FOXSports.com's Charles Davis reacts to the NCAA sanctions handed down to Penn State football.
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Updated Jul 23, 2012 3:42 PM ET
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)
No death penalty-just slow death.
STATE OF SHOCK
The NCAA actually did something right in hammering Penn State, Jason Whitlock says.
Wiped out in the record book. Wiped out in the wallet. Wiped out in the ability to recruit, and keep what it already has.
"Penn State got slammed by the NCAA on Monday in every way.
The governing body of college sports took away 14 years of coach Joe Paterno's victories and imposed a mountain of fines and penalties, crippling a program whose pedophile assistant coach spent years molesting children, sometimes on school property.
The sanctions imposed by the NCAA on Monday also include fines of $60 million, orders for Penn State to sit out the postseason for four years, capped scholarships at 20 below the normal limit for four years and placed football on five years' probation.
Current or incoming football players are free to immediately transfer and compete at another school.
The NCAA's sanctions following the worst scandal in the history of college football stopped short of delivering the ''death penalty'' - shutting down the sport completely. It actually did everything but kill it.
''The sanctions needed to reflect our goals of providing cultural change,'' NCAA President Mark Emmert said as he announced the penalties at a news conference in Indianapolis.
The NCAA ruling holds the university accountable for the failure of those in power to protect children and insists that all areas of the university community are held to the same high standards of honesty and integrity.
''Against this backdrop, Penn State accepts the penalties and corrective actions announced today by the NCAA,'' Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a statement. ''With today's announcement and the action it requires of us, the University takes a significant step forward.''
Paterno's family said in a statement that the NCAA sanctions defamed the coach's legacy, and were a panicked response to the sex abuse scandal.
The family also says that punishing ''past, present and future'' students because of Jerry Sandusky's crimes did not serve justice.
The Big Ten announced that Penn State would not be allowed to share in the conference's bowl revenue during the NCAA's postseason ban, an estimated loss of about $13 million. And the NCAA reserved the right to add additional penalties.
Sandusky, a former Penn State defensive coordinator, was found guilty in June of sexually abusing young boys, sometimes on campus. An investigation commissioned by the school and released July 12 found that Paterno, who died in January, and several other top officials at Penn State stayed quiet for years about accusations against Sandusky.
Emmert fast-tracked penalties rather than go through the usual circuitous series of investigations and hearings. The NCAA said the $60 million is equivalent to the annual gross revenue of the football program. The money must be paid into an endowment for external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims and may not be used to fund such programs at Penn State.
''Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people,'' Emmert said.
By vacating 112 Penn State victories from 1998-2011, the sanctions cost Paterno 111 wins. Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden will now hold the top spot in the NCAA record book with 377 major-college (FBS) wins. Eddie Robinson holds the record for Division I-AA (FCS) wins with 408. John Gagliardi has the most wins of any coach in college football history with 484. Paterno, who was fired days after Sandusky was charged, will be credited with 298 wins. Vacated wins are not the same as forfeits - they don't count as losses or wins for either school.
''I didn't want it to happen like this,'' Bowden told the AP. ''Wish I could have earned it, but that's the way it is.''
The scholarship reductions mean Penn State's roster will be capped at 65 scholarship players beginning in 2014. The normal scholarship limit for major college football programs is 85. Playing with 20 less is devastating to a program that tries to compete at the highest level of the sport.
SAY IT AIN'T SO
Once a beacon of what was good about college athletics, Joe Paterno's statue was removed from the Penn State campus before 100-150 people. Get a firsthand look.
In comparison, the harsh NCAA sanctions placed upon USC several years ago left the Trojans with only 75 scholarships per year over a three-year period.
The sanctions came a day after the school took down a statue of Paterno that stood outside Beaver Stadium and was a rallying point for the coaches' supporters throughout the scandal.
At a student union on campus, several dozen alumni and students gasped, groaned and whistled as they watched Emmert's news conference.
The Penn State investigation headed by former FBI Director Louis Freeh said school officials kept what they knew from police and other authorities for years, enabling the abuse to go on.
NO LONGER THERE
The halo that sat above Joe Paterno's head on a State College mural was painted over by the artist.
There had been calls across the nation for Penn State to receive the ''death penalty,'' and Emmert had not ruled out that possibility as late as last week - though Penn State did not fit the criteria for it. That punishment is for teams that commit a major violation while already being sanctioned.
''This case is obviously incredibly unprecedented in every aspect of it,'' Emmert said, ''as are these actions that we're taking today.''
Penn State football under Paterno was built on - and thrived upon - the premise that it did things the right way. That it was not a football factory where only wins and losses determined success. Every major college football program tries to send that message, but Penn State built its brand on it.
Paterno's ''Grand Experiment'' was about winning with integrity, graduating players and sending men into the world ready to succeed in life, not just football. But he still won a lot - a record-setting 409 victories."
Let's hope that Walter Thompson, Danny Lee Shelton and James Gilley take the lessons to heart...if not, THEY WILL SUFFER THE SAME FATE!!! If not in this life, then most certainly in the second resurrection.
We call them to confession, repentance, revival and reformation!!!!
Gailon Arthur Joy,
AUReporter
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Topic: NCAA reveals Penn St. punishment - Paterno Memorial Statue TORN DOWN (Read 2541 times)
