For those looking for the NCAA to take a sledgehammer to the Penn State football program, don’t hold your breath if one report comes to fruition.
According to ESPN.com‘s Joe Schad, and citing a source close to the decision, the so-called death penalty will not be a part of the sanctions against the Nittany Lions. NCAA president Mark Emmert is expected to announce the penalties the association will levy against the program at a press conference Monday morning.
The source told Schad that the penalties are expected to including the loss of multiple scholarships and a multi-year bowl ban.
While not getting SMU’d, Schad writes that "[t]he penalties... are considered to be so harsh that the death penalty may have been preferable.” How far-reaching, “unprecedented” and “significant” the sanctions will be is, outside of myriad speculation, unknown.
As previously noted, the NCAA is taking the unprecedented step of bypassing its own Committee on Infractions in handling the Penn State situation. Schad notes that “the NCAA Division I Board of Directors and/or the NCAA Executive Committee has granted Emmert the authority to punish through non-traditional methods.”
An earlier report intimated that the NCAA and Penn State had reached an agreement on the severity of the sanctions.
