BUZZThe ultimate punishment–a complete shutdown of the Penn State football program–remains an unlikely consideration, for now. According to the Huffington Post:
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA said Thursday it expects Penn State to answer a handful of crucial questions stemming from the child sex-abuse case against Jerry Sandusky, any of which could result in sanctions against the school.
Whether that could include the so-called “death penalty” — where a program is shut down — seems unlikely, at least for now. That has happened just once, against SMU back in the 1980s. Current NCAA rules limit the penalty to colleges already on probation that commit another major violation.
But NCAA leaders have indicated in recent months they are willing to use harsher penalties for the worst offenses. That includes postseason and TV bans, which haven’t been used extensively since the 1980s.
