Straight From the NCAA Infractions Committe Chairman

Anwering the question that distinquishes the SMU DP case. And it is 100% True and I've never heard even a plausible rebuttal.
One trend unlikely to change is the NCAA's reluctance to hit offending athletics programs with its strongest sanction, a ban on practice and competition  a complete shutdown known as the death penalty.
"I know that, often, the media talk about the fact that the committee is not imposing it in cases that have been extremely egregious," Potuto said. "But the thing that set SMU apart (in 1987, the only time the death penalty has been imposed in Division I) was the institutional effort by high-level administrators to hide the fact that they were committing violations  and repeatedly hide it. In the cases at least over the time I've sat on the committee, we have not had that circumstance.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... ttee_N.htm
One trend unlikely to change is the NCAA's reluctance to hit offending athletics programs with its strongest sanction, a ban on practice and competition  a complete shutdown known as the death penalty.
"I know that, often, the media talk about the fact that the committee is not imposing it in cases that have been extremely egregious," Potuto said. "But the thing that set SMU apart (in 1987, the only time the death penalty has been imposed in Division I) was the institutional effort by high-level administrators to hide the fact that they were committing violations  and repeatedly hide it. In the cases at least over the time I've sat on the committee, we have not had that circumstance.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... ttee_N.htm