Miami Gets Slap on the Wrist from NCAA

After a ridiculously long wait -- three years -- the Miami Hurricanes finally got a decision from the NCAA regarding its sex-and-benefits scandal, the details of which are now so hazily in the past that all anyone remembers about them are the sex and benefits.

That's why timelines come in handy. That Nevin Shapiro was one out-of-control, Ponzi-scheming booster.

So, despite a laundry list of violations that included everything but Jerry Sandusky and Reggie Bush, the Canes didn't get the death penalty or even a bowl ban beyond the two-year hiatus they gave themselves. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to call what Miami got as punishment. 

All the Hurricanes really received was the loss of a few scholarships over the next few years. That's it, folks. Looks like the kickers and long snappers will be walking on for a while.

Incredibly, what we now have is a situation where the coaches and players can look back, give a satisfied sigh, and say those were the days.

When this news exploded across the college football landscape a few years ago, we all thought they would be the second program in NCAA history to be given the death penalty and shut down. Compared to what SMU did -- the only program to suffer that fate -- it didn't seem beyond reason that Miami would get the equivalent of ten years in an electric chair.

How times change.

It's like they basically got away with murder, because they did. Who oversaw this investigation for the NCAA? Lance Ito? Players getting paid and laid with coaches knowing all about it usually means something more serious than losing nine scholarships.

And the NCAA wonders why neither schools nor the public respects their authority anymore.

What authority? This is not the Johnny Manziel case, where the people involved didn't talk. Somebody talked -- actually, half of South Beach talked -- and the NCAA still got it wrong. Was it afraid of Miami coming back at them because of how badly its investigators botched their duties? If so, did that make the violations any less serious?

The NCAA shouldn't call it punishment, they should call it what it is: a slap on the wrist. In order for a program to be punished, that means the people in charge have to take a hard line. The NCAA didn't.

Penn State should ask for a rebate.

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