Yahoo's Dan Wetzel asks if UofL should receive the NCAA's Death Penalty

Brian Bowen Sr. said under oath on Tuesday that he received a $1,300 payment from former Louisville assistant Kenny Johnson. It was just weeks after Louisville was officially put on probation from the prostitution scandal and Johnson (who was also the associate head coach) initially said no before making the payment to the former five-star recruit's father. You can read more about Bowen Sr.'s day at court HERE, but it was not great news for the Cards. And before UofL fans try to say this is one side of the story and just because Bowen Sr., said it in court doesn't mean the NCAA has proven anything; that no longer matters thanks to a new NCAA rule. https://twitter.com/ericcrawford/status/1049716514906091520 Yahoo's Dan Wetzel, who's been covering the trial, wrote a column asking if the NCAA would issue the Death Penalty to Louisville: We never got to find out, of course. By late September, when the scandal broke, Johnson was placed on administrative leave. He was fired in November and now works as an assistant at LaSalle. That school has offered no comment yet on the allegations Tuesday. The NCAA’s stated criteria for implementing the “repeat violator” legislation and enacting the so-called death penalty is straightforward. “Following the announcement of a major case, a major violation occurs … within five years of the starting date of the penalty assessed in the first case,” NCAA documents read. “The second major case does not have to be in the same sport as the previous case to affect the second sport.” In this case it isn’t just the same sport, men’s basketball, it’s the same coaching staff, Rick Pitino’s. And forget five years, Louisville didn’t make it five months. Wetzel makes plenty of interesting points regarding the trial, Bowen Sr.'s claims and what the NCAA may do to Louisville. Read his entire column HERE. I don't think we ever see the Death Penalty (at least as we know it from SMU) issued to a school ever again and I wish we'd retire the phrase, but it seems highly unlikely the Cards receive that harsh of a punishment. We won't have any clarity on this for at least a year (probably longer), but if the NCAA were to ever hand out the Death Penalty again, it seems like it was made for this situation. Wetzel says it better (and harsher) than me: If the committee on infractions doesn’t have the courage to implement the death penalty on that, then the NCAA should just give up and take it off the books. [mobile_ad]