Should PSU get the Death Penalty?

[Bull94]

They should be let off the hook completely. I mean, it's not like they did something TRULY evil, like steal a cellphone or something...

[/sarcasm]

who is "they"? nobody is saying let the scumbags who covered it up get away with it. not one person has said that.

[Bull94]

If we found out the same thing happened at USF, a "baby" program by comparison, would you all want the football team dismantled? After all the work to get the program from The Ponderosa to the state of where the program/facilities are now? Or would you want all those who covered this up gone, in jail, and replaced and move forward? It makes no sense to punish the student athletes, students, fans, alumni, those whose livelihoods are tied to the program (vendors, suppliers, etc), and community over the actions of this handful of people. They need to go to jail and be replaced. The program needs to movie forward. This is not something that the school or students fostered. It was a few...and the many don't deserve the punishment.

excellent post.

imagine the devastation to local businesses in happy valley. no more 100 thousand people filling hotel rooms, bars and restaurants. it would devastate a community that had nothing to do with the crime or cover-up.

[Bull-by-Marriage]

If we found out the same thing happened at USF, a "baby" program by comparison, would you all want the football team dismantled? After all the work to get the program from The Ponderosa to the state of where the program/facilities are now? Or would you want all those who covered this up gone, in jail, and replaced and move forward? It makes no sense to punish the student athletes, students, fans, alumni, those whose livelihoods are tied to the program (vendors, suppliers, etc), and community over the actions of this handful of people. They need to go to jail and be replaced. The program needs to movie forward. This is not something that the school or students fostered. It was a few...and the many don't deserve the punishment.

If this is treated in the manner you suggest, then no snactions could really ever be levied in the future. There is alway collateral damage. If a school loses a few schollys, the program will faulter, leading to lower attendance, leading to fewer hotel rooms, less food consumption, less merchandise etc...... I don't know what the property penalty should be, but to use the "it hurts other people" argument would set a bad precedent against any further sacntions. JMVHO.

[Rizman]

They covered it up for years. The program needs to be shutdown because Administration knew about it and did not act in the best interest of the child. This should not be an issue if they had just done the right thing and exposed the scumbag, but they were afraid of hurting the football team and the schools reputation more than the protecting the innocent.

If you let them keep the program in any form our fashion you are rewarding their decision. And if I hear what about the current student athletes, the NCAA can take care of them if they want to by letting other schools absorb them and giving them an extra year.

again who is "they"? an institution wasn't responsible for the cover-up. the people running the institution were. deal with them harshly.

Athletic administration, Joe Paterno and other coaches and officials. Didn't the President of the University know, then it starts at the top and that is the problem.

How long did this cover up go one and why, just to protect one scumbag. Yeah, I know the fans and athletes did not have anything to do with it but a message needs to be sent.

[Rizman]

If we found out the same thing happened at USF, a "baby" program by comparison, would you all want the football team dismantled? After all the work to get the program from The Ponderosa to the state of where the program/facilities are now? Or would you want all those who covered this up gone, in jail, and replaced and move forward? It makes no sense to punish the student athletes, students, fans, alumni, those whose livelihoods are tied to the program (vendors, suppliers, etc), and community over the actions of this handful of people. They need to go to jail and be replaced. The program needs to movie forward. This is not something that the school or students fostered. It was a few...and the many don't deserve the punishment.

If this is treated in the manner you suggest, then no snactions could really ever be levied in the future. There is alway collateral damage. If a school loses a few schollys, the program will faulter, leading to lower attendance, leading to fewer hotel rooms, less food consumption, less merchandise etc...... I don't know what the property penalty should be, but to use the "it hurts other people" argument would set a bad precedent against any further sacntions. JMVHO.

Good point. Who cares if it hurts some, has it not already scared others. Big deal, a 3 year ban of no football, the program will recover. People on here who are afraid to hurt the athletes do not see they are not the issue they are victims and by doing nothing you are rewarding this school for poor leadership and decision making. Not to mention covering up a crime.

[GaUSFBull]

If we found out the same thing happened at USF, a "baby" program by comparison, would you all want the football team dismantled? After all the work to get the program from The Ponderosa to the state of where the program/facilities are now? Or would you want all those who covered this up gone, in jail, and replaced and move forward? It makes no sense to punish the student athletes, students, fans, alumni, those whose livelihoods are tied to the program (vendors, suppliers, etc), and community over the actions of this handful of people. They need to go to jail and be replaced. The program needs to movie forward. This is not something that the school or students fostered. It was a few...and the many don't deserve the punishment.

excellent post.

imagine the devastation to local businesses in happy valley. no more 100 thousand people filling hotel rooms, bars and restaurants. it would devastate a community that had nothing to do with the crime or cover-up.

Well, you know what, too **** bad. They should blame Paterno, Curley, Spanier for that. Their hero worship of JoePa spread out over almost 60 years contributed to his virtually infallible lifestyle and image, and thus led Paterno and top administration officials to protect that at all costs.

Let's not forget, we're talking about raped kids here. We can't ever forget that. If there was a town that ever needed a culture change, it's State College, PA.

Burn it down for a couple years and let them build it back up, hopefully the right way this time.

[GaUSFBull]

It makes no sense to punish the student athletes, students, fans, alumni, those whose livelihoods are tied to the program (vendors, suppliers, etc), and community over the actions of this handful of people. They need to go to jail and be replaced. The program needs to movie forward. This is not something that the school or students fostered. It was a few...and the many don't deserve the punishment.

Are you freaking kidding me? Who fostered it then? Open your eyes - it was the president of the university, one of the vice presidents, the athletic director, and the football coach - whom EVERYTHING in that town revolves around. EVERYTHING.

I'll say it again, because it bears repeating: The school and its administrators, specifically controlled by football and athletics, fostered an environment in which the reputation of the football team and its coach was so great and so highly valued that it was willing to look the other way when they became aware that a high profile member of the football coaching staff was a child molester/pedophile/predator - and was using a youth mentoring program, partnered with the university, to groom his victims.

And I completely disagree that you're punishing many by giving the football program the death penalty. A university does not have to have football to survive. The players should be able to transfer anywhere they want without penalty. Any students that HAVE to go to a university with a football team can transfer out at will. It's a college town with no major metropolitan areas around for several hours - the students will still go to the restaurants, bars, the nightlife, etc. The alumni will just have to put up with not having football for a couple years. It will be allowed to come back.

There are other sports at Penn State that could probably use a boost in attendance while football is out of commission.

Perhaps the BOT at Penn State will be a little more proactive in oversight of the school administration (the Freeh report faulted the BOT on this point).

I agree the program should move forward, but it should be after sitting by on the sidelines for a few years watching other schools play football on Saturdays in the fall.

[Bull94]

If we found out the same thing happened at USF, a "baby" program by comparison, would you all want the football team dismantled? After all the work to get the program from The Ponderosa to the state of where the program/facilities are now? Or would you want all those who covered this up gone, in jail, and replaced and move forward? It makes no sense to punish the student athletes, students, fans, alumni, those whose livelihoods are tied to the program (vendors, suppliers, etc), and community over the actions of this handful of people. They need to go to jail and be replaced. The program needs to movie forward. This is not something that the school or students fostered. It was a few...and the many don't deserve the punishment.

excellent post.

imagine the devastation to local businesses in happy valley. no more 100 thousand people filling hotel rooms, bars and restaurants. it would devastate a community that had nothing to do with the crime or cover-up.

Well, you know what, too **** bad. They should blame Paterno, Curley, Spanier for that. Their hero worship of JoePa spread out over almost 60 years contributed to his virtually infallible lifestyle and image, and thus led Paterno and top administration officials to protect that at all costs.

Let's not forget, we're talking about raped kids here. We can't ever forget that. If there was a town that ever needed a culture change, it's State College, PA.

Burn it down for a couple years and let them build it back up, hopefully the right way this time.

easy for you to say. imagine if your livelihood was taken away over the actions of others.

I won't forget who the true victims were but i also don't want to see innocent people's lives ruined over something they did not do.

[Gismo]

So on the dr.drew show last night they were talking about this case and said that in 1999 the DA had plenty of evidence to prosecute but didn't. The investigators believe that even the the local DA and campus police were complacent in this cover up. They said one person skipped all university administration and police and notified the local authorities directly to report an incident after seeing a first report go no where when reported to the university. The guest on Dr. Drew said that he believes the DA at the time may have been under outside pressure (from university officials and Paterno) to not press charges. He said that things looks really bad for the DA at the time because apparently they had enough evidence to charge Sandusky many years ago but didn't.

It looks like every person with power to do something chose not to.

[GaUSFBull]

easy for you to say. imagine if your livelihood was taken away over the actions of others.

I won't forget who the true victims were but i also don't want to see innocent people's lives ruined over something they did not do.

Wonder if the NCAA thought about the same thing in SMU's case?

Maybe some livelihoods there were ruined when they got the death penalty - who knows? They were just paying players, though.

Young boys were getting raped in PSU showers by football program associates, and university associates looked the other way for over a decade.

It's easy for you to try to make it hit home personally for others when you're on the side of the argument that says "don't do anything more." I can't imagine being in anyone's position that is being affected personally by this, but I do know one thing: If I had been any one of those folks that saw something going on with Sandusky, I would have gone straight to the authorities and done everything I could to put him in jail. My moral compass demands it.

Not everyone was in a position to do that, I realize, and I'm sure there are those in State College that might have done that if they had the chance. But those same people right now probably blame the Paterno and the PSU admins for all of this, as they should, because Paterno and the PSU admins are the ones to blame for anything that happens here.

Edited July 18, 2012 by GaUSFBull