Stay of Execution: Why the Miami Hurricanes Won't Get the Death Penalty

Even for Miami Hurricanes fans, it is looking more and more obvious that the future of the football (and possibly basketball) program is bleak following a Yahoo Sports report. With physical evidence, as well as confirmation on the part of former players such as RB Tyrone Moss, there is little doubt that the football program is going to be pounded hard by NCAA sanctions, with many observers believing a "death penalty," akin to what happened to the SMU football program in the 1980s, would be a reasonable punishment.

However, there is little reason to truly believe that the Miami Hurricanes football program will be dismantled, even for just a few years. In order to be considered for the death penalty, a program must be considered a "repeat offender". The football team was hit with probation and a bowl ban in the 90s as a result of the infamous Pell Grant Scandal, but here are three reasons why that scandal should not have an impact on the punishments handed down by the NCAA for these transgressions:

1) The punishments for the Pell Grant Scandal had long since subsided by 2002

Back in the 1980, the SMU Mustangs were banned from football for two years because of major NCAA violations committed during the probation period they were issued due to prior violations. This was a clear cut case of a "repeat offender."

In Miami's case? Not so much.

Following the Pell Grant Scandal, Miami was punished by the NCAA with a one-year bowl ban and three years probation, beginning with the 1996 season. That means that the probation period ended following the 1998 season, which is four years prior to when Nevin Shapiro claims he began giving out impermissible benefits to players. As such, this is not like SMU's situation; while SMU continued violating NCAA rules while under its nose, Miami had long since been freed from sanctions before this new scandal hit.

2) Very few related to the early 90s football teams were there in 2002

Simply put, the Hurricanes athletic program in 2002 was almost an entirely different program than the ones that took the field in the early 90s. From the time of the Pell Grant Scandal until 2002, the football team changed head coaches twice (to Butch Davis and Larry Coker, respectively). Obviously, no players who were around in the early 90s were still there in 2002. The university even hired a new president in that time, switching from Tad Foote to Donna Shalala in 2001.

And since then, just as many changes were made, between changing head coaches two more times (to Randy Shannon and Al Golden, respectively) to two new athletic directions (to Kirby Hocutt and Shawn Eichorst, respectively). In fact, the only person with ties to the program who remained with the team the whole time was OL coach Art Kehoe.

It's hard to call a program a "repeat offender" when nobody hangs around long enough to make repeat offenses. Why should Al Golden, Shawn Eichorst,and Donna Shalala be punished so hard for being repeat offenders when the first violations came during the time of Dennis Erickson, Paul Dee, and Tad Foote?

3) There are no indications that top university officials knew of the wrongdoings or participated in them

Now, this may change pending new information coming out, but for now, there is no indication that anyone at the top of the program knew of the offenses that were going on. No evidence has emerged to suggest that Shalala, Dee or Hocutt knew of the benefits being handed out by Shapiro. There is evidence that some assistant coaches might have known, as well as former Canes basketball coach Frank Haith, but no top official related to the football program has any real evidence against them.

It is possible that former football coach Randy Shannon knew, but his hands are clean. During his four years with the program, he did his hardest to keep Nevin Shapiro away from the football program, which many see as a sign that he suspected that something might be up, though no evidence is present to suggest he knew any more than that. As a result, he has been regaining a bit of respect over the last few days with Miami fans who believe he may end up being the reason why Miami will get lighter punishments than if he turned a blind eye to the situation.

Now, no one but the most biased and delusional of fans believes that Miami is going to get off with minor-to-no punishments. There is simply too much evidence to expect anything less than a long probation period, a reduction in scholarships, and possibly a postseason ban. But that should be the extent of the damage, as there does not appear to be anything that would suggest that the Miami Hurricanes football team deserves the death penalty.

If anything, Miami fans might need to worry more about a self-imposed death penalty than an NCAA-imposed one. There's not much the university can do as a form of punishment; almost nobody who was around from 2002-2010 still remains, though president Donna Shalala might find herself on the hot seat very soon. A self-imposed death penalty may be one of their few options. However, that's still quite unlikely, as the monetary fall-out from banning the football team for any period of time would be disastrous to the university.

Simply put, for the time being, there are no major reasons to believe the Miami Hurricanes football team will get the death penalty. There will be football in 2011, and I fully expect to see football in 2012 and beyond.