My proposal for Penn State's punishment and a request for yours

This would destroy the program for at least a decade, maybe forever. The time it took Michigan Basketball to become good again would be nothing on this. 

The next five years would be a wash, especially since Penn State is already in serious rebuild mode. Then the death penalty year. Then at least four years to get things back on their feet. In the meantime, there is no guarantee that the fans won't simply stop buying tickets for a dying program and good coaches won't shun the job as poison. 

Frankly, it's entirely possible that PSU never truly recovers even without the death penalty. If O'Brien turns out to be good, they have a chance, but if he doesn't...

Oh, it would definitely hurt, but that's partly the point.  I just don't think they'd have Akron-level talent.  I think they'd have Purdue/Illinois-level talent.

I have a broader view, which might be wrong, that historical football powers are extremely perserverant with this kind of stuff.  No one expected Penn State or USC to recruit like they have this year, but they're doing it.  If that kind of thing happened at NC State or Iowa State, I think you'd see a much steeper drop off from their typical recruiting classes to their post-scandal ones.

I tend to agree with you.  It would severely hurt their recruiting.

In fact, I remember hearing a lot of people say that Michigan Basketball recruiting was hurt for years from the fact that it took the NCAA years to fully investigate and then come to a decision on the punishment. 

PSU's endowment is more than enough to cover the lawsuits. I do think that a percentage of athletic department revenues should be contributed though - this is an excellent idea.

It's not entirely about football. PSU has 28 other varsity sports, many of which rely on the football team to survive. You kick out PSU, or the Death Penalty, and you're essentially giving the middle finger to those sports as well. And don't tell me PSU will be fine as an Independent, since they've done it before. The current landscape makes it almost impossible to survive as an independent without certain factors that PSU doesn't meet

the rioting of the students, the stubborn refusal to remove the statue, that whole culture needs to be eradicated from the Bi1G.   I'd take Pitt or MD in a heartbeat over PSU right now.  I live in FL and it's much easier to find a flight to go see UM in Pitt or College Park, and much safer to attend the game.  PSU is unsafe for visiting fans at night games.  Not so anywhere else in the B1G.  For all these reasons i say get thee gone.  we are better off without them.

Anyone who makes the argument about "collateral damage" and punishing the folks that did nothing wrong must then defend the arguement that the death penalty should never be applied ever and most NCAA punishments (ie: bowl bans, loss of scholarships, etc) shouldnt be handed out as both have collateral damage. Any punishment to a school has collateral damage. Should Sandusky not go to jail because he is the bread winner for his family. What about his poor wife. Who will support her? I say tough shit. Football is the reason these crimes were allowed to go on for so long.  I truly  believe the culture at PSU needs to change and the only way to do that is to take away what is obvioulsy their number one priority. I do feel sorry for those that will be affected, but the crimes are so egregious and to try and pity a fan base and community who continue to defend Paterno is laughable. Like a previous poster stated, most D-I and  every DII-III school do not have the massive cash influx that PSU does, yet they still field teams with student athletes who travel, train and compete at the best of their ability.

Just so we're clear, the perpetrators are going to jail, I'm sure donations to the school will take a big hit, they will have to pay out huge amounts of money for the lawsuits, and their name has been dragged through the mud.

That is all deterrance. In a hypothetical situation down the road where administrators are faced with the choice to report a crime or cover it up, the NCAA Death Penalty will not be a significant factor in the decision making process.

(Scene:in the University of Texas Athletic Director's Office)

UT AD DeLoss Dodds: "Well, Greg Robinson is a good guy, won us a national title as the defensive coordiantor, we should try to cover up his latest killing spree"

Random Flunky: "But, think about Penn State! They got the Death Penalty! THEY WON'T BE ABLE TO PLAY FOOTBALL FOR A YEAR!"

UT AD DD: "Well in that case turn him in. The threat of jail time for myself and the reputation of the university don't mean anything next to losing Longhorn Football for one whole year."

If we take Ohio State as an example. There was what appears to be a deliberate failure in compliance. The AD who gave a negative review for Tressel on compliance was replaced with one who saw no need to continue written reviews. The compliance department was part of the AD with no independence. While only players and the coach were caught breaking rules, one could at least argue that many others were involved in looking the other way. This is, and should be, a big deal to the NCAA, as they rely on schools to moniter themselves.

Looking at Penn State, it's clear that a major part of the problem was that the football coach was the most powerful man on campus and answered to no one. That wasn't his fault and it wasn't the fault of one or two administrators either. His power was widely known, but it doesn't seem that anyone did anything about it, probably because he had the support of the larger community.When an institution lets that happen, they should share in the blame.

It's pointless to take about punishing players or coaches that have moved on. The NCAA simply doesn't have that kind of power and they lack any leverage to get it. The idea that the NCAA could somehow place barriers to future employment for players that violated their rules is preposterous.

But as it stands, there are no incentives - everyone else suffers while the guilty go on to other jobs. Everything re: punishment is turned on its head.

You've completely missed the relevant incentive for schools. They are expected to ensure compliance with the rules. Schools that are lax in their compliance procedures can expect to get hit harder. Schools with well run compliance departments catch most problems and typically avoid NCAA penalties for themselves.