[JagdPanther]

Originally Posted by kyp275

Indeed, in hindsight they should've included a swift kick to the ass.

Considering that there is no evidence that would stand up in any court of law that he definitely did something bad, I disagree. But, that doesn't mean that I don't think that it's more likely than not that he did something very bad.

doesn't that mean they have jurisdiction?

No, not at all. You can agree to almost anything ("almost" because contracts cannot be for illegal ventures/actions/means/etc.). That consent decree is the only thing that will allow this punishment to stand. The NCAA has absolutely no ground for imposing punishment on a member institution that didn't actually break any NCAA rules.

Look at it this way. If a guy pays his taxes like clockwork every year, the IRS is happy. If that same guy runs down a pedestrian in a cross-walk, it's the state that administers punishment, not the IRS, even though the guy is a taxpayer. In this situation, the NCAA is the IRS. Penn State has always complied with NCAA rules, but now Penn State, because it is a member of the NCAA (like our loyal taxpayer above), the NCAA (unlike the IRS) is administering a punishment for crimes (allegedly, remember... no convictions on two people and no charges against two others...) committed that were not even tangential to what the NCAA actually administers.

Implying that violating NCAA regulations is more serious than covering for child rapist for over a decade while he continues to rape kids

Where did I imply that? I am merely saying that if Penn State gets this kind of punishment without actually having ever violated an NCAA regulation, what kind of punishment should schools who ACTUALLY violate the regulations receive?[/quote]

Tough luck, that's how the world works. It's no different than when corporations fail in real life, communities that depended on them will suffer.

That is exactly the kind of attitude I've taken about this whole situation, actually. Until now. Because until now, there have been reasonable bases for the backlash... this, however, has been completed unwarranted.

So basically, a slap on the wrist. Yup, Penn Stater definitely don't value their football program above everything else

A slap on the wrist from an organization that has no right to even administer the slap, yes. Whatever the DoE or Commonwealth of Pennsylvania do to us, go ahead, prosecute the school to the fullest extent of the law. At least those bodies have the right and duty to impose punishment.

And no, maybe Penn State didn't violate any specific NCAA statute, but they failed the far more important one of basic human decency.

So then why is the NCAA even involved? Like I said above, does the IRS administer the punishment for our loyal taxpayer who committed vehicular assault?

Originally Posted by Kyuu

The NCAA had all the jurisdiction here, when it comes to "officiating" university athletics.

That's news to the legal community, then.

What is most discouraging about all this is that the decision was made by our new President allegedly without the consent of our Board of Trustees. In the NCAA's statement, Mark Emmert said that part of Penn State's punishment is that it has to completely abide by the findings of the Freeh Report... do you know what one of those findings was? That the Board had very little oversight for the President. Do you know what one of the recommendations was? That the Board should take a firmer grip of the President. Funny thing how, for the NCAA, Penn State going against the findings and recommendations of the report worked out.

I have been very upset with how this situation has been handled (or, rather, bungled) by the Penn State administration. What Jerry Sandusky did was horrible and he deserves to rot in prison (assuming he even survives to die on his own, because child molesters do not fare well in prison). If our administrators really were involved in a cover-up, they deserve to rot, too. But there are ways to handle a crisis like this and there are ways NOT to handle the crisis. The Penn State administration has definitely been in the latter category.