College football fans: Will Miami get the 'death penalty'?

[BJJ-Blue]

I think they should. The NCAA is having more and more violations in major programs popping up left and right. Alabama even won a National Championship 2 years ago while on probation, a first. Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush had to give back the award because he was being paid to play. North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Oregon, Auburn, and Ohio State are among the schools that have been punished and/or are being investigated for violations.

IMO, they should either use the 'Death Penalty' on Miami to show that the cheating has to stop, or just let the athletes get paid so it's all above board and no one has to cheat.

[bawang]

colleges should have mma teams and mma scholsarshiop

[MasterKiller]

Regardless of how bad this is, it isn't even close to s bad as the SMU scandal that caused them to get the death penalty.

I doubt the NCAA will come down that hard on them. They'll lose 30 scholarships and a few bowl games, but that's about it.

[BJJ-Blue]

But they do meet the criteria for it being a possibility. Two major infractions over a 5-year period is the criteria. They blew that one out of the water. They have 72 players that allegedly received improper benefits, and the guy who gave them said a few coaches were aware of the benefits. Miami's president, Donna Shalala, was photographed standing next to the guy who allegedly supplied the improper benefits.

I'm not sure SMU was this bad. But I was too young back then, so I'm not aware of the specifics. But 72 guys (and some coaches) is tough to best. And Miami has a decades long history of cheating, that can be a factor the NCAA can consider as well.

[MasterKiller]

I'm not sure SMU was this bad. But I was too young back then, so I'm not aware of the specifics. But 72 guys (and some coaches) is tough to best. And Miami has a decades long history of cheating, that can be a factor the NCAA can consider as well.

Some players were paid upward of $25K to sign at SMU. Others lived rent-free in apartments paid for by Boosters.

SMU was put on probation something like 5 times between 1974 and 1985. Overall, SMU had been sanctioned seven times in its history, more than any Division I-A program. In 1985, it had been placed on three years' probation for recruiting violations involving an assistant coach and several boosters. This latest penalty came about when former Mustang lineman Sean Stopperich told the NCAA that he and his family had received large amounts of money in order to get him to renege on an oral commitment to his hometown school, the University of Pittsburgh.

ONE MONTH AFTER the last probation was handed down, 3 players had been paid a total of $61,000 from a slush fund provided by a booster. Payments ranged from $50 to $725 per month.

Eight of those players were paid an additional $14,000 from September to December 1986. The slush fund was due to be discontinued when the 13 players had all left the school. These payments were made with the full knowledge and approval of athletic department staff.

The board secretly agreed to phase out the fund at the end of the 1986 season, since the members felt duty-bound to honor previous commitments to players who had already been promised payments. A 1987 investigation revealed that the school decided, despite the probation, that the payments had to continue because the football program had "a payroll to meet."

[BJJ-Blue]

Ouch. It got really nasty at SMU.

Alabama got popped a few years back paying a high school coach $200k to steer a star player (Albert Means) to their program. What was even more funny was that the coach took the money and Alabama ended up not getting Means to play there! The scandal broke and Alabama didn't take Means, who ended up going to Memphis. That same coach also took money from several other programs just for getting Means to visit them. Kentucky was one, and they got some NCAA sanctions as well. Alabama narrowly avoided the 'death penalty' on that one.

But I still say Miami deserves the 'death penalty'. They've been cheating for decades now, so there is a pattern here.

[MasterKiller]

But I still say Miami deserves the 'death penalty'. They've been cheating for decades now, so there is a pattern here.

I don't disagree. The latest issue of Sports Illustrated really breaks it down. The school was completely complicit in the violations, and a **** ton of current pro players are implicated as well.

[BJJ-Blue]

I don't disagree. The latest issue of Sports Illustrated really breaks it down. The school was completely complicit in the violations, and a **** ton of current pro players are implicated as well.

That's another reason you gotta use the 'death penalty'. If the NFL turns a blind eye to the cheating (or even condones it), the only way to get it to stop is to drop the hammer down on the Universities that are the worst cheaters.