“The NCAA just crushed Penn State football.” – Bruce Feldman, CBS Sports [on "Daily Rundown," with Chuck Todd]
JOE PATERNO’S STATUE has been removed from the college campus, the beginning of penalties that should resound throughout college sports, but also beyond, in actions that begin to send a message that wasn’t received even after the Catholic Church pedophile scandal. The NCAA picked up the gauntlet, with Mark Emmert, NCAA president, announcing the harshest penalties in college football history against Penn State for the crimes and cover up of the most powerful people in college football, beginning with the late Joe Paterno, but stopped short of the “death penalty.”
Among the sanctions announced:
Fine of $60 million dollars, which will support an endowment of victims of child sexual abuse. It is one year’s gross revenue of Pen State’s football program.
Ban from bowl games and post-season play 4 years.
Reduce from 25 to 15 scholarships for 4 years.
Vacates all wins from 1998 to 2011.
Vacating the wins means Joe Paterno is no longer the most winningest coach in NCAA history.
Additionally, all players at Penn State can transfer out of the college without penalty.
The “death penalty,” banning Penn State from football, for 1 or more years was discussed by the NCAA board. Emmert stated that the sanctions were meant to drive the significance of the crimes and cover-up throughout society. A ban of football, according to the NCAA board’s judgment, would have brought “significant unintended harm” to those who had nothing to do with the Paterno gang’s criminal sexual crimes and cover up.
Penn State now cannot recruit the best athletes, which is the bottom line for all college teams. They can play football, begin to rebuild, but they cannot compete.
This was a consent decree, which Penn State has signed, meaning the college has accepted this verdict.
The NCAA attempted to send a “too big to fail” message, which was invoked by Mark Emmert, to all college teams of Penn State’s stature, telling them all that you will be held accountable for your actions.
photo via Shutterstock
Good for the NCAA. I nominate Mark Emmert for Pope.
OH! That’s perfect.
Great comment, ladywalker68!
I had concerns for the current football players who after all had nothing to do with anything. With them able to transfer to other programs, I think this was a very good decision. One elite group actually get consequences for deplorable behavior. A novel thing in our current environment of corruption.
I hope in some way it will help the victims see that they matter.
They are finished. $60 million and no bowl games for 40 years. I wonder if they consulted with the Catholic Church on this. I get tired of the defense of Paterno “He did what he was supposed to do. He notified the University Superiors and let them know.” While that is good that he did that, he also had an obligation to tell the police. I would never work with anyone that I even remotley suspected of that. Being considered innocent until proven guilty is for the courts and legal system. I do not see how the NCAA can put a value of $60 million. Were they sexually abused? Why do they get to profit off of the suffering of children? I guess they really are in it for the money. THe NCAA made it clear that you can allow child molesters in your sports program, as long as you are willing to pay fines and give up several Bowl games. Sad. The FBI report, confirmed to be true by Joe Paterno’s own family, makes me have the very worst thoughts and feeling for Penn State and Joe Paterno. I do not know why Sandusky is going to be inn isolation while he is in prison. I think he should be in general population and be treated like everybody else.
4 years…FOUR years…NOT 40. I think it is absurd that ANY sports scholorships are given out. There should only be financial need scholorships. Let the NFL and NBA pay for their own farm teams like Baseball does.
While I agree that there needs to be a penalty, the basic problem here is that many colleges have come to depend on the money they derive from professional sports. That’s why there was no “death penalty”, I suspect. Give that penalty to a few more schools in a few more conferences, and the remaining ones would quickly find that their gravy train was drying up.
It seems like every year or two, despite it being unlikely that they want to, the NCAA finds some football program or another has violated the rules of this absurd business. Something like this will happen again, because in a day of contracting state and local budgets, colleges will need this money more than ever. As long as so much money depends on something so peripheral to the real goals of universities, I can’t help but suspect that’s true.
By way of disclosure, I’m a Penn State graduate.
Well said, Cujo!