Penn State sanctions are ‘unprecedented’
Jul 23, 2012, 10:23 PM | Updated: 11:44 pm
After the release of the Freeh Report and the conviction of Jerry Sandusky on 45 counts of sexual abuse, the NCAA issued punishment against Penn State Monday.
While the feared “Death Penalty” was avoided, the university’s football program is hardly in stable condition.
The sanctions are as severe as they are numerous: a four-year postseason ban, a four-year scholarship reduction, five years of athletic department probation, a $60 million fine and removal of the football program’s victories throughout a 14-year period, from 1998 to 2011. Players on the Penn State roster can also transfer to other universities and play immediately.
College Football Analyst Rick Neuheisel joined Arizona Sports 620’s Burns and Gambo hours after the punishment was announced, calling the NCAA’s ruling “unprecedented.”
“The penalties are, from a football perspective, worse than the death penalty,” said Neuheisel. “This is fining them the same way [because] $60 million is roughly what Penn State earns over the course of a year and they’re allowing every player to leave and be immediately eligible wherever they go.”
Neuheisel believes the ability of athletes to leave for other schools is what will hurt Penn State the most, with 10 to 20 transfers a realistic possibility.
“Coach O’Brien didn’t recruit any of these kids other than the incoming freshmen. This is not a long-term relationship that you’re going to hinge ‘you’re going to stay with me now because we’ve been through it together’. A guy who was first-string and is now a second-string [player] has every right to explore opportunities [elsewhere].”
Under normal circumstances, transfers would need to get a release in order to pursue other football programs, but it’s safe to say that the punishment handed down to the Nittany Lions is far from commonplace.
According to Neuheisel, if a Penn State player wishes to contact another school, the player can do so freely and vice versa, although colleges must use “back-channels”, such as high school coaches, to legally network with the player while still on the Penn State roster.
