Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/184638
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING COLUMNISTS WEIGH IN ON DECISION TO REVISIT SANCTIONS to the NCAA and Penn State faithful, not when it costs you an extra linebacker or skill position player. Jeremy Elliott PennLive.com Today I laud [Mark] Emmert and the NCAA for taking the first step in righting their wrong against Penn State, even as he refuses to admit he ever acted out of place to begin with, and even as this decision only reinforces the common perception that the NCAA arbitrarily makes up rules as it goes along. Stewart Mandel SI.com The NCAA is taking a page from the Roger Goodell school of PR – I mean, discipline. When the press and fans want blood (e.g., when Michael Vick fights dogs) Goodell levies a brutal penalty. But when the offender is "rehabilitated" (e.g., when Vick is a changed man), Goodell reduces the penalty, and gets a lot of good press out of that, too. Here, the NCAA clobbered Penn State when Sandusky was history's greatest monster. Then it offered clemency when the image of Sandusky was replaced by the fighting O'Briens. Bryan Curtis Grantland.com He won't admit it, of course. Nobody at the NCAA will acknowledge that Emmert's grandstand move in July 2012 to slam the Nittany Lions for the sins of Jerry Sandusky was a vast overreach. But they don't have to admit anything. Actions speak louder than words, and the embattled president of the most controversial institution in sports just had the biggest decision of his tenure significantly softened Tuesday morning. Pat Forde Yahoo Sports The point of the ground-breaking NCAA sanctions was that Penn State – and all of us – would never forget. Moving on should be extremely difficult. The punishment was right the first time. Christine Brennan USA Today Penalties are made to punish. They are made to hurt. They are handed down to deter and set an example. Sexual abuse of a minor is a deplorable offense. According O C T O B E R 2 , 2 0 1 3 13 The decision to begin restoring football scholarships to coach Bill O'Brien is a tacit acknowledgment that the NCAA sanctions constituted an overreaction that diminished the organization in the eyes of its member schools and the public. That sound coming from University Park, Pa., is a bell unringing. Ivan Maisel ESPN.com To put the NCAA's decision to vacate Penn State's victories in some perspective, when Southern Methodist's football program was given the death penalty in 1986, it had no wins vacated – zero. Even though SMU had a long history of recruiting violations and shelling out cash to players – factors that had an impact on the field and in the outcome of games – the Mustangs didn't have to give any wins back. The NCAA pretty much stands alone when it comes to this revisionist history. Mike McGovern Reading Eagle BL UEW H I T EON L I N E. COM