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Penn State should just leave the NCAA .. enter another football conference. Things like this have been done before... UT (Texas) left the Southwest Conference when it proved to be a dead end. Punishing a University is one thing - punishing players past, present and future is entirely another... over the top ... sounds like something obama would do ...

They may have been better off dropping football completely. There's a fascinating story about that from the 1930s involving the University of Chicago. The school's president canceled the football program because he recognized that it would always represent a conflict with the university's goals as an academic institution. Chicago had a good football team, too. Their star halfback Jay Berwanger is generally considered to be the first Heisman Trophy winner (1935), even though it wasn't officially called by that name until the following season.

I read an article about that just the other day, in anticipation of the NCAA ruling on Penn State. Anyone (like me) who thought corruption in college football was a recent development might be surprised to see that it was a problem even back in the 1930s.

Penn State should just leave the NCAA .. enter another football conference.

I think you're confused. The NCAA is the governing body under which all college athletic programs are under. I don't think a school must belong to the NCAA, but other PSU programs would be affected by their not belonging to the overarching governing body for all college sports.

The Big Ten Conference, to which Penn State belongs, is more of a loosely organized group of specific colleges and universities. These conferences are arranged based upon their level of competitiveness, marketing, and geographic location. Penn State could leave, but where would they go? They cannot easily depart unless there was a mutual agreement to do so, and their departure would not likely be good for either party. Given the advertising and TV contracts, the Lions are far better off staying, rather than leaving. They'll still have to eventually recruit and re-build, and it's difficult to attratct talent when a potential recruit can't get on TV.

Even if PSU chose to leave the Big Ten, where would they go? What other conference would take them and their baggage? They could become independent, but they'd have to work much harder for their future schedules. For now--even with the punishment--PSU is far better off staying put.