[Husker] So, Who's That Sixth Game Against?

[Mark Landin]

On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 9:20 AM, Steve Schmadeke <husker at schmadeke.com>wrote:

>
> I do wonder what tools the NCAA has in its toolbox to apply penalties,
> though.  They certainly have the power to suspend the eligibility of
> players.  I don't know whether that power applies to coaches or other
> specific employees of the institutions.  The NCAA might be limited to
> levying penalties on the institution as a whole (e.g. the scholarships, etl
> al. that David Strong brought up).  Didn't Jerry Tarkanian win a lawsuit to
> that effect?  And currently, I believe that Bruce Pearl's suspension at
> Tennessee was imposed by the school, not the NCAA.  Thinking about it, I
> think that the NCAA investigation is still ongoing there, so there may still
> be further developments on the Bruce Pearl front.
>

The NCAA might not have the statutory power to suspend a coach, but they
certainly have the means to compel an instution to do so in order to avoid
more severe NCAA-mandated penalties. "Ok, Buckeyes, we've suspended your 5
players for the year, and vacated your wins from 2010 because they were
ineligible. We will also yank 5 scholarships for 3 years ... but if you
suspend Tressel for 1 yr w/out pay, we'll cut it to 2 schollies for 2
years". Kinda the way the federal government comples States from time to
time... no, States, you don't HAVE to make your drinking age 21, but if you
want your share of Federal Highway Money, you will.

-- 
"He's old enough to know what's right and young enough not to choose it.
He's strong enough to win the world and weak enough to lose it." - Neal
Peart