Or just saber rattling?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr- ... ncaaf.html

"Emmert's words harkened apossible NCAA death penalty, which has only been handed down once in football - SMU in 1986."

"This is completely different than an impermissible benefits scandal like (what) happened at SMU, or anything else we've dealt with," Emmert told Smiley. "This is as systemic a cultural problem as it is a football problem. There have been people that said this wasn't a football scandal.
"Well, it was more than a football scandal, much more than a football scandal. It was that but much more. And we'll have to figure out exactly what the right penalties are. I don't know that past precedent makes particularly good sense in this case, because it's really an unprecedented problem."

This is a very tough call. In my eyes, this is lack of institutional control to a T. You have, essentially, an organized cover-up of illegal acts. Normally, when the lack of institutional control is thrown out, it involves recruiting, extra benefits and other things that are not illegal by the law. This, on the other hand, is illegal on every level. It was based in the athletic department, specifically within the football program so they should pay. However, if a death penalty was to occur, how many peoples lives would be ruined? I don't imagine that State College, PA is a large tourist attraction, outside of September-December so how many small businesses whom are dependent upon footall season would go under? How could Emmert justify punishing the people of State College when they had nothing to do with the cover up? I say let the legal system play out, let the two execs involved in the cover up rot in jail and find out what those kids they didn't protect went through.

I don't think you could justify giving them the death penalty because there were absolutely no players involved. The death penalty should be reserved for when players are consistently violating NCAA rules and it gets covered up by coaches and administrators. Since this case doesn't, it should be handled by law enforcement authorities. The NCAA would be overstepping its bounds by getting involved too heavily in this case.

The players weren't involved but one coach was raping kids in the football facilities and the head coach was actively covering it up. That seems astronomically worse than players getting 100 dollar handshakes. There is a pretty clear cut lack of control within the organization if this is allowed to go on for (best case) a decade.

I agree with you in that sense but this is a legal issue, not an NCAA issue. The legal system (and karma in JoePa's case) have/will take care of these issues. If they get involved in this, then they open the door to getting involved in any/all cases involving legal proceedings. I see where you are coming from with the cover-up portion of it but, without sounding like an idiot, does it say anything in the NCAA rulebook about this type of thing? I know the NCAA is notorious for making things up on the run, but I don't think they should step in on this issue in terms of sanctions. Scrub JoePa from the record book, take down the statue etc etc but don't punish those who weren't involved.

I'm sorry, but with something of this magnitude I have little faith that the legal system will be able to find and punish everyone involved. There are people who have great authority at that school who had at least some inkling that this was happening but chose not to protect innocent children, and I'm sure that there are some still there.

Fine, punish those involved in the cover-up, but to put the program on a death penalty severely punishes the players who were never involved with it in the first place. If the NCAA gets involved at all, I could see Penn State or possibly even players' parents to sue them for overstepping their intended purpose.

You're more than likely correct (sadly). The NCAA, however, is hardly the modum for punishing those left unpunished. If they are allowed to do so, we'll have the quiet shamed majority of the PSU community getting buried so we can catch and punish those leftover who may or may not have known.

PSU will always wear this scarlet letter. Every alum who goes to apply for jobs knows when their potential employer reads, "Penn State University" at the top of their resume...they'll be thinking about this scandal.

While it would hurt the players in that they wouldn't be able to play at the school they originally chose to attend, they would be allowed to go to other schools. Most likely, they wouldn't even have to wait a year to become eligible.

I don't think the NCAA would look at that as a reason not to penalize the school in some way.

This article I just found accurately sums up my thoughts on the NCAA getting involved in the Sandusky case.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opi ... 5422.story

FWIW, it appears the direct opposite of LOIC... There was an incredible level of active cover-up apparently taking place, throughout the upper echelons of the AD as well as the Penn State University Administration. The whole thing was highly orchestrated to keep it out of the public eye.

Even so, knowing there are those who should lose their positions (AND hopefully, never have a position of authority again...) and/or be prosecuted for obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting a felon, as well as sundry other nefarious actions, it does not make sense that this is truly an NCAA issue.

IIRC, castration, draw and quartering, and keel-hauling are all against the Constitution... *Sigh*.

How do you punish those that are still keeping quiet and being protected. Like I was trying to imply, there are probably many others involved that we don't know about. The only way to punish them is for the NCAA to step in and hammer the whole school, which would be fine by me, since many of the people involved really had nothing to do with the football program other than they were apart of the same school and wanted to try and protect it's overall integrity by covering this up.

As for the kids; like someone else said, they would most likely be allowed to transfer without having to sit a year.

The kids and families that were violated by Sandusky and the school need to have some kid of retribution, they need to know that this will never happen again at a school like Penn State. The only way for that to happen is for the legal system and the NCAA to work to together and nail the s*** out of PSU.

The State of Pennsylvania and the county where PSU is located should be the ones to nail PSU for their cover-up. The NCAA's main role is to act as an overseer of student-athlete eligibility and the school's handling of their student-athletes. Since this case has no student-athletes involved in perpetuating the scandal, the NCAA should have no bearing on what happens at PSU. Any punishment the NCAA hands out would be overkill, since PSU will be hit with much harsher punishment from within the state that hit closer to the heart of the matter than what the NCAA would do.

Almost exactly right, but the NCAA can and should hit them the only way they can. And that's in the wallet by banning them from participating in their organization (the NCAA). Let every player transfer and make PSU start over in a year or two. Lets face it, this was covered up by those in charge at PSU, and the 110% reason it was, was because of money. They all got scared that it would look bad, and donors would stop giving money. At the end of the day being a part of the NCAA and what it brings to the table is a privilege not a right. They can play in the NAIA if they want as far, and as I'm concerned every top program should refuse to play them for a couple years. These people are supposed to represent the integrity of the university, and if I had to bet some top donars new about this and helped keep it secret. Nothing big happens without the money men knowing.

Not only are they a bunch of liers but lets not forget all the people who ignored the fact JoePa lied and covered this up, to go an rally at his house. None of them cared to know the truth and when they had the facts they still stood with their coach. They all showed their true colors, they only care about football and wins, nothing else.

Actually the NCAA does not just govern the actions of student athletes but coaches and athletic departments too. In this case the coaches and athletic departments played a huge role.