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Penn State's "Near-Death" Penalty
Published: 7/23/2012 9:13 AM
Last Modified: 7/23/2012 9:13 AM

Penn State did not get the so-called “death penalty” but the NCAA sanctions handed down to the Nittany Lions should cripple the program for at least a decade.
The penalties did not mean the program would be suspended like what happened to SMU in the 1980s.
When the Mustangs got the death penalty, it took the program more than two decades to recover and become competitive again in college football.
That could happen to Penn State but the PSU is a huge school with a huge fan base. It will most likely survive these penalties easier than SMU did back in the 1980s.
However, no one should underestimate the severe penalties handed down to Penn State on Monday.
The four-year bowl ban should cripple Penn State’s ability to recruit the next four to five years. During that same time, Penn State will lose 40 scholarships, almost half the usual number.
Plus, any current Penn State player or in-coming freshman will be allowed to transfer to another school without any type of waiting period for eligibility.
The $60 million fine is a large amount of money and it should have an immmediate impact on Penn State athletics.
No, Penn State did not get the death penalty.
But, this is about as close to “life in prison without parole” as it can get in NCAA punishment.
It is hard to imagine Penn State being a signficant player in major college football over the next 10 years.
There are a lot of issues surrounding these penalties, such as Joe Paterno’s loss of the all-time victories record and the lack of an NCAA investigation, but the NCAA made a loud and clear statement.
A college football program is supposed to be a part of the overall university. It is not supposed to run the university.



Reader Comments 6 Total
But What Do I Know? (7 months ago)
Will be interesting to see how this plays out in the courts. Blood in the water for lawyers.
207869 (7 months ago)
What do you mean by plays out in courts? PSU agreed to the sanctions and penalties. They're not fighting them.
                    
But What Do I Know? (7 months ago)
Doesn't mean that a group of students and/or alumni and/or other supporters won't sue. I doubt if anything this big will go uncontested by someone. The NCAA has done something it has never done before and for which there is no clear cut precedent.
Golden Hurricane (7 months ago)
Honestly John, I think you are being optimistic by saying they will be irrelevant for only 10 years.

I think it will take much longer for PSU to recover. Look, you can get past paying players large amounts of money...heck, Baylor even proved that you can get past a murder cover up, but raping little boys in showers is a whole different ballgame.

This is going to stick to Penn State for a long period of time...longer than 10 years, in my opinion.
jimmyd (7 months ago)
"lack of an NCAA investigation". As I understand it, there will be one, eventually, but after the courts/trials have finished up all of their business. If the ex-prez, ex-vice-prez, and AD all end up in jail, the NCAA will look into if anybody else was left out and sanction them.
Tulsabills (7 months ago)
The deep cut in scholarships, from the normal total of 85 down to 65, will hurt the most. Also, the 4 year postseason ban will reduce the quantity of top players. Most will be unwilling to give up a chance for a championship season for most or all of their college career. The length & depth of these penalties are far more severe than the USC penalties. Those penalties were basically half as deep & half as long & they slowed down USC, but did not really hurt them.

With these penalties, I think Penn State will be bad in football for the next decade. If that doesn't change the culture at Penn State, nothing short of shutting it down for another decade will.
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Klein's Korner

Tulsa World senior sports columnist John Klein is in his fourth decade of covering sports. He started his newspaper career at The Daily Ardmoreite in 1977 and moved to the Tulsa World in 1978. He served 10 years as sports editor for the Tulsa World before being named to his current position in 2005. He also spent five years as the Southwest Conference beat writer for the Houston Post. He has won many writing awards and is a former Oklahoma Sports Writer of the Year.

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