<p>The Paternos tend to refer to Joe as “dad” when it is a social or personal situation (like the funeral) and by his given name when referring to him at or concerning work. His children took to using his name lest people think they are perpetually trying to remind other people that they are his kids.</p>
<p>And I would be surprised if there are only 10 football programs that turn a profit. Where did the number come from?</p>
<p>Yes, most football teams are not profitable. My university (Northeastern) actually cut football a few years ago partially because it was a huge financial drain. I doubt we have any profitable sports. Football sustaining other sports is not the common model.</p>
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<p>How would you all implement that for seniors? For juniors? etc. How would you make them whole with the 'new university"? How would you keep their parents from having to fork over potentially thousands and thousands they weren’t planning on spending? How would you administer the scholarships if you were the new school? What would you do with the 100 kids that have already started practicing?</p>
<p>As a university what would you do for the other 700 students affected by the decisions of some of your staff? Would you go rob from all the other funding sources, would you take a smaller freshman class next several years, close dorms, layoff staff to use those financial aid funds for those 700 students? And that is just the tip of the iceberg.</p>
<p>There is no wack em and it’s over simple solution and everyone can feel better and turn to the next crisis.</p>
<p>Coase that culture argument is moot as far as I’m concerned. Far, far more people who attend and are involved in the games acted in an ethical manner than acted in an unethical manner and football fever is alive and well at dozens of campuses across the country. Just go to the Big House some Saturday and talk to me about football “culture” or sit in the stands when the kids are screaming Roll Tide or visit the Rose Bowl and and tell me why it’s bad. I also guarantee you there are plenty of people at the college and in the region of that college that don’t go to Penn State games. </p>
<p>I don’t think that Penn State football is too big to fail, i just want to know why it is better to fail it than to fix it and the only argument that keeps coming up is “culture” or “cult” or if there’s no football it sends a signal to all the other colleges in the country. What will be different next fall if there is no football other than over 500 - 1300 students will be somewhere else, students will pay higher tuition, profs will be laid off and the campus will be on austerity program. That seems like an odd way to improve.</p>
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<p>This is really no different from a child whose father is imprisoned fror a white collar crime or vehicular manslaughter. If anything, the athletes are less deserving of sympathy because they chose to attend the school whereas the children did not choose their father. I have taught at two schools with prominent athletic teams. You know going in that you have to take the good wiith the bad.</p>
<p>I can see that greenbutton, in a normal social situation. In this situation it really makes him look less human, and likeable. Not a good move, especially since they say it so seemlessly.</p>
<p>momofthreeboys, kicking an addiction hurts. A lot.</p>
<p>[The</a> Most Profitable College Football Teams](<a href=“The Most Profitable College Football Teams | HuffPost College”>The Most Profitable College Football Teams | HuffPost College)</p>
<p><a href=“http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011/06/20/which-football-and-basketball-programs-produce-the-largest-profits/[/url]”>http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011/06/20/which-football-and-basketball-programs-produce-the-largest-profits/</a></p>
<p>So it would seem there are many extremely profitable football programs. The second link is only listing the “Top 50” which would imply there are more. I confess I did not read the whole way through (I hate the frames and pictures format) – I was busy looking for a “like” button for momofthreeboys’ post.</p>
<p>(and vlines, yeah — it’s a little off-putting, but they’ve been doing it for years. They are not likely to be thinking of whether the viewers in Wherever USA like it or not)</p>
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<p>Yes it’s different, choosing and entering a university whether you play sports or not is a business transaction. The students have choice about where they will attend and make decisions based on expected return from the university. I think lawyers would have a field day with the “expressed contract” portion of an at-will theory.</p>
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<p>Yes, many schools have a similar culture. That is why the NCAA will be thinking seriously about using Penn State to set an example. I enjoyed attending the occasional game when I taught at a Big Ten school, but I am also aware of the perils when a program becomes too big. </p>
<p>As for how many attend, there are over 21,000 season’s tickets for students at Penn State. That is a substantial fraction of the student body.</p>
<p>The trouble is, greenbutton, the victims aren’t speaking about their wishes, for reasons I would hope you can understand. Nor, I’d bet you anything, will Penn State ask them.</p>
<p>LasMa yeah I need to give up on this thread. I’m not even a football fan but as a marketing person it’s just too fascinating how people’s minds justify things and what they read into media messages and I can feel the pain of all those kids who went through the process and chose penn state for a variety of reasons. As a football player mom, I imagine those kids out their sweating their guts out and getting bombarded by media messages. All because of a handful of criminals and a stupid administration.</p>
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<p>Generally scholarships go with transfers if they go to another D1 school so I don’t see where the parents would be forking over thousands and thousands. Yes, it’s a lot of students, but many many people transfer every year. Coaches are used to it. The NCAA is used to it. They have systems in place.</p>
<p>And if there are extra costs, then PSU can pay them.</p>
<p>Greenbutton–interesting. For many years, figures showed that most big U football programs lost money, that only a few were profitable. i wonder what’s changed that, or if it’s an accounting change.</p>
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<p>If it comes to pass, let us hope the NCAA can “do the right thing” and get these kids into equivalent programs and preserve their credits. I doubt that it is in their “rules” book and admissions and administrators at all the other Div I programs would have to be willing to absorb these kids and increase roster size. It would take more than a village to fix the mess it would cause. It would take the PAC 10, the Big 10 and the SEC at the very minimum all working together. It would be much like relocating the kids from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.</p>
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<p>It is thinking like this that produces programs like Ohio State, Miami, Florida, etc. One difference, though, is that their “transgressions” involved paying players for the money they help the universities earn whereas Penn State’s transgressions involve covering up child rape. I used to be on the fence but you have convinced me that Penn State is much more deserving of the death penalty than SMU ever was. All SMU did was pay people like Eric Dickerson for making money for the university.</p>
<p>I can’t think of any other appropriate punishment for the coverup than to smack down the thing that was the cause of the coverup - football. If the thing that was to be protected is protected in the end, then where is the incentive for other programs to not do the same with impunity?</p>
<p>^^What makes you think the players knew about the criminal activity?..to compare it to recruiting kickbacks to players, criminal activity by players etc. I don’t get the comparison. If a player takes a kickback or commits a crime that player does so knowingly. I’m not sure any of the investigation has shown that players knew about the criminal activity.</p>
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<p>You are just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Wars of attrition are won by people who put a low value on their time. Alas, I am not one.</p>
<p>You think? Take a step back and look at the big picture.</p>