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Penn State ruling BAD NEWS for Montana

L

LDopaPDX

Active member
Penn State loses 10 schollies per year, must vacate wins dating back over a decade, gets a 4-yr postseason ban, all players allowed to transfer without a waiting period, and a $60 million fine. Why? Because their program didn't report sexual abuse violations to the police.

Let me first say I think it is ridiculous that the NCAA stuck their nose in this mess. This should be a criminal issue where criminal punishment gets meted out. The NCAA is not in a position to determine punishments for non-NCAA rules violations. That said, they clearly set a precedent.

Montana is now facing the exact same charge... not reporting incidents of sexual assualt. The crimes are not of a nature as heinous as that of Penn State, but the charges are pretty much the same. And if we all know one thing about the NCAA, it's that they punish schools with less money much greater than schools that have a lot of money.

While I don't foresee a UM death-penalty, a seven figure fine, the loss of several schollies, and a post-season ban are almost a certainty now.
 
Not a chance. First of all, it wasn't just the lack of reporting. Those high up in the administration took measures to cover it up. Secondly, we don't know exactly why the NCAA is investigating Montana (what specific charges), or that UM covered anything up or failed to report anything. My guess is they might get hit with an improper benefits violation for providing legal support to the athletes. Not a chance in hell the NCAA comes down on Montana as hard or harder than Penn State, if at all.
 
I saw in an AP report today (page 2 of the Oregoninan, as a matter of fact) that Montana is being investigated (at least among other things) for not reporting and attempting to cover up allegations of sexual assault by members of UM athletics.

And no, I have no expectation that Montana will get hit anywhere near as hard as Penn State. But the allegations are essentially the same... although the scale is different due to the heinous nature of the Sandusky crimes.

And I while I continue to say loudly that criminal behavior needs to be handled by the police, not the NCAA, the fact is that the NCAA just set a precedent that it will have to live with in this case. The so-called "culture of winning" caused a university not to deal effectively with a sexual crime...
 
I think something will come of it, but not sure what. I think it's very obvious that there has at least been some sort of complicity of elements of the Ad or administration to cover things up over there, although perhaps not to the extent that the media has made it out. Remember, we were given a post-season ban for what amounted to very minor infractions...and none of them had anything to do with somethig as serious as what's being alleged at the U of M.

I think the PSU thing has set some sort of precedent with regards to sexual assault, and I am wondering what the NCAA, DOJ, and whoever else is conducting investigations are going to find down that rabbit hole. I don't think it's going to be pretty.
 
At worst Montana will probably get a slap on the wrist. Montana fired their AD and coach once they realized what was going on. PSU tried to cover it up. That'll be a huge factor in what happens to Montana.
 
I have a bad feeling this will hurt Montana. The NCAA set precedence with Penn State, if their investigation shows issues or items covered up by Montana, there will certainly be penalties, regardless if the coach and AD were already fired. These situations are on completely different levels, but the NCAA will not let one slide and the other be punished.

I think the fact that a lot of the accusations are against Griz football players, really doesn't help their case.

I hope the NCAA doesn't find anything in their investigation and nothing happens to the Griz, but I have a feeling if anything is found there will be pretty steep penalties, not on the Penn State level, but I'd imagine some sort of ineligiblity. This has already put a black eye on the University with all the articles in the Missoulian and even the USA today, the further this goes on, the worse it is for our conference and their program and we don't want that.
 
The fact that they fired the HC and AD won't have any bearing on what the NCAA decides. Penn State fired people, too. And the way those "non-renewals" were handled makes things even more suspicious when you read some of the comments and actions taken by the administration.

Anyway, I hopefully all of this has been blown out of proportion. Yeah, can't believe I'm saying that, but any hefty penalties to UM athletics would be bad for the conference. However, I do honestly believe that there has been a certain lack of institutional control over there for quite some time; the long list of players getting in trouble with the law the past several years supports that notion. Hopefully at a minimum this whole situation will serve as a wake-up call to the entire UM football community.

I know I'd be more than a little alarmed if the DOJ and NCAA were conducting several month long investigations in Cheney. Wasn't there another department doing an investigation there as well?
 
Penn State fired their coach, AD, and President when actionable evidence came to light. It didn't help them.

And you're right Red Alum, I read the US Dept of Education is investigating two violations as well. With both the NCAA and Government on your ass, it's probably really bad news.

I'm guessing loss of schollies and post-season bans for football. A one season ban isn't too big of an issue, kids can see over that hurdle, but multiple years is a whole different animal.
 
LDopaPDX said:
I'm guessing loss of schollies and post-season bans for football. A one season ban isn't too big of an issue, kids can see over that hurdle, but multiple years is a whole different animal.
Click to expand...
Multiple years of post season ban would be especially bad to any transfers. Why spend your last two or more seasons out of the playoffs?
 
I don't think the NCAA would be too keen on handing out a multi-year ban. There's usually a HUGE difference between the kind of things that get you a one year ban and those that get you a two year ban. Unless the NCAA and DOE find something really nasty when they peel back that scab, I think a one year ban is most likely.


The reason the 2-year ban is such a big deal is because they'd then have to open the transfer window for Montana's guys to leave without taking a penalty year. We'd then be able to recruit off Montana's roster... as would any other D-I school. The NCAA hates doing that kind of damage to a money-making program, so I don't think that would happen unless we find out this went all the way to the top and involved many instances.

As for the ban itself, I think the precedent has now been sent. They can't put a program destroying penalty on Penn State and then let Montana skate on a similar charge.
 
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