How the NCAA Should Punish Cheaters

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a fan of the Arkansas Razorbacks.  I worked at the UofA in Fayetteville for several years around 2000 and that pig helped my family buy our first house, so I am a fan.  Also, I have to say that if the recent allegations against the Razorback Basketball program have merit, this or similar punishment also apply. Fair is fair.

Finally, I believe the Hogs beat themselves in the 2011 Sugar Bowl.  Mistakes plagued the team more than the Buckeyes.  Still, that doesn't change the score, Ohio State Beat the University of Arkansas and that's what will be remembered.

So, now that that's out of the way...

Jim Tressel, coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, reported a violation of NCAA rules before the 2011 Sugar Bowl against the Arkansas Razorbacks.  The University and the NCAA came to an accommodation that allowed all of the players found in violation of NCAA rules to play in the Sugar Bowl in exchange for the suspension of the players for the first five games of the 2011 season.

As a Hog fan, I didn't like it, suspend the cheaters now, not later.  But alas, the deal was done.  There was talk of the deal being done in a "Don Corleone" way, I do this for you, you do this for me.  Was there fire?  I don't know, but I smelled smoke.

But according to reports, Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel knew more than he confessed. He got a deal, but "The Don" would never have taken the deal if there was more than was reported.  You never lie because the cover up will always be worse than the original crime.

Ohio State has suspended Coach Tressel for two games (against Toledo and Akron, please, my grandmother could coach Ohio State past Toledo and Akron and she's been dead fifteen years!) and fined him $250,000 (no matter how impressive that sounds, compared to what he has made as the head football coach of Ohio State it's not going to sting).

So, how should these cheaters be punished?

Vacate victories? Cut scholarships?

No and no.  Nobody would ever remember the vacated victories.  We remember games played, not games vacated, except for Bobby Bowden, and that's a horse of a different color.  As for vacating scholarships, there is not reason to punish a third string lineman for something a star does; and it's never going to be a star who will lose a scholarship.  Vacating scholarships hurts the wrong people.

So who should be hurt? How should they be hurt?

Here's my idea:  Force Ohio State to return its Sugar Bowl payout.  That's right, force Ohio State to return their $8.5 MILLION payout for playing the game.  That may get somebody ready to enforce the rules.  Tressel said he didn't know the rule so the players wouldn't have known either.  For $8.5 MILLION, I imagine the coach would make time for the school's enforcement coordinator, and believe me, they like all major programs have enforcement people.Further, any money that went to the Big Ten Conference from the Sugar Bowl should also be returned.

This way, nobody looks the other way.  When you begin to lose money for your school and the conference, people will stop looking the other way.

Also, while $8.5 MILLION isn't huge when compared to the expenditures of higher education and athletic departments, believe me, that'll leave a mark.  It's also 34 TIMES greater than Tressel will be fined.  We're leaving the ranks of chump change.

The greatest value of the NCAA is that they can negotiate better deals for schools, schools who follow the rules.  Violate the rules, hurt the team.  Violate the rules, hurt the conference.  Take the money from the cheaters, everything else is window dressing.