How do Penn State’s Penalties Stack up to SMU’s?

The NCAA dropped the hammer on Penn State this morning, fining the university $60 million, banning the program from bowl games for four years, vacating wins back to 1998, and stripping scholarships.

So I headed to Twitter, typed in “SMU death penalty,” and saw what shook out. Most of these responses are from journalists:

By Bradford Pearson Jul. 23, 2012 | 10:41 am | 9 Comments | Comments RSS
9 comments to "How do Penn State's Penalties Stack up to SMU's?"
  1. UPDad @ July 23, 2012 at 1:44 pm
    Most people seem to be saying that PSU’s penalty is worse than SMU’s death penalty. I disagree. Perhaps it is because I’ve lived here and seen the effect that the Death Penalty had on SMU, I don’t know. But I know that USC and Ohio State have recently been hit with some pretty rough penalties, and they still seem to be recruiting okay. Four years ago, Indiana’s basketball team got hit with recruiting penalties which were granted, much less, but resulted in all but one player leaving the team. Still, their new coach got them turned back around in just four years. The effects of SMU’s penalty were much worse and longer-lasting. Some say that this is more because the school itself de-emphasized football, and certainly that had something to do with it. But Penn State can still field a football team next year, can still offer scholarships to players (10 less per year than normal, but you can still field a team with 60 scholarship players), and can still win games in the Big 10. Four years is a long post-season ban, but that only affects a couple of recruiting classes for a good coach.

  2. SMU fan @ July 23, 2012 at 5:21 pm
    Very good perspectives on how severe today’s ruling was at the following — http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/23/five-experts-what-happens-to-penn-state-football/

  3. peter griffin @ July 23, 2012 at 7:06 pm
    for pete’s sake,
    this time next year,
    the red mark from this
    slap on the wrist won’t
    even show.
    the motto of the ncaa
    is “money talks!”

  4. mom @ July 24, 2012 at 12:20 pm
    NCAA never read the love and logic parenting books. Punishment doesnt logically fit the offense. See front page photo of the DMN… those girls had nothing to do with this scandal, yet somehow by simply attending Penn, they will have that scarlet letter. If Penn violated recruiting or cheated at football, by all means destroy the team. This is a criminal matter to be settled with due process and a jury trial in our court system. NOT this way. It’s still America, right?

  5. Bradford Pearson @ July 24, 2012 at 12:54 pm
    Mom- Just to be clear, we’re talking about Penn State, not Penn. Just want to make sure all our readers are clear on that.

  6. XT @ July 24, 2012 at 3:25 pm
    @Mom,

    The NCAA didn’t cause that “Scarlet Letter” on the girls and other students who attend Penn State. Jerry Sandusky did. And then Joe Paterno, Spanier, et all did when they turned the other way. It was clear that it was football first at Penn State, damn the integrity. Now they are getting their just punishment. But don’t blame the NCAA, or the media.

    What the NCAA was doing was sending the message that football had become too big at Penn State, and that the problem was not lack of institutional control (SMU), but total institutional control by the football program. And that allowed many innocent children to be victimized by these monsters. Shame on the lot of them.

  7. mom @ July 24, 2012 at 9:51 pm
    yes, just typing fast. Sorry about leaving out State. .

  8. jbw @ July 25, 2012 at 8:03 am
    @XT, well said.

  9. Former Parkie @ July 25, 2012 at 4:48 pm
    When I heard about this outcome, I was really shocked.

    Shocked because I have been fighting to bring justice to very similar situations like this one. I have personally been in two. The first was the sex ring out of Omaha where city leaders and politicians passed children around like sex toys. The second was covered up church abuse.

    I always thought that justice would be served when I went forward about the abuse to the agencies of Justice.

    But, like Penn State, the DOJ and Legislative Branches of our govt decided to protect its own rather than protect the children. All agreed it happened, but it was no one’s area.

    Over 50 kids went forward, including me, but no justice took place.

    So, my reaction was a good one. I’m glad the childen get justice and I hope that this sets an example for all institutions in our country. Justice like this is rare.

    Football means nothing to me. Justice means a lot.

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