Penn State - Yes, It Was That Bad

The Freeh Report details the neo-Vatican culture at Penn State which allowed Sandusky to continue doing what he did.

Anyone see Jay Paterno on TV? It was cringe worthy, he just can't accept the part his Dad had to play in the whole thing.

Spoiler:

There is still a lot more to come out

Saw one sports writer calling for the Death Penalty for Penn State's football program.

The Mangler US_UK wrote:Saw one sports writer calling for the Death Penalty for Penn State's football program.

read that too, however IIRC is not the Death penalty for severe NCAA infractions, but what Penn did is far worse it would be hard to implement I would guess and there could be a lot of legal wrangling, perhaps a downgrading of Penn State from Div 1 to Div 2 or 3, for 10 years I know its not the same as Death penalty, but it would downgrade Football at Penn State for a while and it would allow it to still be played but in a minor capacity.

Mark Emmert, President of the NCAA says he wont rule out the Death Penalty for Penn State. Many are saying that SMU's failings pale in comparison to the systemic failure of the Penn St. administration in this case.

http://tracking.si.com/2012/07/17/ncaa-president-mark-emmert-death-penalty-penn-state/?sct=hp_t2_a2

After falling from the heights, it's taken SMU 20 years to climb out of the football basement.

What is the "Death Penalty for Penn State"?

They would be banned from having a football team for a minimum of one season possibly more. SMU was a power house and got the Death Penalty for the '87 season for a slush fund they'd maintained for paying players (among other violations). They were allowed back for part of the '88 season but couldn't field a viable team so sat out that season as well. The Death Penalty ruling crushed them as a competitive program and common wisdom has been the NCAA will avoid issuing another one because of the long term affects on a school's program and all the money tied in to TV contracts and the effect of losing a popular team would have on that equation. But apparently, what does common wisdom know?

Thanks Mangler, if the players chose to leave (I'm guessing most would) Penn State due to that ban are they still unable to compete for a year at Div 1 schools? Do they after the however many years ban return (if they can) to playing in the Big Ten?

I believe all restrictions on transferring are waived and players are free to transfer to another school and play immediately. SMU was raided heavily (including by Penn St.). As far as the school -- I believe it would remain in its conference unless the conference has a provision to remove it in this case (not sure if any do).

I know SMU ended up transferring to a couple different conferences, but I think their original one is defunct (not 100% sure - my memory fades). I do know it was a very crooked conference back in the day and at one time only had 3 teams that weren't on probation. That was around the time that the NCAA instituted new rules and began dropping the hammer on offenders.

Here's the Gospel According to St. Wiki about SMU's "death penalty."

If you want more info on the SMU Mustangs and the death penalty, you should watch the ESPN documentary on it called "Pony Express" part of their award-winning 30 for 30 series.