Around the Big Ten

[entropy]

I will be surprised if that is it.

[Hannibal]

I'd be shocked if it's close to that much.

[whodean]

Div 1AA?

[Rob F]

Div 1AA?

I noticed that , too, when I just read it a few seconds ago---I was looking for something that might clue me in to it being "phony", and that was one of the clues I spotted.

The other thing I questioned was in #10, pertaining to vacating all wins back to 1998; everything I've read points to 2001 being the year that PSU's administration had---and blew off, under JoePa's direction-- their best opportunity to completely put an end to Sanduskey's preying upon children. Isn't that when, according to Freeh's investigation and report, Spanier, Curley, and Schultz had decided to take the mess to authorities after McQuerey's discovery of Sanduskey raping that boy in the showers, but after discussing it with JoePa, they had a change of heart? That, IMO, was the major "crossroads" in the sequence of all that went on, the point at which PSU really became a haven for a serial child rapist above all else, all because the image of the program and University and Paterno became much more important to them than the safety and welfare of those poor victims. That said, I would have guesssed that "vacating" victories would have been done with 2001 being the start date.

I am aware of the previous situation when the janitor caught Sanduskey with another boy back in '98, but I was under the impression that there wasn't nearly as much evidence on that one. Guess i'll have to take another look at that Freeh report...

[lineygoblue]

That has got to be a fake.

Penalties like that would put PSU back into JUCO level.

[WM Wolverine]

Yes, but it sounds like they'll be hit with really severe fines, significant loss of scholarships, loss of post season participation for 2-3 years and Paterno's wins vacated after '01...

I don't really agree with the severity and I'm among those who felt there was LOIC at PSU as they allowed a head coach to override decisions of their athletic director, board of directors, campus police and university president. The culture there needed overhauled and this action is apparently what the NCAA thinks needs done to change that.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I still hold the NCAA has no jurisdciton here. The application of 10.1 to support a finding of LOIC is a stretch. That it appears the NCAA will abbrogate established procedures in meeting out penalties to PSU, especially that of due process, is a terrible precendent setting act.

The power grab by Emmert is going to be damaging to the NCAA's authority going forward. I suspect a challenge to this act but not now. It will come from the college presidents down the road. Maybe in a year or two. Emmert may have sealed his own fate and that of the NCAA by bringing his and its own end ....... silver lining.

I have every reason to believe Emmert presented PSU an either or offer that involved a public flogging by the NCAA versus private, self imposed penlaties. PSU balked and Emmert acted. The NCAA's undertaking had to be motivated by emotion, anger and some degree of footdragging by PSU. It's stunning lack of consideration for some of the issues rised here is evidence of that.

[Ghengis Jon]

You saying there is no LOIC or that only the application of 10.1 is in error? IMHO its a rampant LOIC. The only reason that the NCAA won't impose the death penalty is the economic impact on the surrounding community. Like UM, PSU funds a lot of other sports with fb $. The layoffs, no game day influx of patron dollars, no revenue generated by/at the games, all would hammer the local area as collateral damage. The NCAA could impose such a sanction on U of BFE, but not a major program. With that in mind, sanctions will essentially put PSU on life support for a few years. They will keep $ flowing into the community yet PSU will take a bath. The reason for the cover-up was to shield the cash cow above everything else, including children. And if that was PSU's motivation, then the punishment should hit whats most dear to them. Money. Some could argue that this is actually micro-management, not LOIC, in the quest for $ over all else.

[Ghengis Jon]

Looks like the announcement comes at 9 am.

[Hannibal]

Fines? Meh. That just means to me that the NCAA finds a way to profit from this mess. Fines don't deter anything in college football because time and time again, it has been shown that boosters and alumni are willing to sacrifice big time money for victories.

[Optimus Prime]

The Penn State case places the NCAA in a nearly impossible position. While there is no evidence anyone at Penn State broke any actual NCAA rules, The PSU football program was the foundation of the coverup. The coverup was put in place for the protection of PSU football by Paterno, Spanier, Curley, Schultz and others according to Freeh, we get that.

Sadly this is a pure criminal matter, there has been a criminal invetigation, those that appear to be criminally culpable will or have been charged and some conivaticted and Paterno has passed.

The NCAA is inept and ill-equipped to deal as judge, jury and excecutioner and this tragedy sets a dangerous precident.

Frankly, Ohio St., Auburn, USC and other rouge programs have broken laws in addition to NCAA "Rules" and has looked foolish in handling these cases so now PSU is going to pay and at what cost?

Thousands of truly innocent peoeple will endup paying for the crimes of a select few.

[Rob F]

Whatever happens with Emmert's press conference at 9 am, PSU will obviously take a huge hit, that much is clear. A well-deserved hit, too.

My only wish is that JoePa were still alive to see the end result of all this. For a very, very long time, I admired the man, I bought into his act and schticht of doing things the right way, the "Penn St way", only to find out that JoePa had essentially become so intoxicated by his own power and the power of his sacred football program that nothing else mattered, not even the lives and welfare of those innocent kids. For this reason, he ought to be witnessing whats about to become of his beloved program, he ought to be paying the full price now for the shameful and scandalous acts of Sanduskey that were allowed to go unchecked, due to his placing PSU Football on a pedestal above all else.

[Hannibal]

I started to have my doubts about JoePa back when Penn State tried to get rid of him for the first time and he refused to go. It was evidence that he viewed himself as being bigger than the program.

One of the things that this whole mess illustrates is, once again, the uselessness of media outlets like ESPN. They did nothing but hang from JoePa's dick since the moment that they went on the air. When Penn State was trying to nudge JoePa out, every single commentator on ESPN was outraged. They were instrumental in helping foster the demigod, cult of personality culture at Penn State. It absolutely will not shock me if we later find out that there were sports reporters who failed to follow up on leads or just outright buried the story. Before the story exploded (November of last year), most of it was already in the public domain, and nobody was reporting on it. So much for Miami being that 10/10 story LOL

[Jeff Buchanan]

Jon ..... there is definitely LOIC as it is defined the ByLaws. But that finding normally stems from a finding of rule breaking after the fact and AFTER a process (which has been abandoned by the NCAA). It is the rule breaking, those rules defined by the NCAA, that is in question in the PSU case.

OP hits the nail on the head. The real tragedy here is the thougsands that have been and are going to be hurt by the PSU debacle. There's no question someone had to do something to punish PSU. That PSU didn't step up to the plate and take strong, well thought out action within a few days of the Freeh report is really discouraging.

[THE_WIZARD_]

"absolute power corrupts absolutely"

In PSU's case...JoePa had about as close to absolute power as you can get over a University...not just the football program...but the institution...

So many allowed it to happen...it's hard to feel sorry for anyone but the victims here.