IMO we're beyond penalties for MSU athletics

[NCDem777]

People are talking about whether or not MSU's athletics program should get the death penalty from the NCAA. I think we're beyond that.

The NCAA and MSU higher-ups knew Nassar was a creep and knew it for years.

Just a thought: When a liquor store repeatedly serves minors with the owner's knowledge, he loses his business license. MSU and NCAA let Nassar stick... Himself, in multiple children over the course of decades.

The questions we should really ask are:

1. Should MSU have accreditation as a university?
2. Should the NCAA have a business license?

[Docreed2003]

1. MSU is going to get hammered

But it won’t be the death penalty. Penn state didn’t get it...and even the NCAA admits that the only death penalty punishment they’ve ever dropped on SMU was too harsh. They’ll get a worthy punishment though, I’m sure!

[NCDem777]

2. Is the NCAA even qualified?

They knew what was going on too. For 7-8 years at least.

[Docreed2003]

8. Thats a very good question

Personally I think anyone who covered for this sick fuck should be brought down, but I felt the same about PSU and Sandusky. I hope the NCAA takes leadership on this matter, but that remains to be seen.

[GusBob]

10. Idk if they will get the death penalty

But this is worse than Penn State. It was like a culture that participated allowed and covered up

For years.

The head coaches for football and basketball should be fired. The sports worship in East Lansing cause this, the sports programs need to be punished

Too bad their B-ball team is having a great season

[Docreed2003]

12. PSU

Was the same culture of cover up that you described, and it goes on to this day!

[Orrex]

15. It's funny...

I'm a PSU grad, and I lived in State College for most of the 90s. For a time I actually lived about two blocks from His Exalted and Most Excellent Highness Joe Paterno, in fact.

In discussions on this subject, I find that fellow grads of my acquaintance fall into two camps:

1. Paterno was a great man, and this happened without his knowledge

2. No shit Paterno knew about it, and you're a fool if you imagine otherwise

It was more or less widely suspected in town for over a decade, and Sandusky was known to be a skeevy creep since long before the story broke.

It is simply not reasonable to believe that Paterno was in the dark about the predator on his payroll. Equally, it is not reasonable to believe that higher-ups at MSU were unaware of Nassar's career of abuse.

[Docreed2003]

18. I concur.

I don’t think “the powers that be” were in the dark in either case.

Thanks for sharing your personal story Orrex, I’ve met to many from the PSU world who are full on apologists for JoePa and the entire institution. It was wrong then and it’s wrong now with MSU.

[Orrex]

19. It's alarmingly cultish

I was pleased when the NCAA vacated all of Paterno's victories, and I didn't (and still don't) care about how "unfair" it was to the players during those years.

As a compromise, rather than caving and reinstating Paterno's record, IMO they should have restored the victories to the team but specifically and explicitly excluded Paterno.

When his bronze statue was taken down, the alumni absolutely lost their collective shit about it. I had bitter arguments on FB with friends who couldn't bear to see their god dishonored so starkly, and there were the usual cries of "political correctness run amok."

They should have melted it down and re-cast it as a plaque memorializing Paterno's utter (deliberate, perhaps?) failure to stop a predatory child rapist.

[Skittles]

3. can someone answer this

WHY did people enable and cover for this pervert? Seriously - WHY????

[LisaM]

4. That is EXACTLY what I was wondering.

That makes no sense to me. It's as if he hypnotized everyone.

[Skittles]

5. I guess I just don't get it

it's not like sports doctors are hard to find - WHY did they cover for this fucked up, slimy piece of shit? Fuck the university's reputation - they really need to dig to find out what is REALLY going on there.

[NCDem777]

6. I'll never get the whole "protect the institution's reputation" thing

The "protecting" part seems to be causing the most damage. Had they handed this asshole over from the beginning, people would have applauded them for actually dealing with the problem.

It comes down to a piece of wisdom from comedian Christopher Titus: Step up or step aside. Had they dealt with the problem or stepped aside and let the police do their jobs from the start, this wouldn't have spiraled out of control into the clusterfuck it is now.

I mean really. Which sounds better from a PR standpoint?

"We protected the kid fucker because we're afraid of reputation damage." or "This dude was fucking kids. We've handed him over to the cops."

[GusBob]

9. It goes beyond just that guy

It was a whole culture in the athletic program. Players, coaches, administrators, campus police

[Skittles]

17. I UNDERSTAND that

what I want to know is - *WHY*?

[meadowlander]

20. Administrators - because the program made money and they didn't want to piss off the fans

Players - because they didn't want to blow their shot at the big leagues
Security - because administrators told them to look the other way and they didn't want to be fired.

Basically, money.

[Skittles]

22. ????? they support CHILD ABUSE???

[writerJT]

23. Exactly. Their first reaction is to keep it quiet

for the sake of protecting the money-making programs or the athletic department in general, and once they start down that road, there’s no going back.

[writerJT]

21. Pretty obvious. MONEY.

[Skittles]

24. but this will COST them WAY MORE MONEY

[writerJT]

28. No kidding.

Nobody is saying people acted rationally when they found out.

Post 23 explains it. Read up on PSU.

[blogslut]

26. I would imagine, foremost, it was about money

However, the sport of female gymnastics is rife with troublesome culture from eating disorders and preference for pre-pubescent bodies to its weird insistence that young girls must live away from their parents in order to be "champions"

[LuckyLib]

7. Its ironic that gymnastics will likely blow the

college predators issue open — the real predators are male basketball and football players who are accused at campuses all over the country. And the cases continue to be handled by administrative boards. The money in athletics is so huge colleges and universities don’t want instant referrals to police for what they deem are alcohol fueled he said/she said incidents. This old school behavior board is last century — criminal behavior now needs to be adjudicated off campus.

[oberliner]

11. What is the evidence that the NCAA knew about Nassar for years?

[NCDem777]

13. The pres. of NCAA knew since 2010

https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/1/26/16939098/mark-emmert-larry-nassar-ncaa-michigan-state-case

[oberliner]

14. That article says he knew about reports of MSU athletes committing sexual assault

Not that he knew about Nassar.

[Sancho]

16. College athletics should be able to organize in a union and bargain contracts...

no self-serving organization like the NCAA or university administrations will ever put the athletes first.

[BannonsLiver]

25. So you think even the womens sports should go?

Interesting take but probably a bit too far. And likely unpopular given the current climate.

You also think they should have their accreditation pulled. So you’re willing to punish students, academics, that had zero to do with athletics, who may have never sat foot inside an athletic venue, because of your rage over that low life? The entire student body should be punished? What a bizarre take on an already horrific situation.

[NCDem777]

31. When a business fucks up royally and gets shut down

people lose jobs. There's always collateral damage. Does not mean that the shutdown is wrong.

MSU covered for this creep as did the NCAA.

[Horse with no Name]

27. SMU was the top of the heap in the 70s

The NCAA cut them off at the knees and they still aren’t where the were.
If appropriate sanctions are in place, it can work.
However, I don’t think they have the political will to do to them what was done to SMU.

[Johnny2X2X]

29. Let the facts come out

The Nassar situation is separate from the rest, the rest has actually already been thoroughly investigated and despite ESPN's story, nothing was found to have been done improperly by the coaching staffs.

Nassar was a different story, people covered for him, no idea why. He was investigated though too, how that didn't stop him I don't know, but he was cleared in those investigations.

[Dawson Leery]

30. Irony is that Gymnasts blew the lid off of this culture.

Wait until the jocks (Football/Wrestling) get exposed for their sexual misconduct.