Checking in from Happy Valley

[Harry]

In a matter of minutes, NCAA president Mark Emmert, along with Oregon State president Ed Ray, chair of the NCAA’s executive committee, will hand down major sanctions for Penn State’s football program, the first such penalties in program history. Although it has been widely reported that Penn State won’t be hit with the so-called “death penalty,” the NCAA is expected to level unprecedented sanctions. Potential penalties include scholarship losses, a ban from postseason play, a ban from all games and hefty fines.

A TV ban? While it seems unlikely, nothing is off the table here.

The effects likely will impact Penn State for the foreseeable future and also will impact the Big Ten Conference, which will levy its own penalties on the program in the very near future.

Read more: http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/63138/checking-in-from-ncaa-headquarters

[UNT90]

Lose 10 schollys per year over 4 years, a 4 year bowl ban.

No loss of home games.

A complete give up by the NCAA. Not really surprised.

Didn't we lose 5 schollys one year for APR violations?

The NCAA really should just disband their enforcement wing.

Completely worthless.

[jperg2]

Plus they pay a $60m fine (equivalent to 1 full year of revenue for the football program); funds must be paid into an endowment for external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims.

They got lucky IMO.

PS #1: The school will be forced to vacate all wins from 1998-2011, a total of 112 victories, and serve five years of probation. The loss of victories means Joe Paterno is no longer college football's winningest coach. At the time of his firing he had recorded 409 wins.

PS #2: In addition, the school will be forced to cut 10 scholarships for this season and 20 scholarships for the following four years. The move essentially bumps Penn State down to the scholarship levels of schools at the lower Football Championship Subdivision.

Edited July 23, 2012 by jperg2

[untjim1995]

Lose 10 schollys per year over 4 years, a 4 year bowl ban.

No loss of home games.

A complete give up by the NCAA. Not really surprised.

Didn't we lose 5 schollys one year for APR violations?

The NCAA really should just disband their enforcement wing.

Completely worthless.

I actually think they got much worse than I expected. $60 million is chump change to a place like Penn State, but the 10 scholarship cuts, the 4-year bowl ban, and the likely transfer of most of its players to other places will crush that program for the next decade or longer. A death penalty at Penn State probably would have been a year at most with the scholarship cuts, but this will be a killer to their long-term competitiveness in he Big Ten. And it is all so very-well deserved.

[DeepGreen]

From the CUSA board:

1. $60M penalty money to go to victims programs

2. 4 year post season bans

3. Reduce from 25 to 15 football 'ships per year for 4 years

4. Immediately transfer of any FB player who wants to leave w/o waiting period to play for new school

5. Vacate ALL WINS from 1998-2011

6. 5 years probation

7. NCAA formal investigations of individuals involves after criminal investigations are over

8. NCAA quarterly monitoring for 5 years

Edited July 23, 2012 by DeepGreen

[rcade]

Penn State is not going to win with walk-ons. This will crush Penn State football for a decade. No top recruit is going to go there for the next four years, which directly impacts the next eight seasons. By the time they're out from under this, they'll have a decade of misery to overcome. O'Brien will be long gone. Like SMU, they may never be a major college football program again.

[UNT90]

Also, nothing about a television ban, amd lots of talk from Emmert about "not punishing those who were not involved in the coverup" when it came to the death penalty.

Translation- Penn St makes too much money for us to really come down on them, and we will not do anything to limit their, amd our, profit margins in the future.

Simply disgusting.

And a quick slap on the wrist with no investigation of the money trail to second mile (or maybe to avoid any investigation).

[GrandGreen]

I really disagree with those saying this is nothing, it sounds to me as bad if not worse than the death penalty. They will not be competitive for years, I think they could recover from the death penalty much faster.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

I actually think they got much worse than I expected. $60 million is chump change to a place like Penn State, but the 10 scholarship cuts, the 4-year bowl ban, and the likely transfer of most of its players to other places will crush that program for the next decade or longer. A death penalty at Penn State probably would have been a year at most with the scholarship cuts, but this will be a killer to their long-term competitiveness in he Big Ten. And it is all so very-well deserved.

Agree. That's handing over all the money you make in a season. I read somewhere that Penn State's actual net off of footbal last year was $14 million. Their net will be lower without bowl games for four years.

The scholarship thing will be a problem as well. When OU was dinged in the late 80s (two year TV and bowl ban, loss of scholarships), they weren't nationally competitive again until the 2000s. Loss of scholarships does hurt a program.

Recruiting will drop of as well. You've got to tell a kid, "Come to Penn State instead of (fill in the blank with traditional power school). Even though you won't go to a bowl game for four years, you will be at Penn State." That's not really a strong selling point. Your average 18 year old kid wants those bowl games, and doesn't necessarily remember the days of Franco Harris...or even Lavar Arrington!

Their scholarship level will be about the same as that of a Sam Houston State, and without bowl games for four years, and surrendering basically their net football proceeds for three or four years...it's a stiff penalty. It will make them, at best, what OU was throughout the 90s - a once great program struggling to make up for the loss of scholarships and recruiting prowess.

Edited July 23, 2012 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

[Side Show Joe]

They should not compete for years. That should have been part of the punishment.

[Harry]

I think the penalties were pretty stiff. Keep in mind, the 60 million may be a drop in the bucket when compared to the civil suits... My only disappointment is the fact they keep TV although the Big 10 may remedy that.

All in all I would give the NCAA an 8 --- I think the fact that they moved quickly and decisively after the Freeh judgement prevented Penn State from letting time move the spotlight off of this heinous act. The 5 years of probation makes it very difficult to cut corner and 10 schollys a year will hurt them for many years to come.

[NT03]

Schools that take in a Penn State transfer will not have that ship count against them

[VideoEagle]

The free transfers is huge. Most of their top talent will be gone. Playing a B1G schedule with a FCS level of scholarships is going to produce ugly records which means fewer top recruits in the future.

I think this does accomplish what the NCAA said in the press conference, both punish and offer a remedial effect. It gives them a chance to clean house at Penn State. It gives significant money to help victims of abuse. It also gives other universities the clear reason to look at the balance between academics and athletics at there universities. It shows what the consequences really are.

This is more than a slap on the wrist and it's not over yet. The B1G conference is planning its own penalties plus there are going to be civil suits for decades.

[rcade]

To put the $60 million in perspective, Penn State has a budget of $4.3 billion. A seven-year public fundraising campaign ended in 2003 after raising $1.3 billion for the school. Last year was its best ever for donations, at $208 million.

The school's athletic budget is $92 million. In 2009-10, the athletic department made $18 million profit. (That's less than what the NCAA called their yearly profit today, I think.)

I expect that angry Penn State alumni will donate more than $60 million in response to this.

[VideoEagle]

To put the $60 million in perspective, Penn State has a budget of $4.3 billion. A seven-year public fundraising campaign ended in 2003 after raising $1.3 billion for the school. Last year was its best ever for donations, at $208 million.

The school's athletic budget is $92 million. In 2009-10, the athletic department made $18 million profit. (That's less than what the NCAA called their yearly profit today, I think.)

I expect that angry Penn State alumni will donate more than $60 million in response to this.

As the NCAA guy said during the presser, money is fungible. With any large institution there are multiple sources of money. For the first time, an athletic program is being force to help some actual victims. The alumni contributed to the culture that created they problem so having their donations go to the clean up is fitting.

[LongJim]

It's not the death penalty, but it's a pretty big hit.

I would like to have seen TV go bye bye for 4 years, but that's "penalizing the innocent" after all.

$60 million is $60 million, and should have been higher.

The loss of schollies is pretty huge. It will definitely hurt PSU for a decade at least. When combined with bowl ban, it will impact the program pretty gravely for a while.

Now, let's see if the Big10 does anything else to them. Hopefully they will.

Edited July 23, 2012 by LongJim

[MeanGreenTexan]

I believe these punishments will relegate Penn State to the bottom of the Big10/11/12 for at least 10 years, if not longer. By that time, it will be tough to rebuild. The Penn St. VS Indiana games are about to become more compelling every year.

This is a very harsh punishment. The only major difference between this and the "death penalty" are the games played on TV and home games. SMU had both ripped away for 2 years, right?

[GTWT]

To put the $60 million in perspective, Penn State has a budget of $4.3 billion. A seven-year public fundraising campaign ended in 2003 after raising $1.3 billion for the school. Last year was its best ever for donations, at $208 million.

The school's athletic budget is $92 million. In 2009-10, the athletic department made $18 million profit. (That's less than what the NCAA called their yearly profit today, I think.)

I expect that angry Penn State alumni will donate more than $60 million in response to this.

Maybe. But if North Texas was ever involved in something like this I would never give the school another penny.

[UNT90]

They should not compete for years. That should have been part of the punishment.

If they wanted to send a message, they would have discontinued football for one year.

This was done way quick and without a full investigation. Smacks of the NCAA just wanting this to go away.

It won't.

[VideoEagle]

At the presser, the NCAA guy was clear this was NOT a regular enforcement hearing. It's nothing like the SMU situation. The overall NCAA board and the Division 1 board were unanimous in the need to punish and correct PSU. If there had been a death penalty there still would have been additional punishments like the fine.

SMU hurt themselves more that the death penalty in their efforts to change their culture. And say what you will about SMU, they are certainly cleaner than they were - no more hundred dollars bills with the coaches phone number pined to high school buliten boards.

Repeatedly during the presser the NCAA talked about PSU cleaning up their culture and the need for other schools to examine their own. The NCAA is sending in an inspector quarterly to check PSUs progress on cleaning up the culture. First you clean up, then you rebuild.

[UNT90]

It's not the death penalty, but it's a pretty big hit.

I would like to have seen TV go bye bye for 4 years, but that's "penalizing the innocent" after all.

$60 million is $60 million, and should have been higher.

The loss of schollies is pretty huge. It will definitely hurt PSU for a decade at least. When combined with bowl ban, it will impact the program pretty gravely for a while.

Now, let's see if the Big10 does anything else to them. Hopefully they will.

Didn't we have a wager on this? ;-)

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

Penn State is not going to win with walk-ons. This will crush Penn State football for a decade. No top recruit is going to go there for the next four years, which directly impacts the next eight seasons. By the time they're out from under this, they'll have a decade of misery to overcome. O'Brien will be long gone. Like SMU, they may never be a major college football program again.

..

---I agree with everything except the final comment... they will be a power again (too much money there) but not anytime soon.. maybe ten years as you said first. They will become a very bad joke... far worse than what SMU became. Perhaps they should change Beaver Valley Stadium to Predator Valley Stadium... Glad to see Paterno is now not #1 officially in wins... Glad to see the NCAA came down hard... this was not about one guy out of control but a whole staff and administration hiding what was happening-- (not just about what had already happened)..

Can't see quality players going there.. plus expect several current players with 2-3 years left to leave and go elsewhere. They are screwed.

Edited July 23, 2012 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[LongJim]

Didn't we have a wager on this? ;-)

Sure did! For giggles, let's see what the Big 10 rolls out in addition to the NCAA stuff. I'm already committed to the $20.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

If they wanted to send a message, they would have discontinued football for one year.

This was done way quick and without a full investigation. Smacks of the NCAA just wanting this to go away.

It won't.

I think it is worse... the fans will get to see their team destroyed for years... and know why..

[LongJim]

Wow, Big 10 basically did nothing. Biggest "blow" was loss of Penn State's cut of Big Ten bowl revenue for 4 years to children's charities. That should amount to something like $13 million according to estimates.