Penn State and the Death Penalty

I'm reading about how many people think Penn State's football program should receive the death penalty.

I don't see it. This whole molestation and cover-up thing at PSU was terrible - no doubt about it but it was separate from the actual football program itself - the football program didn't gain a competitive advantage over opponents and it didn't help PSU's recruiting, etc. - also, none of the actual football players were ever involved.

This is a criminal matter at PSU that happened to involve football coaches and school administrators (who are all now gone from PSU). The victims were children and young people, not football recruits or players.

The NCAA's responsibility is to investigate and punish actual sports program infractions. They should not be involved in this situation because it's a criminal matter for the courts to handle.

densvensk

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Re: I disagree - I've heard several legal experts on TV who say.

Jul 13, 2012, 10:49 AM [ in reply to I disagree - I've heard several legal experts on TV who say. ]

How did the football program benefit? For one, they covered this up to avoid "bad publicity" for the football program. That impacts licensing, recruiting, etc which directly affect both the football program (and entire AD) on the field and on their bottom line. Extra money and getting no negative impact on recruiting gives the team a competitive advantage it would not have had if the football program hadn't prevented the news from getting out.

But all that aside, the problem is the culture at Penn State (you could make the argument for that at plenty of universities - Clemson included). If football is so important to them that they are willing to cover up a crime of this magnitude to protect the program, THAT is the problem. If the football program goes 100% unpunished, it does nothing to change the culture that allowed this all to happen. Ideally, Penn State's BoT will take care of this on their own. But if they show that they are still putting football as the first priority, the NCAA needs to step in and act. And if the NCAA is to act AT ALL, the only possible action they can take is the death penalty, as this is the most severe case they've ever had to handle (worse than SMU, Miami, UNC and Ohio State combined).

I'm torn on the death penalty for Penn State, but if the NCAA is forced to act it's their only recourse. I'd much prefer that Penn State shut down their football program for 2 or 3 years - I think that's a happy medium, and shows that PSU gets that they need to reprioritize things.

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military_tech

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Re: Penn State and the Death Penalty

First of all, the courts have done something....

this has some huge self-inflicted damages in itself

Their home field "WHITE OUT" is now more so the faces

Doesn't appear it's hurting recruiting

They're recruiting now has nothing to do with....

You had better read this letter from Mark Emmert....

I disagree - I've heard several legal experts on TV who say.

Deer PSU,...

Re: I disagree - I've heard several legal experts on TV who say.

Legal experts on TV, lol? Well, in that case***

Yeah, PSU and their lobbying efforts. Media for money...***

They don't deserve to have a Football program

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