Instead of the death penalty...

[VirginiaWildcat]

Don't kill me for this...I'm just randomly thinking.

Instead of the death penalty, what about the removal of all scholarships for a four/five year period? Basically, force the offender to recruit like a DIII school. It would be amusing to watch a crooked program go winless in conference play for half a decade.

 

[WhiskersMagee]

Don't kill me for this...I'm just randomly thinking.

Instead of the death penalty, what about the removal of all scholarships for a four/five year period? Basically, force the offender to recruit like a DIII school. It would be amusing to watch a crooked program go winless in conference play for half a decade.

Seems like that would foster an environment of even greater illicit recruiting activities

 

[VirginiaWildcat]

Seems like that would foster an environment of even greater illicit recruiting activities

I personally don't think any program who lost all its scholies would risk continuing illicit activities when the only next step is most certainly an enlongated death penalty.

 

[Deeringfish]

I personally don't think any program who lost all its scholies would risk continuing illicit activities when the only next step is most certainly an enlongated death penalty.

Maybe but desperation leads to desperate action. That is why crime and drugs are so rampant in impoverished communities. Human nature doesn't always follow the logical path.

 

[Windy City Cat Fan]

Isn't that what they did to penn State? Obviously they didn't remove all scholarships, but they cut them down and sadly it hasn't taken long for them to get right back and even better than where they were before.

 

[VirginiaWildcat]

Isn't that what they did to penn State? Obviously they didn't remove all scholarships, but they cut them down and sadly it hasn't taken long for them to get right back and even better than where they were before.

The NCAA shamefully wussed out and changed its mind and cut down the restrictions. That's what happens with the "it's not the players fault" line of thinking. The players can transfer...the institution must be held accountable or you get the Penn State (non)penalty all over again. I'd love to see Louisville's schollies pulled for a good five years.
Any success would be heavily scrutinized, making the admin almost feel like they had to keep the team playing poorly. It would render a very “dark-ages” feel for them.

 

[mickbula]

Instead of punishing the student athletes, I'd prefer to see people like Pitino and all those "assistants" of his and the other guilty schools go to jail for a couple years. Plus, Pitino and all the others should be stripped of their millions that they made as coaches while all that bs took place.

 

[NJCat]

Instead of punishing the student athletes, I'd prefer to see people like Pitino and all those "assistants" of his and the other guilty schools go to jail for a couple years. Plus, Pitino and all the others should be stripped of their millions that they made as coaches while all that bs took place.

You don't think a "student-athlete" who took a payoff should be punished?

 

[Sec_112]

I don't totally disagree with your direction, Virginia, but I think you need more teeth behind it. I think you need to kill the TV and tournament money as well as the schollies.

If I'm part of the NCAA power elite, I'd be afraid this whole thing is going to blow up. I'd advocate for some type of newly formed, more independent NCAA with a new president and probably a larger budget to enforce these things.

The Power 5 might have a problem with that, but maybe those details are part of the fallout.

By the time this whole thing is complete, my guess is NCAA schools are going to need take pretty deep measures to keep the feds off their back - maybe even win back a bit of the public trust. I'd want that new president to get in front of the school presidents and ADs, and make it clear the death penalty will be used as much as sanctions were once used for schools with problems. All of this would be done with the singular purpose keeping the feds away and not killing the golden goose.

The death penalty is a wonderful threat and all, but it obviously doesn't scare the schools and programs enough. I go back to the Minnesota academic scandal. If the NCAA wasn't going to stand up for egregious academic cheating, what do you stand for?

And the Penn State thing still disgusts me!! How many more examples do you need of lack of institutional control - from the coaches to the university leadership to the alumni and fan response. All making excuses on so many levels so the money can keep rolling in.

Somebody needs to get this thing under control. If I'm the NCAA, I'd want to do it before the feds do it for me.

 

[Sec_112]

Instead of punishing the student athletes, I'd prefer to see people like Pitino and all those "assistants" of his and the other guilty schools go to jail for a couple years ...

I'm sorry Mick, but I really dislike the "punishing the student athletes" defense. I heard it too much post-Penn State.

You'll have to excuse me if I don't think transferring to another school for a free education or continuing to get a free education is exactly a prison sentence - especially when you sign on to a school that has already been investigated or has sanctions.

 

[NUCat320]

I don't totally disagree with your direction, Virginia, but I think you need more teeth behind it. I think you need to kill the TV and tournament money as well as the schollies.

If I'm part of the NCAA power elite, I'd be afraid this whole thing is going to blow up. I'd advocate for some type of newly formed, more independent NCAA with a new president and probably a larger budget to enforce these things.

Alternative: pay the athletes fair market value, or some approximation.

 

[mickbula]

You don't think a "student-athlete" who took a payoff should be punished?

Yes, you have a point. Although, I am not sure if we should ruin a young kid's future as much as the demons that manipulated them. I am not sure how many 17-18 year old fellas would turn down the hundred thousands that coaches were offering them. A lot of the best players come from homes where none of them have ever seen that kind of money. I know it is unethical to accept it. Maybe make the kids not eligible for a scholarship and return the money. But don't send them to jail. Send the coaches and suppliers to jail and take away all their millions.

 

[chicagocatfan24]

You don't think a "student-athlete" who took a payoff should be punished?

I mean I'd take the money too

 

[VirginiaWildcat]

Yes, you have a point. Although, I am not sure if we should ruin a young kid's future as much as the demons that manipulated them.

I don't see having them choose a different school to play basketball is "ruining" them. The schools have to firmly be held accountable so they actually make an effort to police the problem going forward, instead of looking the other way.

Coaches need to firmly be held accountable so that other coaches don't see career suicide (when caught) as an attractive or survivable option.

 

[seavue617]

Although perhaps not PC, kids knowingly accepting money have culpability and that needs to be discouraged. The idea that a kid who accepted money from one school can just sign with another and play without any penalty is bothersome. I suspect some actually have an expectation of being paid to play. Assuming that all the impetus for bribes is confined to the schools' side and the kids are innocents is naive.

 

[VirginiaWildcat]

I don't totally disagree with your direction, Virginia, but I think you need more teeth behind it. I think you need to kill the TV and tournament money as well as the schollies.

I'd be totally down with that. Let them field a team, but have it practically invisible beyond campus. No TV, tourney, and no schollies for five years. That way, you're giving kids a chance to play basketball and compete, but you're withholding all the $$$ benefits that come along with fielding an ACC bball team. That would be just as (or more!) damaging as the death penalty, because of the all losses getting racked up in the meantime.