For those of you who have been waiting for some news about today’s board of trustees meeting to address the NCAA sanctions levied against Penn State, the Centre Daily Times published the following statement from the board:
The Penn State board of trustees met for a discussion tonight. A vote was not required and none was taken. The board finds the punitive sanctions difficult and the process with the NCAA unfortunate. But as we understand it, the alternatives were worse, as confirmed by NCAA President Mark Emmert’s recent statement that Penn State was likely facing a multi-year death sentence. The university and board resolve to move forward together to recognize the historical excellence in Penn State’s academic and athletic programs. We anticipate and look forward to demonstrating our outstanding performance in complying with the sanctions. ????????? ???????? We continue to recognize the important role that intercollegiate athletics provides for our student athletes and the wider university community as we strive to appropriately balance academic and athletic accomplishments. ????? ???? ????? Penn State will remain a world-class educational institution of which our students, faculty, staff and alumni can be justifiably proud. The commitment demonstrated by our student athletes in recent days embodies all that is good about Penn State and we look forward to unprecedented support by the Nittany Nation when we take the field this fall.
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BigAl says
Yup More lies and bullshit.
Particularly “We continue to recognize the important role that intercollegiate athletics provides for our student athletes and the wider university community”
Translation: We need football to keep our endowment growing and keep up the SAT scores of the students we accept. God help us if we’re ever forced to accept 50% of the people who apply, we would be too embarrassed to attend meetings with the other university presidents and trustees.
I hate to say this, but there’s only one way to get the BOT to be even halfway responsive and responsible. A BOYCOTT. Don’t contribute to their incessant fund drives, resign from the Nittany Lion Club, don’t pay the seat liscenses, turn in your season tickets, and don’t attend any University events.
I’m sure their multimillion dollar PR firm told them: “Don’t worry, you can stonewall everybody and ride this out. The students and alumni are easily lead and will rally around the school and football team like sheep. And in 6 months everything will be forgotten and you can go back to business as usual. Just keep shouting WE ARE … and they’ll fall in line.”
So a boycott is only the only answer. I know it hurts the students and players in the short term, but it’s probably the chance we have to make meaningful changes in the BOT and university administration.
Cut off the money and maybe they’ll listen. Ira Lubert and his pals have billions, but they don’t have enough money to fund things forever.
The Nittany Turkey says
Good luck with the boycott, but I think its chances of succeeding are slim and none. In theory, it sounds great, but I think those who might participate (which I think would be a small minority) would be cutting off their nose to spite their face. A few will turn their backs on PSU football completely, and that’ll hurt some, but Penn Staters tend to be supportive more often than not.
My feeling is that what it will take to reform the board — which well might be forever out of reach — would be an investigation of the interaction between the BOT, the governor, the attorney general, Penn State officials, and of course, The Second Mile through the years. Something that will hit the front pages and blow up before the oppressors have the opportunity to quash it.
I know I’m sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but it is easy to be paranoid with nothing but shit flying around.
—TNT
BigAl says
Unfortunately, I’m afraid you’re right that reforming the board will never happen and that a boycott will not work.
I’m not even sure I would join a boycott myself. I love what the school was and want to support the current team. But, on the other hand, I hate being manipulated and reading anything that Rodney and the BOT does raises my blood pressure 20 points. So, how can you support the students and football team, without enabling Rodney and the BOT to continue on their path of destruction??
I applaud what 30?? members of the team did, but also wonder about the ones who weren’t heard from. As a former (high school) player, I believe that football is one sport that gives you a binary choice: You can either (1) go “all in” and commit everything you have to training and playing or (2) quit. Give anything less than a full effort and you’re probably going to get badly injured. It appears that half the team chose option 1 but we still don’t know which choice the rest made.
The Nittany Turkey says
True, Al, but thirty strong team members is a lot of leadership. Mauti and Zordich look like they’re ready to bash some heads. Also, O’Brien seems to be the kind of coach who employs the Bush Doctrine as it relates to football: either you’re with us and you play 100% or you’re not and you take a hike. Looking over the high visibility players who have departed the team since O’Brien took over gives me the impression that he won’t be taking a lot of shit, no matter what the skill level of an individual might be.
It will be refreshing to be rid of the vague, but predictable concept of Joe’s Doghouse. Players got suspended for inconsequential games. I suppose all coaches have a little of that in them, but I think O’Brien’s going to be more straightforward meting out discipline than Joe was.
Welcome to the “actions bring consequences” school of coaching (I hope).
—TNT
Joe says
A group of kids stood out on the practice field this morning and said they are in this together and everyone else outside of the university can go to hell. I never felt so proud of being a PS grad listening to Michael Zordich and Michael Mauti say how they were not going to let the university, their football brothers and the fans down. They need all of our moral and financial support more than ever.
We’ve got a bunch of kids on the fence who are being pestered by idiot coaches to come to their schools (I thought Emmert assured us that through his sanctions he was changing the culture of football at Division 1 universities, but I guess I was wrong). They will be making the toughest decision of their young lives in the next weeks. Some will stay and for their own reasons/needs, some will leave. Perhaps some will stay because they see EVERYONE throwing their support behind them. They don’t need a lot of “white noise” right now from the fan base.
There is also a group of kids who are trying to decide if PS is still the right place for them after Emmert dropped his pants and shit all over PS. They need to see that we are fully behind this program and if they come to PS, they will always have a fan base that has their back. They don’t need to see or hear more self-inflicted, derogatory half-truths from our good friends at ESPN generated for their reporting convenience by PS.
I heard Bill O’Brien on several talk shows today. I am convinced more than ever that he can pull this off and with his staff, give us something to cheer about on Saturday afternoons and a glimpse of what the future may be. He needs to know we are behind him through our “cheeks in the seats” and unmitigated support of our team and university.
No, it’s time to accept the vinegar and move on. Fighting this thing will do none of the groups of kids any good. Ignoring the needs of the university population to spite the morons that sit on the BoT will only produce the wrong results and hurt the wrong people.
I am not a sheep, but I am wise enough in years to recognize that at times like this there are certain things that are fixed and so resistant to change that it is simply not worth the effort to fight.
I would prefer that the BoT, Paterno family, PS4RS and every other “well intentioned group just shut the hell up and quit making complete jackasses out of themselves. We have lost the case in the court of public opinion. Throwing additional logs on the fire, doesn’t help us when we’re trying to put the fire out one cup of water at a time.
And in case no one has noticed, the BoT has abandoned Erickson. I think he’s made the right decisions about the statue and the consent decree so far even though he has only gotten criticized by the BoT after he’s made the decision and they stood in the shadows.
The BoT can bitch all they want, but they simply didn’t have the chestnuts to stand up and make those decisions for the university. So at this point they just need to shut the hell up and yes go write us some personal checks for the mud pit you’ve immersed us in.
And when this thing quiets down after the Curley/Schultz trial (and it will eventually quiet down) than maybe we can begin to put pressure on the BoT for some meaningful change, but now is really not the time.
I’m ready to start putting this thing in the rear view and follow the football team who for all intents and purposes (and the right reasons) have unfurled the battle flags and asked us if we’re with them.
Let’s fuckin’ go and take that hill and the hell with everyone else!
The Nittany Turkey says
After today, I’m sure as hell ready for some football. I’d like to quit writing about Erickson and start writing about the forthcoming interesting, albeit crippled, season.
I agree with you (at this point) about those who are trying to reform the BOT. It ain’t going to happen. PS4RS is just spinning wheels. Their optimism is amusing, but they’re not going to pull off a David vs. Goliath act. We’re stuck with this BOT. My hope is that Lubrano and Taliafero continue to foment discussion and vote their conscience. Change, if indeed there is to be any, will be evolutionary and slow.
However, in the remote chance that something blows up on the front pages arising out of an independent investigation by an enterprising reporter, for example, there is some hope for quicker change. I can’t expel the nagging feeling that there’s something bigger than just Penn State lurking behind the veil of institutional secrecy here. As I told Al, maybe I’m paranoid, but who the hell could blame any Penn State fan at this point for looking over his shoulder.
I’m behind those guys on the field and their coaches 100%. They seem to have the right mindset (for a change) going into the season. It would be much easier to be complacent and discouraged; it takes guts and self-confidence to be optimistic as the fall approaches. I’m impressed by the players who spoke this morning and O’Brien.
I hope Redd decides to stay. Isn’t it cool that USC, serving out its sentence, is accorded the privilege of raiding Penn State? There seems to be a pecking order of NCAA punishments. After all, Miami’s investigation wears on, while ours was fast tracked. So, if Mr. Redd decides to stay put, I will have to say that he values the concept of team more than the visibility and the babes of Southern California.
We, Penn State, and anyone even remotely associated with the institution are pariahs; you’d think we had abused those boys ourselves, listening to and reading the obnoxious epithets directed our way. When the hell that will end, if it ever does, is had to say. We might well retain the moniker Perverts Soaping Up for the rest of our lives. That’s very sad, because you and I know that Penn Staters are charitable and decent people. Nevertheless, if I don’t pay homage to “the victims” in anything I write for public consumption, I’m immediately branded as a child molester. This is exhausting.
So, there is no doubt about it. I’m ready for some football!
—TNT
Joe says
Sad but so very true.
http://bwi.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1388946
The Nittany Turkey says
Amen.
—TNT