<p>Is it true that Penn State might shut down their football program this year? Is there a chance that we might leave the big 10?</p>
<p>I spent about 2 hours advocating against the DP for Penn State on ESPN’s message boards. It seems to be about a 70/30 split of people who want PSU to get the DP against those who don’t. </p>
<p>In my opinion, which isn’t worth much, perhaps the punishment is warranted, however, I don’t believe that the NCAA has the grounds to do so. A lot of people say “Well, what worse action could any school have? What worse could warrant the DP?” and to that I say: You can’t make it that simple. Out of precedent, the other five cases of the DP had clear violations that involved gaining competitive edges. Ex: DIII colleges offering atheletic scholarships (10 of them, at that), signing players that have played professionally, paying players for games played through booster funds, academic fraud, fixing GPAs, point shaving, etc. </p>
<p>Essentially, the precedent that is set for using the DP in college sports does not support such harsh action by the NCAA. In all of the other cases, student atheletes were directly involved in order to gain an unfair advantage on the field of play against opponents. </p>
<p>Those who say “Well, by covering this up, PSU gained TV contracts, money, recruiting, etc. So they did gain an unfair advantage” I say this: You can not prove without a doubt that had this been announced and delt with immediately, that TV contracts wouldn’t have been signed, recruits wouldn’t have committed, etc. Everything was occurring on the normal basis in the PSU athletic department, nothing was “gained” and nothing was really “lost” - they were going about their business as a normal day would go. If you start making punishments based on hypothetical situations, how can we have any legitimate laws?</p>
<p>The broad problem is just that generally speaking the NCAA acts as a governing body for things in which no other body would apply to - recruiting violations, etc. No one is going to go to jail for asking a player to take a yacht trip with them. And no one is going to jail for giving a free tattoo to someone. That’s when the NCAA steps in and takes issue with it - because it’s affecting the sporting world, and it’s not punishable in real court. There just seems to be nothing more than an “ethics” situation for the NCAA to work with, and I don’t think they could get away with a death penalty solely based on ethics. It’s also not provable that PSU “gained” anything by covering it up to gain an unfair advantage in anything. Is this whole thing wrong? yes. Will Penn State suffer? It already has and it will continue to. Everyones feelings are ahead of themselves. </p>
<p>Some good examples I read earlier was if a coach kills a man, does the NCAA go on to punish the school? If a player robs a bank, does the NCAA need to act? No, because they are criminal cases.</p>
<p>The best thing to do would be for Penn State to shut down the program for this season. And immediately.This gesture would go a long way in healing this terrible wound. My daughter will be attending OSU this year and we bought her season tickets, I can guarantee she will not be traveling to Happy Valley -football game or no football game.</p>
<p>As a mom, my heart breaks for the soon to be Penn state Freshman - not just the football players or kids in the marching band - all of the students. I can’t imagine how distracting this would be. I know if this would be OSU my daughter’s heart would be breaking. I understand the love of football and the sense of community it gives. But, if Penn states wants to maintain any fragment of an ethical reputation it needs to act asap without forced sanctions. I hope those in charge make the right decision this time.</p>
<p>My heart is with all the students and their parents and while losing a season may be a bitter pill to swallow now, in the long run it may be the only way to salvage Penn state.</p>
<p>My son is one of those freshmen, and I have a junior as well. As hard as it is for them, it has been very instructive. Lessons learned? You can lose everything you have based on poor judgement. Your reputation cannot be fixed once it’s damaged. Believe your eyes, not your leaders. Don’t be afraid to stand up for people. Challenge authority. Stick together and take care of those around you. It is a real gut check for people this young, but they are better people for it. I’ll take the current climate of sorrow and introspection and healing over most campus’ oblivious imagined perfection any day.</p>
<p>Does the football program COST money to the university or does it MAKE money? Since this is not covered under NCAA rules, but the NCAA could easily move in and kill the program, it can instead tell the university that money from the sport has to be paid OUT to ensure compliance in laws that could have possibly prevented a lot of this from happening. Where does everyone think the money is going to come from to pay the for what this horror has and will cost?</p>
<p>I’m curious to see how this plays out as well as whether shutting down the football program would help or hurt Penn State’s overall reputation and ability to attract OOS students.</p>
<p>@MS what will that accomplish though. How are the victims going to get anymore peace of mind that pretty much no one involved is being punished? None of the players did anything, the coaching staff is revamped, the presidents out, Paterno is dead, I mean how is shutting down the program going to solve anything? As I said, there is little for the NCAA to warrant a death penalty, and no school is going to willingly shut down any of its programs - it’s devastating to the sport in countless ways. Not to mention the economical implications within the school and in the community.</p>
<p>This was the best quote on what should be the bottom line for this situation:</p>
<p>“Shuttering Beaver Stadium for two years would take Penn State football down a peg. It would also punish loads of hard-working athletes who have done nothing wrong, as well as all the fans who live and die with the Nittany Lions. But that will be a far better result than the alternativeallowing a pedophile-sheltering athletic department that was bent on self-preservation to succeed in having itself preserved. If Penn State football carries on this fall with a new coach and those old white-and-blue uniforms, then the worldviews of Curley and Schultz and Spanier and Paterno will prevail. Though all four men lost their jobs, their mission to protect Penn State football at all costs will win out in the end.”</p>
<p>THIS is why the football program should be shut down. Period.</p>
<p>[Penn</a> State death penalty: The case for putting the Nittany Lions on the sidelines. - Slate Magazine](<a href=“http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2012/07/penn_state_death_penalty_the_case_for_putting_the_nittany_lions_on_the_sidelines_.html]Penn”>Penn State death penalty: The case for putting the Nittany Lions on the sidelines.)</p>
<p>Well I can let you know right now that they’re not gonna get shut down this year. The NCAA is entirely too slow to do that. Especially not with the season only less than 2 months away.</p>
<p>I doubt the NCAA will have to shut it down. The pressure on Penn State will eventually force them to impose it on themselves. </p>
<p>Sure, it’s not fair to the students who had nothing to do with what happened, but the alternative of appearing callous and putting football over what happened would do even more damage and cause more resentment among non-Penn State folks towards the school.</p>
<p>It would be nice if they could figure out a sanction that was serious and appropriate that would not hurt all the student athletes, especially those in sports unrelated to football who are supported by the money football generates. Unfortunately, with all the other expenses from this debacle, it’s doubtful the university could cover the costs of those programs.</p>
<p>Don’t worry too much about the current football players. In the event of a shutdown, those players would be given the same options as the USC players after the Reggie Bush situation. They would be able to goto schools of their choice and not have to sit out a year.</p>
<p>I’m worried about the fencers, volleyball players (Coach Rose), et al. And the Olympic hopefuls in the sports most don’t think about.</p>
<p>Couldn’t they just shut down football without shuttng down everything else? I think that would be sufficient.</p>
<p>More then likely many, if not most, of the other athletic programs are paid for via football revenue. IF (big if) football were eliminated for a number of years, funding would have to be found elsewhere which would probably result in some athletic programs being cut.</p>
<p>The whole situation is extremely sad and my heart goes out to the victims and their families. That being said, I don’t believe the “current” football program should be penalized for a crime that was committed by individuals that are no longer part of the Penn State administration. The crimes were committed by individuals not the program - I believe anyone who helped cover up and of course Sandusky should be punished to the fullest extent, but why punish the new program? The new students? I also feel bad for the class of 2016 - what a way to start their freshman year. Penn State is an amazing learning institution and it is my hope that the school & community will pull together and show the world that we will learn from this and grow even stronger.</p>
<p>I totally agree with you.</p>
<p>Well said cr2012. The individuals that made the decisions should be held accountable by their jobs and the law. The schools role should be to make amends to victims, learn from the situatiion and do everything in its power to instutitue changes so it will not happen again. </p>
<p>Moving forward everyone (including adults,students and future generations) needs to learn that it is their responsibility to do what they can to protect those that cannot protect themselves and not to turn away and carry on as usual. It is worth the risk of starting over to protect a child- whether you are a janitor, the assistant, the coach or the president.</p>
<p>The worst thing that could happen is PSU having a great football season this year. It would send a loud and clear message to those abused and to the rest of the country. A loud and clear “F.U. WE ARE PENN STATE” football still rules here and nothing has changed. PSU can’t let that happen. It would be a PR nightmare.</p>