Miami Hurricanes Football: NCAA 'Death Penalty' Could Be Option

By MICHAEL MAROT, AP

INDIANAPOLIS -- NCAA President Mark Emmert believes the "death penalty" should be an option for college sports' most egregious rule-breakers.

He just wants it to be used judiciously.

Nearly a quarter-century after the NCAA's harshest sanction destroyed SMU's football program, the allegations swirling at Miami have rekindled the debate.

Critics contend the SMU case proves the punishment was too severe, pointing to the damage it caused not only to the school's football program but to the now defunct Southwest Conference. Supporters say it would send a message that the NCAA is backing up its tough talk.

Miami is the focus of the death penalty talk amid accusations that 72 former and current Hurricanes athletes - most of them football players - received improper benefits and that some coaches knew about it.

Comments

[mikefina]

02:25 PM on 08/21/2011

The NCAA should penalize the CONFERENCE.

Deny the ACC their Automatic Qualifier bid to the BCS for 2 years. Do the same to the Big-10 for the serial depredations of the Tressel regime.

IF a team in those conferences is good enough to merit an at-large berth in the BCS (Miami or Ohio State excepted, in this example), fine.

Ban Miami from appearing on ANY televised games, that means their conference opponents lose that TV game--and then permit their non-conference opponents (future) to cancel their games, without penalty.

[Quasi Libertarian]

03:49 PM on 08/21/2011

That is the most insane remark I have hear yet. It is not the conferneces fault that Miami is in trouble. That is all on Miami. You are going to tell the 11 other schools that they must share in Miami's punishment.....Really?................ Now I think it is possible that the ACC willadd on to whatever the NCAA does. back in the 1980's when Clemson got busted, the ACC actually added an additional year to what the NCAA level on Clemson..........I could see this and maybee even the ACC kicking Miami out of the ACC........

[mikefina]

04:34 PM on 08/21/2011

Yeah, it IS the Conference's fault--partly.

Failure to supervise.

Just as institutions lose control of their athletic program, so does the conference lose control of it's member institutions.

IF you want to encourage good behavior, then you must make ALL the member institutions stakeholders in the conduct of their peer institutions.

YOU believe in collective punishment--that's why you are willing to punish Miami swimmers and golfers (who had NO direct culpability) in your willingness to kick the entire University out of the the ACC for the conduct of long-gone football players.

It requires no leap of logic to extend the same reprecussions to peer football programs.

[mikefina]

08:03 AM on 08/23/2011

Your paranoid rant below vacates whatever seriousness I might have attached to your previous posts.

You are a rabid (and I don't mean that in a good way) Clemson booster who can't follow the argument, too blinkered by your loyalties to football--and not to logic.

[runswithscissors]

01:31 PM on 08/21/2011

It won't be the death penalty, but Miami may not recover. Their 2010 and 2011 recruiting classes have been disastrous (though 2011 ranks decently due to sheer numbers) and the impending probation means that talent will be short for at least another 3-5 years. Central Florida and South Florida are becoming major players and they'll get many of the recruits that Miami would have been targeting. By the time Miami gets off punishment they'll likely be the 5th best team in the state, still lacking a stadium of their own, and with facilities that look more like a large high school than a major college. RIP Miami football, with or without the NCAA death penalty.

[USMilitaryRetired30Years]

12:14 PM on 08/21/2011

YO,If this happens from the Yohoo sports investigation Miami Canes should not be the only school and team for this to happen.too.This type of Football Deals have always been going on.NCAA,I believe knew about these deals for years.I am and will always be a NCAA FootBall fan.

[jrwest78]

11:00 AM on 08/21/2011

Miami was never a member of the Southwest Conference....just wow

[jetdevil68]

11:16 AM on 08/21/2011

They're talking about SMU, the last team to be delt the "death penalty" in NCAA football.

[jrwest78]

11:55 AM on 08/21/2011

that was actually a misplaced comment meant for another gentlemen who thought differently.....I was actually in attendance at the 1984 Orange Bowl, so I am aware of their former affiliations

[AbeMartin]

10:00 AM on 08/21/2011

The NCAA is a profit-driven, major NCAA Division I-A controlled corporation whose primary purpose is to make certain that the NBA and NFL have an unending stream on well-trained, but usually poorly educated athletes, that they don't have to pay in the say that the MLB minor league players are paid.

[NatTurner1]

09:42 AM on 08/21/2011

If they punish Miami - they lose $24,631,029.00 that the football program earns the University, all while the University is suffering cuts and eliminating staff.

What a dumb move this will be!

[Dr Confuso]

09:03 AM on 08/21/2011

It's all about the money, not morals. There is no way the NCAA will be that harsh to a major school.

[Howard53545]

08:48 AM on 08/21/2011

The death penalty is going to handed down for the cheats in Miami and Shalala is on the way out.

[pjlowry]

07:25 AM on 08/21/2011

If the NCAA doesn't come down hard on Miami and use the death penalty, then other big colleges will assume they can get away with anything because they're a big football school like Miami. They broke the rules, make them pay for it and the harsher the penalty, the less likely other schools will break that rule in the future if they know the NCAA will punish regardless of how popular your school is.

[Ty LaRue]

07:07 AM on 08/21/2011

Should Miami receive the death penalty, no. But their school's president should be fired. I understand she may have a lot on her plate but this was running around on the field like a cheerleader. As a matter of fact, if I was a school's president, any non-students or celebrities (USC under Carroll) hanging out on the sideline with my team would cause concern.

And no, the players shouldn't get paid. These guys are receiving a free education, an education they should be grateful for. Most college students are broke, so they should be no different and many of them will earn millions when they graduate. A normal student, middle class status with paying back student loans.

[Faelsun]

05:02 AM on 08/21/2011

Blaming the school itself and the students or the student players and punishing them by destroying a football program that gives the students pride would be the wrong acclimation of blame. What NEEDS to happen is the head of Miami needs to be chopped off, I mean from the Dean all the way to the coaches under them, put them in jail under actual charges and blame THEM not the players or the team, the team in just the vessel a corrupt schools faculty has used to stroke their ego. This program has been greedy and corrupt for a long time, but I would not blame the players.

[ewb2001]

11:21 PM on 08/20/2011

About time rules were changed to emphasize SCHOLARSHIP. Require a 90% graduation rate and require 4 year scholarships be given as a guarantee. I also do not think athletic directors & coaches should be paid more than anyone else in the University..

[buddybrown]

10:00 PM on 08/20/2011

i guess the NCAA is tring to turn THE U into SMU!!!?

[SonnyBono]

08:47 PM on 08/20/2011

Interesting that the few players named in the scandal who were interviewed on ESPN (which is part of the problem) made statements that were non-denial denials - they seemed to agree that it was a long time ago and they have moved on, etc but not one of them said - hell, no I didn't get any money or a working girl or anything else that violates the NCAA rules. Kind of makes the whole Reggie Bush, Terrell Pryor stuff seem like small potatoes, uh?

As for the part of the problem comment above - while ESPN was wringing its hands over the scandal at the U - it was also running a special on the top high school quarterbacks where the ESPN talking heads were forecasting great days ahead for high school players in the NFL and some people wonder where the athletes in college get their overblown sense of entitlement? ESPN want to step up and own a part of this problem?

[CPAwADD]

07:32 PM on 08/20/2011

Will they? No
Should they? Yes