Was Penn State's punishment too much

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Bubba1
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Penn State's been a dominant story here in PA and the NCAA dished out their punishment which included:

$60 million fine (equivalent to 1 yr of football revenue) to fund an outside children's abuse charity
4 year bowl ban
A reduction in # of athletic scholarships they can give players
vacating all football victories from 1998, which means JoePa is no longer the winningest football coach ever. He's now #8
5 yrs probtion
Current + incoming players can transfer to another college if they want.

Thoughts?


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stebo0728
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I dunno, does paying players under the table deserve a stiffer penalty than overlooking sexual abuse?

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stebo0728 wrote:I dunno, does paying players under the table deserve a stiffer penalty than overlooking sexual abuse?
The sheer magnitude of the fines involved overlooking with sexual abuse (of innocent children) compared to paying a few dollars to an adult NFL bound player should provide you that answer.

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stebo0728
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Honestly, I was thinking about this more on the way into the office this morning. Comparing SMU and Penn are really apples and oranges. SMU's problems were sports related, and their sanctions were in kind. Really the only sports related part of Penn's problem was the fact that the football program was the program at fault. What if it had been the Science program, the Fine arts program? I dont really think Penn's sanctions should have been sports related. The fines are fine, but just fine the school, and the school can determine where the loss goes. The current players in football had nothing to do with this, why are they punished? I just think now that it was handled a bit wrong.

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stebo0728 wrote:Honestly, I was thinking about this more on the way into the office this morning. Comparing SMU and Penn are really apples and oranges. SMU's problems were sports related, and their sanctions were in kind. Really the only sports related part of Penn's problem was the fact that the football program was the program at fault. What if it had been the Science program, the Fine arts program? I dont really think Penn's sanctions should have been sports related. The fines are fine, but just fine the school, and the school can determine where the loss goes. The current players in football had nothing to do with this, why are they punished? I just think now that it was handled a bit wrong.
I had thought about that aspect too, but at the end of the day, the football program is very much at the epicenter of PSU's problem. The executives in charge put the football program ahead of the welfare of innocent children, covering it up, allowing it to continue under noses, and then lying about is downright sickening. "Winning at all costs" is not what collegiate sports are about. Unfortunately there are many that still embrace that concept.

What I like about the penalties is that it does not stop football at PSU. The players will continue to play in front of sell out crowds yelling at the top of their lungs "we are Penn State" (I guess they need to remind themselves every so often so they don't forget). The vendors and town can continue to make living off the program, and people will still watch them on beat hapless Division II &III teams early every season to pad their record. As far as player impact, Those players whose main goal is bowl exposure enroute to a pro career (instead of school pride), are free to seek their fame elsewhere without question.

The $60 million represents one year of football revenue. It's not going to bankrupt PSU as their endowment is measured in Billons.

As far as the vacating wins, that's more more a punishment against Paterno and his legacy than hurting the players who played in those games. The players still have the memories of playing together as a team. The fact that NCAA took away those wins in the archives should not make that big a difference.
If they want to be angry at anyone,they should be angry at Paterno and the 3 stooges.

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Ya I get what you're saying, really I dont care much either way, but to be honest, most colleges in the country have put sports, especially football, above everything else. Thats certainly not a PSU anomaly.

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stebo0728 wrote:Ya I get what you're saying, really I dont care much either way, but to be honest, most colleges in the country have put sports, especially football, above everything else. Thats certainly not a PSU anomaly.
I agree. And it's understandable given the millions to be made with a successful top tier football team. unfortunately, Paterno and his cronies took it one step beyond, which is a shame. What's ironic, is had Paterno and the three stooges simply called the authorities years ago, Sandusky woud have been in jail waiting to get raped, and Paterno would hav been considered a hero for doing the right thing. Now his reputation has been tainted.

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I think its a fair punishment. As I said I think that cleaning the record books of the games is meaningless. Does that mean the players lose their stats too? I think JaPerno will be compared years later to any other great NCAA coach that might rise, regardless of the record books because people still know. I think the players and students are getting partially punished too harshly as well. Id like to hear more details on that. Id also love to be listening to Lavaar Arington on the radio about his personal feelings since he is a die hard Penn Stater. Catching them here and there isnt enough, I bet they get into some great topics. Unfortunately I lost my little handheld radio doohicky :(

I mean what else can you really do though? Im fine with the fine and Bowl restrictions, but Im looking for something more personal to the people that covered it front the media. Give Sandy life in big boy prison. I mean the descriptions of what the witnesses saw and heard was just gross and immoral. Im not exactly sure how the other people were involved exactly. So JoePa was the one that knew but did the bang up job of keeping it a secret?

How could knowing that be easy on your conscience? Also what could you possibly say if you were Sandy's Attorney?

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Seems fine. I want to see more heads roll.

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See I originally thought this was an administrative issue, not a football issue. But the administration chose to put football ahead of these kids' welfare. So the football program must suffer.

My understanding (I didnt read the report, but I work with 3 Penn Staters) was that Joe told somebody and they didnt do anything. But knowing this guy was raping kids, he didnt take it upon himself to report him to the police. That was his only fault but severe enough to warrant his firing and loss of wins. It's a sham he went out like that. But he's still a legendary football coach.

I'm waiting to see how hard these civil suits will hit Penn St.

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hannibal wrote:See I originally thought this was an administrative issue, not a football issue. But the administration chose to put football ahead of these kids' welfare. So the football program must suffer.

My understanding (I didnt read the report, but I work with 3 Penn Staters) was that Joe told somebody and they didnt do anything. But knowing this guy was raping kids, he didnt take it upon himself to report him to the police. That was his only fault but severe enough to warrant his firing and loss of wins. It's a sham he went out like that. But he's still a legendary football coach.

I'm waiting to see how hard these civil suits will hit Penn St.
I believe the new PSU president noted that the University's insurance policies will be covering most of the civil suits, so the negative impacts should be more on PSU's reputation than its endowment. But I think as long as the University acts honorably with the victims, the school's reputation will be fine.

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Eh, slight dent in rep. It will be a nation wide joke for 20 years


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