OT-NCAA Death Penalty
We all should know what the NCAA Death Penalty is and if you don't here you go. The question I ask you all is do you think that the NCAA will ever give out the Death Penalty again? I know some of you have voiced your opinions on this saying no because of the way it devastated SMU. I used to agree with this sentiment.
I used to agree until all of these different allegations came out about upwards of half a dozen schools cheating in some capacity. I then think back to one the primary reasons they gave out the death penalty in the first place. The cheating was so rampant and out of control that they needed to make an example out of a school to get it under control. I still think it is highly unlikely but not as implausable as before. But after what they gave to USC I am starting to think they would at least put it on the table as a legitimate option.
Auburn and OSU would be the prime canidates with the 'Lack of Institutional Control' ruling. But what do you guys think? Yes, no, maybe?
It is incredibly unlikely that we will see another death penalty. The thing is analagous to the nuclear bomb: once we saw the results of one/two, we definately don't want to do it again.
The SMU case was the most blatant and systematic disregard of the rules perhaps in history. We're talking written contracts to pay the players here.
Even THAT didn't get them the death penalty. They got the death penalty because they were caught doing it and proceeded to keep doing it anyway.
I don't think it would ever be used against a program of Auburn or Ohio State's caliber. SMU didn't just have shady boosters or coaches who looked the other way; that scandal involved a pay-for-play scheme that was approved at the highest levels of the university. And they were already on probation for prior violations when they got caught. What's worse is that SMU's success was wholly the product of their cheating. SMU is a small school perpetually overshadowed by Texas and Texas A&M; they wanted to compete with the higher-profile schools in the SWC and cheating was the only way they could do it.
I agree that we're probably due for a program to get hit with unprecedented sanctions, like a 5-year bowl ban, a no-TV penalty, and/or a drastic reduction in scholarships. But death penalty? I just don't see it happening again. Not just because the NCAA wouldn't want to go that route, but because the SMU case had a chilling effect on that kind of blatant, over-the-top, in-your-face cheating.
1) The NCAA actually has handed down the death penalty twice since 1987-- they just haven't imposed that penalty on a major program. Morehouse College soccer and MacMurray College tennis got "executed" by the Committee on Infractions, and neither was even a repeat offender. These were just cases of blatant major rules violations coming at the institutional level-- Morehouse's AD didn't even know that a professor with virtually no grasp of NCAA rules was running a soccer program, and MacMurray violated the most basic tenet of Division III competition(no direct athletic scholarships) by giving its entire tennis team full rides.
2)If you'd asked me three years ago about the likelihood of a major program in a revenue sport getting the death penalty, I'd have said it's not going to happen again. Several administrators have expressed regret over what the death penalty did to SMU football(and by extension, the SWC), and in this era, such a penalty would have drastic consequences at the conference level. But recent developments have altered my thinking on this. SMU went down in large part because they deserved it, but also because the NCAA badly needed to make an example of somebody during a period when college football was awash in scandal-- this was the era that gave birth to the Knight Commission, which in turn brought about a major overhaul of NCAA structure. The current wave of scandals(Auburn, OSU, UNC, etc.) is once again feeding the perception that the NCAA is out of touch and unable to police its programs effectively. When an administrative bureaucracy is challenged in this way, it usually attempts to reassert its authority in the strongest possible terms. I think you saw a bit of that in the USC case-- after much public moaning that the NCAA wasn't going to do anything to USC in the Reggie Bush case, USC essentially got the same penalty Miami got in 1995, despite there being much less evidence of institutional wrongdoing in the USC case. In this environment, with the NCAA needing to make a stand to shore up its credibility as an enforcement agency, if the COI gets handed a case where a repeat offender has compromised its integrity at multiple institutional levels in order to field a winning team, they'd have a powerful incentive to bring back the death penalty. The only current case that I could see fitting that description is the one at Auburn, and then only if the worst rumors circulating about that program turn out to be true.
There's too much money involved now for the death penalty to be very likely. I think a very extreme case like Auburn (assuming everything is true) might result in a penalty that still allowed them to field a team, but made them a laughingstock for a long time. Maybe not allowing a school to have scholarship players for two years and giving everyone on the current team a free transfer or something like that.
Basically, they wouldn't be able to field an 80+ scholarship roster for at least six years with a penalty like that, which would seem like great incentive not to cheat to me.
I don't think the Auburn case will prove to be as dire as the worst reports have made it out to be, and none of the other cases, as best I can tell at this point, remotely rise to the level that they'd deserve that penalty. Having said that, there is a point in this calculus where the NCAA's ability to exert control over college sports in the long term is worth more, in financial terms and with respect to the credibility of competition, than the short-term hit the NCAA would take if a major program had to sit out a year or two. If it does indeed turn out that the Auburn Board of Trustees funded a payola scheme that helped win them a BCS title, micromanaging the entire university(which as previously mentioned, got the school put on accreditation probation in 2003) in order to ensure that violations could continue, that would be the most serious case of institutional wrongdoing since SMU. Given that USC lost 30 scholarship and got a two-year bowl ban for one player taking money from outside parties, I don't see how the NCAA could avoid imposing the death penalty in the worst-case scenario at Auburn.
Ultimately, the NCAA's authority is derived from the member schools, and I think their monetary incentive is such that completely eliminating opposing teams isn't a good option for them. Additionally, the NCAA is completely in bed with TV networks, and they probably don't want to see a school like Auburn totally disappear. I see where you're going, but I disagree.
I'm not sure Auburn is that valuable. They're definitely Alabama's little brother, and they were passed up for a MNC shot in 2004 despite going 13-0. I don't think they would be that missed nationally, and only by half of the state of Alabama.
Over a 1-2 year period, you don't think the NCAA/SEC/TV networks could survive without a traditional program? The NCAA could easily make a temporary rule allowing the SEC to have their championship game with only 11 schools. Then, during the regular season, it's only a matter of having an occasional worse game than normal on ESPN2.
The prohibition on TV appearances has gone by the wayside because now as it really does punish the opponent, but just eliminating one team would have no real effect on anyone but the school's bottom line.
If the Auburn rumors are true they would have a battle to keep accredidation. A death penalty would follow suit.
Anything that's isolated to the athletic department and boosters? No way.
I'm really, really hoping Yahoo breaks a story related to Auburn this summer. Robinson said he's got something that should break around then that is significantly bigger than this Tressel business.
We'll see.
I actually heard an interview with him on the Solid Verbal podcast, and he said he regretted saying that. He's confident a story will come out, but is not confident about timing.
I think the source he had at the NCAA (the one he got the OSU story from) was "taken care of". As a result, he's been backing away from the time table he stated earlier.
I don't want OSU to burn to the ground. I like it when they're good, but we're just better. I like beating them when they're at their best. Thats what fuels the rivalry. I do hope they have a few down years though so we can become dominant to them for a little bit as payback, but all in all I would like a competitive rivalry. The death penalty would destroy the greatest rivalry in sports.
You obviously have never lived in Columbus. OSU fans are the worst in the NCAA.
much? You sound like a child.
it would not be good for the game/product to actually lose a major player
a major player and college footbal survived.
It survived the 80's when half the SEC was on probation, it survived Oklahoma being on probation and nearly a dead program for a decade. It survived USC's 1990's sanctions and almost being dead for a decade.
the death penalty, cheating is wrong and the NCAA is the law enforcement Auburn shouldn't be able to pay twenty players and get away with it, players need to be held accountable, but coaches need to monitor their players and educate them about receiving gifts.
I thought Oklahoma deserved the death penalty back in the 80's. That program was way out of control. I don't even think OSU's allegations come close to that scenario......however if they were to dig into what most probably think is going on and it comes to light and is proven true then OSU could be in deep, deep $hit. To me they have looked, acted and smelled like a rogue program for some time now. To many incidents that are brushed off as 'minor' add up to one big problem.
Don't even get me started on steroids and college football.
I wish Miami would get the death penalty, but for no other reason than I just can't stand them.
OrlandoSentinel.com NCAA needs to resurrect death penalty for Auburn, Ohio State, Tennessee, other rule-breakers Threat of shutdown would stop rampant rule-breaking in college football, basketball, other sports Mike Bianchi SPORTS COMMENTARY 4:06 PM EDT, March 31, 2011 Death to Auburn. Death to Ohio State. Death to Tennessee. Or, at the very least, the risk of death. The death penalty. Bring it back, NCAA, and threaten to use the death penalty against Auburn, Ohio State, Tennessee and any other school or coach that puts winning games over playing by the rules. It is the only way. Remember what Socrates once said: "Death may be the greatest of all human blessings." If the NCAA is truly serious about cleaning up the rancid cesspool it governs, it needs to resurrect the death penalty and start handing it out to the brazen lawbreakers. You want to know why there is so much corruption in college sports? Because of the sissification of the NCAA investigative staff that used to wield the power of the death penalty but now threatens schools with namby-pamby scholarship sanctions. The NCAA has replaced the electric chair with the easy chair. Is it really any surprise both teams – Auburn and Oregon – that played for the national title in college football are currently being investigated by the NCAA? And why do you think Auburn allowed star quarterback Cam Newton to continue playing last season even though the NCAA found that his father tried to sell his services to Mississippi State? Could it be the Tigers figured out that the school's first national championship in more than a half-century is worth the price of a few scholarship sanctions from the toothless NCAA? Does anybody really think Newton did not get paid at Auburn, especially in the wake of the HBO report earlier this week in which several former players revealed receiving cash from Auburn boosters? Leave it to HBO to uncover these potential violations. The NCAA cannot even conduct a decent investigation anymore. After all, it wasn't NCAA investigators but a couple of reporters from Yahoo.com who unearthed recent revelations that Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel failed to report NCAA violations among his players. Tressel not only covered up the violations; he apparently alerted the "advisor" of one of the players -- star quarterback Terrelle Pryor – presumably so the advisor would aid in the cover up. Yet Tressel has somehow managed to keep his job at O-Lie-O State. Why? Because Tressel is a winner and the Buckeyes have absolutely no fear of the NCAA and its milquetoast penalties. If the Buckeyes were facing the possibility of a death penalty for keeping a proven liar and cheater on staff, Tressel would be out quicker than a Woody Hayes right hook.Click here to read the rest of the column: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college/os-bianchi-auburn-ncaa-de…
No one in college football has deserved the death penalty except for SMU. Until we see a program run rampant like SMU did (and I don't think we ever will again), we won't, and shouldn't, see the death penalty.