NCAA hands Penn State $60 million fine & 4 year postseason ban

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The NCAA has spoken, and while it did not give Penn State’s football program the Death Penalty, it may as well have: with the penalties handed down today, the Nittany Lions will not be able to field a Top 25 team for years.

  • $60 Million fine
  • Four year post-season ban
  • Scholarship reduction from 25 to 15 for four years.
  • Wins vacated from 1998-2011
  • Five years probation

Additionally, current players will be able to transfer to other schools and have immediate eligibility.

According to NCAA president Mark Emmert, the fine represents about one year of revenue from the football program, and that the proceeds paid to the NCAA will go to children’s causes.

David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot News said that Penn State will not appeal the penalty:

Whatever sanctions are handed down against Penn State this morning by NCAA President Mark Emmert and his executive committee, I have been assured they will not be appealed or substantively challenged.

That tells me one thing: A deal has been cut between the NCAA and Penn State University. And Penn State was in possibly the worst bargaining position in the history of NCAA infractions.

According to ESPN, Joe Paterno’s coaching record will reflect the vacated wins — and thus reducing his overall win record, which was formerly ranked number one all-time.  Paterno will drop to #12 all time, with 298 wins, down from 409.

 

 

 

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42 Responses to NCAA hands Penn State $60 million fine & 4 year postseason ban

  1. ncsu1987 07/23/2012 at 3:09 PM #

    My favorite thing I’ve read today: “If what the NCAA is doing to Penn State bothers you, just look the other way and pretend nothing’s happening.” Wish I could find the original source…

  2. Gene 07/23/2012 at 3:47 PM #

    “the university administrators that allowed the crimes to continue can be prosecuted and convicted as well.”

    I think a couple of the guys are up on perjury charges before the Grand Jury.

    It’s a bit of an issue about what the DA’s office was doing with this case.

    Corbett was DA, when the current investigation began, before becoming governor and he appointed his replacement at DA. He may not have pursued it aggressively given the nature of the allegations and the people involved.

    Anyway, PA does have a state law that allows people to go jail for covering up sexual abuse, which was used to convict Msgr. Lynn recently.

    “I’d hate to be not only a PSU supporter but a Pa. taxpayer as well; just where is this $60 million going to come from?”

    From the football program. My understanding of PSU’s agreement with the NCAA is that no money will come from any other source.

  3. NCSU88 07/23/2012 at 3:56 PM #

    Read a comment this morning on the economic impact this would have on State College economy. Can’t find the link, but it was identifying some of the downstream effects of the penalties. Interesting.

  4. TLeo 07/23/2012 at 4:16 PM #

    I am in no way defending PSU or the officials there who were responsible for these offenses but the problem I have with this entire thing is this…who is it punishing? The athletes and some staff who had nothing at all to do with this are being punished by the bowl ban. Sure, the school and athletic dept are losing those revenues they might have expected but the players are getting punished for nothing. How did they arbitrarily go back to , 1998, was it?, and vacate those wins and who did that punish? Paterno? So he’s no longer the winningest coach, big deal, he’s dead so I don’t think it matters. The huge fine?…I can’t really fault that but I question where that money will go. How much will go where it is said to go and how much will really just go to line the NCAA pockets?
    The administrators and others who were involved are being or soon will be punished for their roles by the courts, both civil and criminal, but there seems to just be a lynch mob mentality going on. The corrupt NCAA is just grandstanding to make themselves relevant and important with these huge sanctions.

  5. Wulfpack 07/23/2012 at 4:23 PM #

    TLeo, if you haven’t watched the press conference I would encourage you to. Emmert addressed those matters. 1998 stems from the time PSU learned that Sandusky was doing what he did. That timeframe is well documented in the Freeh Report, that PSU has adopted.

    No money is going to the NCAA. It is going into a endowment to be dispersed to charities combating child abuse.

    As for punishing current players, etc. That always happens with NCAA sanctions. That has never not been the case. So on that ground, this case is no different.

    I agree this sucks for the current players but if their administrators had not acted criminally then today would have never happened. This cover-up ran pretty deep. It was well orchestrated.

  6. Alpha Wolf 07/23/2012 at 4:57 PM #

    As to “punishing the current players” they do have the opportunity to transfer to other schools. I read a comment here that we just missed on a kid that chose Penn State and was projecting to start there at LB as a true frosh. I’m sure we could find a place for him, for example.

    Thing is, while it is a bit tragic for the players involved, the NCAA could never sanction any program for anything if they weren’t willing to affect current and incoming roster players.

  7. Astral Rain 07/23/2012 at 5:06 PM #

    The NCAA is allowing schools to go over 85 to get PSU players, provided they play a man short the following year so would be on 84 schollies. If you can get some of their recruits, take them.

  8. ncsu1987 07/23/2012 at 5:36 PM #

    Copying this from a post on the forums, hoping someone here may know. So here’s a question: the NCAA ruling today states that if PSU players transfer, the destination school could accommodate the player even if their scholarships were already used up, so long as they give up the scholarship next year. So do programs under sanctions who have lost scholarships (USC, UNX, etc) get to take advantage of this loophole?

  9. Pack Mentality 07/23/2012 at 5:59 PM #

    I think it is very small minded to think that punishments are made to affect actual athletes as opposed to the entire program and fan base. The name on the front of the jersey is what matters, the name on the front of the jersey and those who support that are being punished. The NCAA is bending over backwards to accommodate the individual players in this case.

  10. ancsu87 07/23/2012 at 9:06 PM #

    What happened at PSU is sad and surely a huge criminal lawsuit that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent against those still livinjg.

    The PSU punishment is just CYA by the NCAA. Will this address the cheating and corruption in NCAA football? No but this will make everybody feel good that the NCAA cares about students, children and the right thing.

    They moved quickly on this (the one and only time) because they saw it was the PC thing to do plus a way to divert attention from the real NCAA problems/issues relating to athletics and student-athletes.

  11. wolfpack4ever 07/23/2012 at 9:31 PM #

    “Funny how NCAA gets it right when a third party handles the investigating. See UNC for alternate version.”

    vtpackfan,

    I hope that as more and more national publications + the SBI shine their lights on the sesspool that is unch athletics, the NCAA will have to make a return visit to the hole.

  12. Tau837 07/23/2012 at 10:19 PM #

    “The ncaa is a strange and ethically challenged institution. I don’t really have a problem with a 4 year bowl ban and a 60 million dollar fine. However, this wasn’t a case where Penn state was cheating to gain an advantage on the field.”

    I disagree with this to an extent. What was the reason for the cover up? To keep the football program from being portrayed negatively, which could have led to a disadvantage on the field. Ergo, PSU gained an advantage on the field through covering up these incidents.

    What they did was reprehensible, and IMO the punishment is deserved.

  13. PackerInRussia 07/23/2012 at 10:55 PM #

    “Additionally, current players will be able to transfer to other schools and have immediate eligibility.”

    This is what could really hurt them fast. They’ll have to pull a UNC just to try to give kids an incentive to stick around.

  14. Since74 07/24/2012 at 3:09 AM #

    All along I’ve felt like the NCAA had no business here. No wins were gained by covering this up and it’s a criminal issue.

    But right now I’m having a moment of clarity and seeing it from a new perspective. If the cover up had happened in order to preserve the reputation of Sandusky I see no “in” for the NCAA, however,if the cover up existed to keep him in coaching or to protect the image of the football program and college then I can understand the program being the target of further punishment.

    I think now I’m feeling the latter is the case.

    I think drspaceman and Tau837 hit the nail on the head.

  15. NCSU84 07/24/2012 at 8:58 AM #

    To all those who are comparing this to the UNC investigation, please stop. Children were molested and PSU administration knew.that this activity occurred and did NOTHIING – let that sink in for a minute. Now, for all the acts that UNC committed, they in know way equate to the PSU case. PSU’s punishment may seem harsher, but it should.

  16. NCSU84 07/24/2012 at 9:00 AM #

    To all those who are comparing this to the UNC investigation, please stop. Children were molested and PSU administration knew.that this activity occurred and did NOTHIING – let that sink in for a minute. Now, for all the acts that UNC committed, they in no way equate to the PSU case. PSU’s punishment may seem harsher, but it should.

  17. JSRy2k 07/24/2012 at 12:36 PM #

    The effect on players demonstrates the immense responsibility of leadership. What you do always affects others and if you fall there is always collateral damage. No exceptions.

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