Rose not being the all time hits leader. He is whether baseball wants to accept it or not.

**GOTA** · 07-23-2012, 10:41 AM

The one thing that I wanted to see was a monetary punishment that would go towards child abuse charities. They did that. Hit them in the wallet and use that money for some good.

**wickedsolo** · 07-23-2012, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by GOTA

The one thing that I wanted to see was a monetary punishment that would go towards child abuse charities. They did that. Hit them in the wallet and use that money for some good.

Yup and not being able to participate in any bowl games is going to make them lose a lot of money as well. Also, losing 10 scholarships per year for the next 4 years is pretty devastating.

**Captain Silver** · 07-23-2012, 10:56 AM

I think they had to do this, it sets an example. Sure the current players and staff do not deserve this, but the culture of football and universities need to be put on notice.

**The Excellector** · 07-23-2012, 10:58 AM

I did not keep up with this case, in the way that most did. What I vaguely understand is that Joe Paterno was presented with a suspicion about his friend and passed it on to his superiors. Can someone go into further detail about how Joe Paterno truly dropped the ball on this one? Was it that many felt that Joe Paterno was of a powerful enough stature that he could have seen to it that more was done to find out if the allegations were true?