The NCAA needs to deliver the death penalty. Why? Simple.
If the NCAA is simply going to shrug it's shoulders and go "meh... the courts will take care of most of it, and the reputation hit will take care of the rest" then why the hell do we have an NCAA anyways?
Point shaving is a crime, ya know? People go to jail for it. People have gone to jail for all sorts of things that the NCAA has penalized schools for.
So because there are legal penalties to be handed down, the NCAA shouldn't penalize any school where a player was caught fixing games? Just because the player and those that were involved faced legal ramifications, and because hey... it was just him, not everybody!
Michigan basketball's records were expunged and a post season ban enforced largely over Chris Weber... who was punished by a court of law for his actions. The NCAA never punished Chris Weber, other than wiping his records. They couldn't. The kids who were there at the time got punished. Fair? No... but it is what it is.
The NCAA is there to provide oversight over college athletics. When a program misbehaves, its their job to send that program to their room without dinner, no matter what any other outside agencies might do. It is their absolute duty to punish Penn State. To not do so would be cowardly.
Penn State football should absolutely be barred from competition for at least a year. If the University had any balls they'd self impose the penalty themselves.
Anything short of this penalty is simply selling out the victims further.
"Oh, we know you suffered horrible injustices and your lives were ruined... but that guy's in jail, the other guy's dead, and the other ones will probably plea down to lesser charges... oh, and you'll get lots of money... so let's call it even so that god forbid we deprive the soccer team of their cut of the football gate. Now THAT would be a tragedy!"
Shut them down for a year. Strip scholarships and bar them from bowl games for a few years on their return. And if the Big10 had a set they'd kick Penn State out.
And while we're at it, erase Joe Paterno's records from the books.
If the NCAA is simply going to shrug it's shoulders and go "meh... the courts will take care of most of it, and the reputation hit will take care of the rest" then why the hell do we have an NCAA anyways?
Point shaving is a crime, ya know? People go to jail for it. People have gone to jail for all sorts of things that the NCAA has penalized schools for.
So because there are legal penalties to be handed down, the NCAA shouldn't penalize any school where a player was caught fixing games? Just because the player and those that were involved faced legal ramifications, and because hey... it was just him, not everybody!
Michigan basketball's records were expunged and a post season ban enforced largely over Chris Weber... who was punished by a court of law for his actions. The NCAA never punished Chris Weber, other than wiping his records. They couldn't. The kids who were there at the time got punished. Fair? No... but it is what it is.
The NCAA is there to provide oversight over college athletics. When a program misbehaves, its their job to send that program to their room without dinner, no matter what any other outside agencies might do. It is their absolute duty to punish Penn State. To not do so would be cowardly.
Penn State football should absolutely be barred from competition for at least a year. If the University had any balls they'd self impose the penalty themselves.
Anything short of this penalty is simply selling out the victims further.
"Oh, we know you suffered horrible injustices and your lives were ruined... but that guy's in jail, the other guy's dead, and the other ones will probably plea down to lesser charges... oh, and you'll get lots of money... so let's call it even so that god forbid we deprive the soccer team of their cut of the football gate. Now THAT would be a tragedy!"
Shut them down for a year. Strip scholarships and bar them from bowl games for a few years on their return. And if the Big10 had a set they'd kick Penn State out.
And while we're at it, erase Joe Paterno's records from the books.