On February 25th, 1987 the NCAA handed the Southern Methodist University football program the most severe penalty ever inflicted on a college athletic program in the history of the NCAA.
This penalty was termed the death penalty.
For much of the 1970’s and 1980’s the SMU Football Program was one of the greats. They got great players, great coaching and they were a force to be reckoned with in the college football world.
But the program had a dark side a very dark side that would end up crippling the program for many years to come.
In 1986 allegations surrounding the SMU football program began to surface. The big allegation pointed to a supposed Slush Fund which was used to pay players as early as the mid 1970’s. It was later learned that University officials became aware of these payments in 1981 and did nothing about it. Because of these major violations and the fact that the program was already on probation for recruiting violations the NCAA suspended the SMU football program for the entire 1987 season. Furthermore all the players on the football team were allowed to transfer to another university without a losing a year of eligibility. Essentially this led to a mass exodus of players from SMU and forced the school to cancel the 1988 season as well.
The effects of the death penalty on SMU were felt for many years to come. In addition to it having a hand in destroying the Southwest Conference, the Mustangs had only one winning season over the next 20 years and failed to make another bowl game until 2009.
Fast forward to March of 2011 when Ohio State University and their football program are in the midst of being investigated by the NCAA for major violations. These violations stem from players selling memorabilia to a Columbus tattoo 
parlor owner in exchange for money and tattoos. Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel reportedly learned about the allegations in April of 2010 and didn’t report it until earlier this year. The athletic program as a whole is still dealing with sanctions that resonate from their basketball program for other violations. These sanctions started on March 10th, 2006 and the deal was Ohio State was to stay out of trouble for at least five years.
But what does the Ohio State basketball program have to do with the Ohio State football program and could the NCAA hand Ohio State the dreaded death penalty?
Well, the NCAA will most likely NOT give Ohio State football the death penalty BUT the Ohio State basketball program has everything to do with the Ohio State football program in terms of NCAA violations for the athletic department as a whole.
According to WBNS-10TV out of Columbus the violations of the basketball program and now the football program could deem the Ohio State Athletic Department as a repeat violator.
WBNS writes that the NCAA bylaws state that “an institution shall be considered a repeat violator if a major violation has occurred within five years of the starting date of a major penalty.”
Now those same bylaws state that that in addition to normal penalties, a school given repeat violator status could lose up to two full seasons of play, scholarships for athletes, and recruiting privileges for two years.
OSU officials would not comment on whether or not they expect to be considered a repeat violator, but sports attorney and agent Brett Adams says that Ohio State can definitely be considered a repeat violator but is still unsure on whether or not the NCAA would hand down it’s harshest punishments.
“I don’t think there’s any question from a technical standpoint they fall under a repeat violator status,” Adams said. “I don’t think there’s any chance that will happen no matter what additional facts come out because Ohio State is a huge business.”
The unfortunate thing for Ohio State is that it doesn’t matter whether or not it’s a huge business because if anymore major violations are found during an investigation the NCAA will not hesitate (and may have not choice in the matter) to drop the hammer on Ohio State. USC is a perfect example a big business school that the NCAA really didn’t spare.
Source: WBNS-10TV
