PSU trustees to meet on NCAA penalty

Submitted by Leaders And Best on

Penn State mess continues to get messier.  Reported that Penn State Board of Trustees will meet to discuss whether President Erickson had authority to agree to NCAA sanctions.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/story/2012-07-25/penn-state-trustees-consent-decree/56485674/1

Doesn't help when the alumni elect this guy and 4 former football players (out of 9 alumni representatives) to your BOT:

Anthony Lubrano has been doing his own one man press tour in the last 2 days that makes the PSU BOT look like a bunch of delusional football fans:

http://www.975thefanatic.com/teams/college/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10406780

http://chirb.it/zFhG5f

Also, our tax dollars will be paying former PSU president Graham Spanier soon as somehow he got a job working for the federal government:

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/04/post_340.html

UMgradMSUdad

July 25th, 2012 at 5:09 PM ^

Somehow this doesn't surprise me.  The one leader at PSU who seems to have any sense at all, and they turn on him.  What is amusing, is that many of the fans are calling for a new leader, one with stones (to put it politely), meaning one that will acquiese to the rabid fan base.

WolverineHistorian

July 25th, 2012 at 5:40 PM ^

Most PSU fans on the internet are insane but BWI has always been the worst of the worst.  That board has been a laughing stock for over a decade now.  According to them, everything that's ever gone wrong in history is Michigan's fault.  All losses, all penalties, even stuff that happened before they joined the conference was Michigan's fault. 

Bill in Birmingham

July 25th, 2012 at 5:41 PM ^

The Penn State dude has an interesting theory. It needs work. Many times I saw Bo checking on the players studying at night in West Quad when I was a student. He suspended key players from big games for skipping class. I will put Bo's ethics up against any so called "grand experiment." Oh yeah, he managed to do all of that without enabling any serial child rapists.

Michigan Arrogance

July 25th, 2012 at 5:11 PM ^

Nothing of significance will come out of this. I'm sure there are a few BoT members p-o'd, but at most they will chew out Erickson or formally repremand him. Doubtfull they fire him, since they just freakin' hired him.

It will appease some of the nut-ball fringe alumni outrage if a few of the BoTs publicly state their disagreement with the harshness of the penalties.

No formal withdrawl from the consent agreement will happen, because that will mean DEATH not only for football, but the entire AD and the academic side will be significantly affected as well.

LSAClassOf2000

July 25th, 2012 at 5:20 PM ^

""If I'm going to be held accountable, I feel like I should've been part of that process," Lubrano added. "I think it's fair to say that a number of board members are upset.""

I find it interesting that someone from a Board Of Trustees that  demanded "continuity" in its leadership when faced with the question that it should possibly resign en masse after the publication of the Freeh Report  is now saying that he wanted to be part of the "process". On several occasions during the years when the abuse was taking place, this same board rubber stamped decisions and actively avoided being "part of the process". 

I have to believe that censure by the conference basically means that lodging a formal complaint would move Penn State a step  closer to the door, if you will, especially now that everything has been made public in the way of sanctions. This seems like disingenuous bluster, and it is far too late. 

 

 

graybeaver

July 25th, 2012 at 5:41 PM ^

I hope they fight it and get the four year death penalty. The most powerful people at PSU didn't report rape of children for 14 years. Joe PA continued to let Sandusky bring kids from the 2nd mile to football banquets and probably knew they were getting raped later that night. The alumni and fans at PSU make me vomit. Fuck you Penn State!

graybeaver

July 25th, 2012 at 5:44 PM ^

And the former QB that walked in on Sandusky raping a child and didn't call 911 or stop it is a bitch. He is still a coach too for them. What kind of man calls their daddy instead of taking action? What a piece of scum he is too.

gopoohgo

July 25th, 2012 at 10:55 PM ^

PSU BoT needs to STFU.

Apparently the NCAA was ready to obliterate PSU football off the face of the earth, complete with salting of Beaver Stadium turf.

FWIW, hopefully the newfound cajones of the NCAA will result in the wrath of God being brought down upon Miami (YTM) for strippers and hos, and UNC for their diffuse academic fraud.  Not holding my breath, however.

Bluefishdoc

July 25th, 2012 at 5:47 PM ^

There are some seriously delusional folks on that board. Blaming Michigan and OSU for not sticking up for them. Must be sitting in mom's basement covered in aluminum foil.

Wolverine 73

July 25th, 2012 at 6:20 PM ^

Remember how upset we were about the Michigan sanctions for a few minutes of stretching?  Well, Michigan got ahead of that, put everything out there, and came totally clean--not that things were very dirty.  That forthcoming approach makes me even prouder to be a Wolverine, especially after watching the ohio folks dissemble over the tattoo situation, and now watching the PSU people turn a tragedy into a farce.  If anyone needed more proof that it is always best to come clean initially, we have it in these two situations.

aratman

July 25th, 2012 at 6:27 PM ^

 The Penn State BoD and fans are showing that the priorities of Penn State and there fans are not to the standard of the Big Ten conference.  The fans sound like complete idiots and have no understanding of footballs place in this situation or society.  Do they honestly think that everything was done properly and that the University has no culpability for the actions of there employees in the work place?  The football facilities are the work place for these employees.  This is bigger than there football program and I believe they should be removed from the Big Ten now. 

tim4landg

July 25th, 2012 at 6:51 PM ^

I think the BOT had to do this and that it is one of the few reasonable actions that have been taken. Maybe the sanctions handed out were reasonable, but there is also a reasonable argument to be made that they are excessive, and that argument never received a hearing. Due process seems to be a fundamental part of the NCAA's process -- not to mention the nation's judicial system -- and to have been completely ignored in this case. Has the association ever had a case resolved this quickly without the culprits having a chance to offer a defense or respond to allegations? And Emmert threatened to kill the program if PSU didn't go along. Where does it say that he can do that?

Emmert should have recognized that not only was he taking the NCAA outside it's procedures, that by demanding Erickson accept the penalties without checking with the BOT he was asking PSU to do the same thing. What if Sandusky's attorney, under threat from prosecutors, had accepted a life sentence for Sandusky the day after his arrest, without asking him. People would recognize that you can't do that. You need to follow the proper steps and let the process work. And PSU should have a chance to consider whether they want to argue for a lesser penalty.

ChopBlock

July 25th, 2012 at 11:21 PM ^

I disagree entirely, but you shouldn't be negged for stating a contradictory opinion to the prevailing one, especially when you articulated clearly.

Now, about your post: The problem is twofold

1) The situation: it seems absolutely absurd to lump something like selling merchandise for free tatoos together with enabling the serial rape of children. Given that the NCAA had to do something, considering this atrocity was centered around football concerns, they had to do it in a way that wouldn't conflate its moral role with its technical governance role. The rape of children is not a "technical governance" role. I think it would be appalling if Penn State and USC were charged with the same NCAA infraction. The Penn State situation is qualitatively different than any other situation that's gone before it

2) Timetable. The NCAA needed to get this done NOW. In another month, the season will be just about started, and by that it's too late to impose any real penalties with immediate effect. Their options were to either (a) use unconventional channels or (b) delay the punishments to such an extent that they're too far removed from the wrongdoing.

 

OMG Shirtless

July 25th, 2012 at 7:27 PM ^

I hope they realize that the President's consent saved them from a multi-year death penalty.  Go ahead, reverse the consent decree and let the NCAA buttfuck them with the death penalty for being fucking stupid.

Roachgoblue

July 25th, 2012 at 8:50 PM ^

They are f'n everything up. Hey morons, shut the f up, say sorry and work on your program. The sooner Joe is dead to you, well the sooner you have a slight chant with a recruit.

Eye of the Tiger

July 26th, 2012 at 12:57 AM ^

...the more deserved these sanctions feel.

The moral crisis at PSU stemmed from the powers that were valuing football and the image of the football team over the health and well-being of defenseless children. Yokels on the Internet, okay, but when trustees are mouthing the same enabling bulls***, then it shows there are more than just 4 decision-makers who need to be taught a lesson.

SamirCM

July 26th, 2012 at 1:23 AM ^

The federal Department of Education has asked for records for the past 14 years, which is far more than they usually request. The Cleary Act requires schools keep the past 7 years, and the article I read had this interesting nugget in it.

 

"Carter said he met with considerable resistance from Penn State before it finally disclosed 13 sexual offenses on campus in 2002. Its initial report showed zero."

If tihs is the case, then it goes far beyond Sandusky, and to a culture of shielding anything is wrong, more akin to the mayor in Jaws, who can't tell anyone of the shark or else they won't come to the beach. 

 

triangle_M

July 26th, 2012 at 7:57 AM ^

I spoke with a former PSU staffer (actually an OSU alumnus) last night at the pub (I am in central PA so this isn't that much of coincidence).  He told me two stories about the culture of shielding there. 

1) Professor is struck by a drunk driving student on campus.  Said driver is connected to the administration.  Professor makes a stink when nothing is done to the driver. Professor asked to leave after the semester. Drunk driver never prosecuted.

2) Different professor beaten by a member of the practice squad.  Campus police tell the professor, "we'll handle it." Nothing happens.  When professor makes a stink, he is asked to leave after the semester.

Now this may be through disgruntled ex-employee/Buckeye lenses, I don't know.  He was a rational man, Army vet.  Of course he had to bring up tatgate and hate on the NCAA, which was to be expected, coming from a buckeye, but he had no reason to lie, other than feeling the need for attention-but we had been talking for an hour so that doesn't seem likely.  Also, it fits in nicely with what a female PSU alumnus told me a few weeks ago-that many of the women on campus live in fear of the football team.  Too many unprosecuted, uninvestigated assaults.