since the powerful Freeh report was released last week, we have heard a plethora of questions, concerns, and thoughts from all of you regarding the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State. The front and center of that debate has been whether or not Penn State deserves the death penalty and recently, the powerless NCAA president Mark Emmert put his two cents in on potential support for imposing harsh penalties on the university, including the death penalty. The latest rumor involves arguably a more powerful figure than Emmert. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney may find himself in a position to have the authority to enforce harsh financial penalties, suspensions, and fire certain athletic administrators at Penn State if more evidence surfaces and additional Big Ten support is bolstered.
Currently, the Big Ten Leaders are compiling a list of proposals on how to best manage the Penn State situation, including expelling Penn State from the Big Ten altogether, however the Chronicle Of Higher Education is citing there may not be enough support within the conference for this to take shape before the start of the 2012-2013 season. As of now the Big Ten handbook calls for a 60% vote at minimum to expel a conference program, however that will change to 70% (eight teams) once the season begins. With that being said, it would require almost all of the Big Ten programs to pile on support for expulsion in the next few weeks for Penn State to get the boot and so its probably not going to happen, but the fact that this option is even on the table is scary. Just from a financial perspective alone, expelling Penn State would result in a massive revenue loss for the conference, so the fact expulsion is on the table is a big deal, even though I don’t believe it will happen.
image credit: Pennstatetalk.com
Now, I fully understand this is a sensitive, divisive topic, but I will express my feelings on the subject nonetheless. There’s no question this is the biggest scandal in college sports history- that goes without saying, however I am not a believer in the death penalty being the solution to this particular scandal. Sandusky will be in jail forever, Schultz and Curley are gone, Joe Paterno is no longer with us, and assuming all the administrators and employees involved with the scandal have been removed and punished by PSU, there is no way on earth its sensible to punish the current Penn State. Bill Simmons made a thought-provoking point recently on his weekly podcast. He challenged us to ask if this scandal happened in the math or engineering department, would it be just and fair to remove that department from the university altogether? Sure, the football program brings in tens of millions of dollars for the university and the Big Ten, but what about I get that its apples to oranges here, but i’m referring to the principle at hand.
Its time for the healing to begin in Happy Valley and let the legal process play out on its own. The NCAA will impose their penalties and that is unquestionably expected and deserving, however nothing is gained by punishing the current football players, current students, new administrators, and perhaps most importantly prospective Penn State students. This scandal has tainted the reputation of this university as a whole and imposing expulsion as the ultimate solution only dirties the waters in Happy Valley more, making it more difficult for Penn State to continue to attract quality students altogether. Think about all the high school students in Pennsylvania and the Tri-State area who depend on Penn State University to be the next chapter on their path to success in life. Think about the fact these kids will think twice about applying their because they fear future employers will have a bitter taste in their mouth about Penn State when they apply for that coveted job. Taking those dreams away is the answer? This scenario is not far fetched by any stretch of the imagination and it sure as hell isn’t fair to those teenagers to make planning for their future even more difficult than it already is. If that’s not a harsh penalty, I don’t know what is. Think about that.
Read more about why the Freeh report raises major questions at college football programs across the nation.
Raju Kansagra
The death penalty is nothing but an emotional solution as opposed to an objective solution. The monsters are no longer with the university and almost all of the people who had any ties to those teams have been replaced by Penn State. Lets just move past this and allow those existing teammates and students live out a fair and just life. I’m not even a Penn State fan, but it seems silly to me that its so easy to pile on the kids who are currently there for mistakes made by administrators 10+ yrs ago…there’s no rationale for it.
Ending the football program accomplishes nothing. Forget about the football players for a second and think about the students. Put yourself in their shoes and than judge the situation. I bet it’ll be a bit different than looking at it from the top. PSU will have to deal with a wounded image for decades to come. That, coupled with whatever harsh penalties the NCAA imposes will be enough in the long run to make a major statement. Lets also not forget that this is going to open up a can of worms all over the nation with investigations and such. Death penalty supports are reacting emotionally and irrationally and are probably not very intelligent to begin with…
As an alum of the class of 2004, I will continue to proudly wear blue and white for the rest of my life because neither myself or any other student had anything to do with this disgusting mess of a scandal. The media has painted tho to be a penn state problem. Its anything but. Its an administrative issue which was dealt with and they fired all of those awful people. I can only hope the reputation tainting that was referred to in this article doesn’t carry forward much longer for the rest of us alums.
With or without the “death penalty” PSU is going to suffer for years to come.
If we’ve learned anything from the SMU in the 80′s, it’s that this program would be demolished for the next couple of decades. It took a lot of courage for these kids to step forward and speak about what happened to them. If Penn State faces the firing squad, I think that it would only further upset the victims, students, etc., as dozens of athletic scholarships would be forfeited. As Decoursey said – “If Penn State received or imposed death penalty on FB, 85 scholarships would be wiped out. That’s 2.55m worth of free education gone. Gone.”
As sad as this news may be, PSU could very well be turned into an example/wake up call for other programs and the hammer may very well come down hard.
well, there you have it:
A $60 million fine, four-year bowl ban, scholarship reductions of 10 per year for four years, all wins since 1998 have been vacated, and five years probation.
All current players will be allowed to transfer schools without sitting out a year.
So basically, the NCAA went as far as it could without giving the school the death penalty.
Well said…I suppose there are two broad sides in this…PSU grads and the rest of us. I know I’d hate it if the UMd basketball program was disbanded…and that’s our equivalent of PSU football…but I’d hardly be an unbiased observer. Either way, I hope something happens and other colleges take note.
You people are forgetting the main reason the big ten would NEVER get rid of penn state- $$$ . They are a top 5 (or 6) revenue generating program in the country. There’s NO WAY on earth Delaney or any other Big Ten official lets them walk and miss out on that. Unfortunately, in today’s day and age $$ trumps any care or concern for “the right thing to do”. I’m not insinuating they should or should not get the death penalty. Im simply saying the decision will be made from a monetary standpoint and thus they will stay.
Dipak- thats a fantastic point you just made the scholarships…great perspective. Also, I think you are right as we have discussed the past week or so ..that this is going to be a giant wake up call for other programs around the nation to clean things up, not to mention other investigations that could arise after this mess.
It’s easy for other people to throw stones at Penn St. It’s easy for others to say shut Penn St. down.. I wonder what would be said if this were Alabama or LSU or Ohio St or Michigan.. Would they be screaming for Alaabama or LSU to be shut down. Would the Big Ten be discussing expelling Ohio St. or Michigan.. Probally not. Giving Penn st. the death penalty would drasticly hurt the Penna Economy. I like Coach Sabans proposal to tax Penn St. tickets. At a $1.00 per ticket tax, that would generate over $700,000.00 for charity. Think of all the good the Penn St. kids do for charity and how much money they raise. that will all be gone. So you jerks who are screaming for Penn St. to be shut down are you willing to pick up the slack of which Penn St students do. Hundreds of Thousand of dollors in charity funds lost.. Use common sense people.
Saban’s approach makes the most sense. That said if the situation happened at any other school, people would be saying the same thing. It is a heavy issue so deep that it transcends school.
You cannot compare SMU vs PSU. Two very different programs. The death penalty did wipe out SMU’s football program, but this will not happen at PSU. With all the stuff going on, they still have the top 25 recruiting class and one of the largest stadiums and fan base.
A lot are divided on the death penalty. Could someone give an example, when the death penalty would apply, if not here? If Paterno would have turned in the scum, would it apply then since the coaches/players were around during the time of the incident? I guarantee most people would say NO, because we turned ourselves in and got rid of the coach.
The only reason the death penalty could apply here is because #1 this is one of the most heinous acts imaginable and #2 the head coach, athletic director, president, etc were all part of the cover up. If the death penalty does NOT get imposed here, then we might as well get rid of the death penalty because I can’t think of a worse crime then this one…
Also, the current players, coaches, staff, are never involved during a cover up. Usually when it comes out in the open, they’re long gone. Didn’t anyone think the kids would grow up and maybe open their mouth?
Neil…u r a moron. Psu death penalty is as stupid as can be. Period.
I am in favor of the Death Penalty. What about the victims family and the children who are affected the most.