Sex Abuse Scandal Rocks Penn State

I'm satisfied with these punishments. It doesn't matter that they didn't "kill" the program, because the program is going to suffer for god knows how long. 4 years of no bowl games, and 15 scholarships? They are going to get their asses handed to them year after year. Plus the kids that are there now get the opportunity to transfer and not have to wait.

If I were a student, and not a top 15 player, who would want to play for them, knowing they'd most likely have to pay full cost to go there and not be eligible for a bowl game for 4 seasons? I don't think this scenario is likely to happen but imagine if they had barely enough players to field a team? Paterno's wins from the entire period get vacated, and they sufficiently harmed the program enough that we probably won't see it in the top 25 for another decade. I could see people being pissed if the program was allowed to continue and was still in the top 25, but as the old saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. If anything people will enjoy it more seeing their current program become bottom-feeders, getting their asses handed to them 62-7 every game.

What about guys like Bill O'Brien and the staff he brought in? Should they be punished?

What about guys like Bill O'Brien and the staff he brought in? Should they be punished?

No but I'm sure he had to know when he took the job that there probably were going to be sanctions. Unless everyone at Penn State lied to him too, and told him it wasn't a big concern and not to worry about it. I'm doubtful that that happened but the current group of leadership at Penn State hasn't struck me as very smart in how they're handling this whole thing.

What about guys like Bill O'Brien and the staff he brought in? Should they be punished?


Quite honestly, I have no sympathy for him as he signed up prior knowing that something was going to happen. Unless he was a complete idiot, he had to know the football program was going to take a hit.

^^ Nope. The program should be shut down and those contracts should be honored. Unless it can be shown that they somehow knew of the specific issues, their contracts should be enforceable as they did nothing to violate them.

Hard for PSU to move forward when they continue to have douchebags like this on the BoT.


Penn State Trustee Anthony Lubrano says full board wasn't advised of NCAA agreement | PennLive.com (http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/07/post_380.html)

What about guys like Bill O'Brien and the staff he brought in? Should they be punished?

You can't punish the program and those in charge without affecting the current staff and players. This should not be part of the equation. They all have the chance to move somewhere else. O'Brien knew about these problems coming in.

The kids are allowed to transfer and not sit out, which is fair and I'm glad the NCAA is making an exception for them.

On balance these penalties are harsh and severe. Losing 60 scholarships all but ensures that the program is basically irrelevant for many years to come. More fines to be levied by the Big Ten.

I don't think the stigma of being associated with Penn State should be underestimated.

$60 million fine. That's huge. That is larger than the annual operating academic budgets at some schools. Everyone at Penn State down to the groundskeepers and custodial staff will be affected by that.

I'm not complaining about the penalty. The NCAA should have thrown the book at PSU and it did. But to say the penalty does not affect innocent others is not really true.

^^ Nope. The program should be shut down and those contracts should be honored. Unless it can be shown that they somehow knew of the specific issues, their contracts should be enforceable as they did nothing to violate them.

Here's where I think the NCAA arguably got it right. The football program brings in a lot of revenue and employment for that town. Shutting down the program would have had an economic shock throughout that community.