‘Stark Wake-Up Call’ for Penn State? Not for This SMU Grad
Earlier today the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) slapped Penn State with a $60-million fine and took away 14 seasons of football victories from the late Joe Paterno.
Adding a kick in the gut, the NCAA also banned PSU from the postseason for four years and limited the program to 15 football scholarships a year for four seasons. (Read about the full sanctions here.)
So that’s it?
Are you kidding me?
Can we really say that the punishment here fits the crime? Are these sanctions severe enough for football program whose officials – including the head coach - concealed evidence that former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused minors?
Not.
Even.
Close.
Let me tell you the story of another football program that got it way worse for something that technically speaking, wasn’t even a crime against the law.
The Death of SMU Football
In 1987, the NCAA found the football program at Southern Methodist University (SMU) guilty of recruiting violations (basically SMU was paying some of its players). As a result, the NCAA took out it’s big guns and shot SMU’s football program right between the eyes. Known as the death penalty – the harshest penalty a NCAA member school can receive – banned SMU from competing in football for the 1987-1988 season.
Here’s what the sanctions looked like in full, according to Wikipedia:
- The 1987 season was canceled; only conditioning drills (without pads) were permitted until the spring of 1988.
- All home games in 1988 were canceled. SMU was allowed to play their seven regularly scheduled away games so that other institutions would not be financially affected. The university ultimately chose to cancel the away games as well, wiping out football for two full seasons, instead of just one. (I started at SMU in 1991, so trust me when I say SMU football at that time was painful to watch.)
- The team’s existing probation was extended to 1990. Its existing ban from bowl games and live television was extended to 1989.
- SMU lost 55 new scholarship positions over 4 years.
- The team was allowed to hire only five full-time assistant coaches instead of the typical nine.
- No off-campus recruiting was permitted until August 1988, and no paid visits could be made to campus by potential recruits until the start of the 1988–89 school year.
In justifying the sanctions against SMU, the NCAA infractions committee cited the need to “eliminate a program that was built on a legacy of wrongdoing, deceit and rule violations” as a factor in what is still the harshest penalty ever meted out to any major collegiate program.
Let me repeat. So even given the Penn State/Sandusky scandal, the sanctions faced by SMU are still considered “the harshest penalty ever meted out to a major collegiate program.”
And I have a major moral issue with that.
The thing is, SMU committed NO CRIME. While SMU broke NCAA rules by paying some of its players with money and cars, the infractions had nothing to do with the abuse of a child. No child was harmed. No crime against a child was committed. There was no harboring of criminals. Still, SMU’s death penalty remains the worst penalty ever.
In stark contrast, the officials at Penn State empowered a sexual predator. THEY LET A MONSTER ROAM FREE. They allowed a sick and deranged individual to continue getting his sexual “fix” on young boys – all in the name of football, which makes me sicker than a dog left out in this 100-plus degree Texas heat. Bottomline, Penn State sacrificed the sanctity of children to keep Sandusky’s “problem” under wraps.
And all SMU did was pay its players.
I’m sorry, but that pales in comparison of what went down at Penn State. We aren’t talking apples to apples here. It’s more like apples to rotted oranges.
A $60-million fine will never come close to making up for the mental and physical anguish suffered by these children that will most likely haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Taking away scholarships will never make up for the horrendous sexual crimes that were allowed to take place in showers, in locker rooms and behind closed doors.
And removing a statue of a revered coach will never erase the scars left by a football culture built on a legacy of abuse, cover ups and lies.
SMU might have been in the wrong for paying some its players, but I’ll defend my Alma mater all the way into next week when it comes to upholding the law.
“The corrective and punitive measures the executive committee and the Division I board of directors have authorized [against Penn State] should serve as a stark wake-up call to everyone in college sports,” said Ed Ray, chairman of the NCAA’s executive committee.
And yet, the NCAA stopped short of handing the death penalty to Penn State.
Does anyone else see a disconnect here?
Holler loudly if you do. I’m all ears as big as Texas.
Related posts:
Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence
Ok, don’t hate me for this…please! They aren’t the same thing, obviously. SMU went directly against the NCAA rules and they were punished for that. Those players were wrong too. They accepted gifts, money, etc. All involved were wrong and that issue WAS about football.
The Penn State issue is beyond sick, horrendous. I don’t have words for the monsters all these men are, for committing the abuse and for covering it up…for allowing young innocent boys to be raped. There’s no excuse for that. There’s no room in our society for that. Period. End. Of. Story. Here’s the problem (as I see it)…the action of these men only continue to destroy lives if the current and future players are penalized. Their crime had NOTHING to do with football directly. Yes, it was the environment of silence by the football administration that allowed this to continue, and that is a crime…so punish the criminals NOT the students at Penn State…not the kids who made college choices in order to play for Penn State by taking away their scholarships, possibly their only way to gain entrance to college. Fry Sandusky. Let him rot in jail for life. Give him the death penalty. Strip him of all his rights, privileges, comforts, etc. Do the same for every single adult who was part of the cover up. I don’t care what happens to these guys as long as they are punished for their actions.
Unfortunately, SMU broke NCAA rules, and it was NCAA who enforced the penalties. Some members at Penn State committed a legal crime and need punishment in its most severe. The students of Penn State did nothing wrong though, not in this case. Fine the school, take down the statue, but don’t take away scholarship money from innocent kids. Don’t remove opportunities for the kids.
Ok, this whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach. Please know that although our views on NCAA punishment may be different, our views on what Sandusky et al did was nothing less than evil, sickening, disgusting.
Love you dear Carrie, but I’m going to disagree with you on this one. I love the way you presented your argument above. Very respectful and awesome.
Great blog, Stephanie. I just shared it on my page.
Much love to you both.
Thank you, my friend. I hope it can make a difference.
Carrie, I would never be upset about a well-thought-out, respectful argument that you just presented. However, we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.
While SMU went against NCAA laws, the NCAA above all else must see to it that college football programs and their officials uphold the laws of our society. In the case of Penn State, its football officials – as well as the school itself – concealed the truth to keep its winning football program in tact. So yes, the Penn State scandal has everything to do with football, in my opinion.
The thing is, these sanctions will indirectly end up punishing the students and athletes at Penn State too, in very much the same way as the athletes and students at SMU were affected as a result of the death penalty ruling … including students like myself who had absolutely nothing to do with the football program. The death penalty crushed SMU in many ways and not just on the football field. The SMU ruling has affected thousands of student athletes, non-athlete and alums, as well as the SMU culture as a whole. It has taken more than 20 years to rebuild the program and only in the last couple of years have we become competitive again.
That said, the NCAA sanctions against Penn State will affect the university’s students and alums in much the same way, although to a lesser degree. For example:
The NCAA is taking away scholarships from PSU … just like they did at SMU.
The NCAA is stripping PSU of post-season play … similar, though not as harsh as they did at SMU.
So in my opinion, the NCAA is slapping PSU with the same sort of punishment, although in vast contrast of severity to that of SMU. And that’s where I have the problem. I feel that by giving PSU a lesser punishment than SMU, the NCAA is sending the message that something as horrific as concealing a child abuser doesn’t warrant the same sanctions as paying players.
Carrie, thanks so much for your thoughtful comments. I appreciate your opinion and views.
Here’s my bottom line…I HATE, hate, hate it all. Every single bit of it! I don’t know if I will even agree to disagree with you, because now you have me thinking. Gee thanks a lot
.
Anytime Carrie! Always love a good debate!
Hi Stephanie, I started at SMU in 1987 and it was awful not having football for my first 2 years of college. (Arguably, all 4) I didn’t fully know all of the details of the Death Penalty until the ESPN special came on last year. And a friend of mine who played at SMU has written a book about his experience, but it also has some revelations on how the NCAA pushed ethical boundaries to nail SMU along with WFAA and the University of Texas. Its a great read. Its by Dave Blewett and called The Pony Trap: Escaping the 1987 SMU Football Death Penalty. http://amzn.to/LM25KR
Thanks, Mike
Disclosure: I am helping him promote it.
Hi Mike. It’s nice to hear from a fellow SMU Alum. I too saw the ESPN special and your friend’s book sounds really interesting – especially from an athlete’s perspective. To my knowledge, that really hasn’t been covered. Looking forward to checking it out.
Do you ever go to any SMU games now? Ford Stadium is quite impressive!
I go to every game! Excited about basketball too. Just bought season tickets for it as well.
Very nice! We plan on taking our boys to a few home games. Love the Boulevard. Didn’t have that great SMU tradition yet when I was there …
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