re: McMahon better recruit elite players

quote:

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Firing Wade (and the assistant) was explicitly listed as a mitigating factor in the punishment.

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You are correct. My mistake.

So it does appear the firing was taken into account.

I guess that then leads to the question of how much? If LSU retains Wade do they get hit with much greater sanctions than the loss of two scholarships? Seems likely. But would that override essentially the teardown of the program in the wake of his firing? Can't say for sure.

The panel also specifically stated Wade DID NOT accept responsibility or admit wrongdoing. Thus, his firing was not attributed as a mitigating factor towards him, individually. Yet, the penalty they gave was still relatively mild. A few minor recruiting restrictions and two seasons of 10 game suspensions seems pretty mild, don't you think? So if they didn't choose to hammer the bad actor, it's hard to imagine they would have hammered LSU much more than they did.

I've ALWAYS said I understand why LSU chose to do what it did. I guess the unknown (at least until McMahon starts performing well) is if the program as a whole would have been better off eating a few years of sanctions and keeping Wade, or cutting bait and starting over? McMahon can make it a moot point if he can start winning big (big for LSU meaning at least regular NCAA Tournament appearances). But unless/until that happens expect the debate to rage on.