The Nittany Turkey

Primarily about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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And so, the search begins…

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Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner announced that the search for a new coach will be “days, not weeks” at this morning’s press conference.

The search committee will consist of:

Dr. Dave Joyner, Athletic Director (Chair)
Dr. Tom Poole, VP Administration
Charmelle Green, Associate Athletic Director, Senior Woman Administrator (LOL)
Dr. Linda Caldwell, Faculty Athletics Representative, Distinguished Professor
Bob Warming, Head Coach, Men’s Soccer
Wally Richardson, Director, Penn State Football Letterman’s Club (good ol’ #14)

No boosters, fans, or Paternoists on the committee, unless you count Wally in that last category.

Larry Johnson has been appointed as Interim Head Coach, which is crucial to a smooth transition. Joyner referred to LJ as the “glue” that will hold the program together while the search takes place.

“We’re very fortunate to have a guy like Larry Johnson to serve as the glue right now,” said Joyner.

As for Johnson himself, apparently he has not (yet) thrown his hat into the ring with respect to the permanent job. However, Joyner says that if he did so, he would be given due consideration.

The three characteristics Joyner seeks in the next head coach are in the areas of integrity, academics, and championships. PSU ties are not required.

Names of other individuals under consideration by the search committee will be kept confidential.

Presumably as an offshoot of the notorious David Jones interview, Joyner was asked if the political climate at Penn State contributed to O’Brien’s decision to leave.

“I don’t really think that at all,” posited Joyner. “Obviously, the environment is whatever it is.” (Ahhhhh, the old sports stonewall: it is what it is.)

Joyner said that O’Brien’s intent when hired was to stay at Penn State for the long haul, but the Houston offer was something he could just not pass up. According to Dr. Dave, BoB’s contract buyout amounted to $6.5 to $6.7 million.

Wrapping up the presser, Joyner answered a question about Christian Hackenberg’s future.

“Christian Hackenberg is a tremendous asset at Penn State,” Joyner said. “Our job is to get the best football coach possible and lead them forward. We pledge to do that in a contracted time frame, with great thought and analysis.”

So, now we’re off to the races. The speculation circus begins, but I’m still taking the field. Looking at the “common wisdom” candidates, I feel there are good reasons that each of them won’t be the next head coach, although a blown ass-umption by this turkey is par for the course. I’ll stand by the odds I presented before the O’Brien departure became official.

I look at the short time frame Joyner has committed for the search committee’s ultimate choice with mixed feelings. I’m well aware that Penn State needs someone to be CEO of the football program right now; however, a quick and dirty search is fraught with peril. Will there be time for due diligence on each candidate? Will there be time to romance a candidate who is presently employed? Will the need for speed mean that Penn State does not hire the best man for the job? Haste makes waste.

(But a stitch in time saves nine. Please forgive my supercilious digression into old saws.)

As for O’Brien, I don’t expect him to go public with his reasons for leaving Penn State, other than to take a better job. He didn’t break his contract, he bought out of it. Those of you who think he had a moral commitment, well, go stew in your own juices. It ain’t gonna change anything. The past is the past (and that goes for you Paternoists, too), and we have business ahead of us. O’Brien owes us nothing he hasn’t paid with that check for $6.7 million.

The football program at Penn State has undergone a significant paradigm shift since the Paterno years, which is painful for some. O’Brien served as the catalyst and facilitator for that change, which was inevitable. Let us now look to the future without blinders on. The Penn State progress clock stopped circa 1979, flying a holding pattern under Paternolistic stewardship while, abetted by megabuck television contracts, the rest of college football predictably transmuted itself  into a big money business. We considered ourselves above the fray, lofting ourselves onto a pedestal of goodness and traditional values. We were better than the riff-raff who cared only about the money game that college football has become. That is no longer the case, but some of us cannot or will not acknowledge that. We have to sink or swim in that stormy sea now. Those of us who cling to the past and dream that we can return to those good old sweet Happy Valley days will retard the process of moving forward in the new era of college football. Success with honor is still our credo, even though we’ll never ever return to warm, fuzzy feelings of the house that Joe built.

The new coach will be once removed from the scandalous days of yore, which is another reason not to dredge up the past. O’Brien and some plucky seniors held the program together through some horrible times. Now, we hope to gain some stability and make progress toward the goal of having a competitive presence in college football in the not too distant future.

Discuss!

Much Ado

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How many yellow journalists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

None. They don’t need to see the light. They just cobble together some flimsy he-said/she-said factoids to make two plus two equal five. It’s all sleight of pen. See, no wires, just sheer magic.

Such is the case with the recent Sports Illustrated article entitled “Do athletics still have too much power at Penn State?” This is just another cheap-ass shot at Penn State, which has proven to be fertile ground for sports hacks who have nothing better to write about.

If you haven’t read or don’t want to read the article, its premise is that by “firing” Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, the long-time team physician for Penn State football, the University has demonstrated that yet again, football rules the roost. Huh? Say whut?

Since when does any administrator not have the ability and right to choose personnel for his or her organization? The article attempts to blame Sebastianelli’s “firing” on athletic director Dave Joyner’s purported long-standing grudge against Sebastianelli. The evidence of such a feud is flimsily presented. Even if the conflict existed, so what? Doesn’t Joyner have the right to run his ship the way he sees fit? The author tries to discredit Joyner as being underqualified (or unqualified) to do the job of athletic director. I have no problem with opinions about proper qualifications, as they’re subjective. But what does this have to do with athletics having power at Penn State?

Furthermore, Sebastianelli wasn’t actually fired. He was kicked upstairs. “Percussive sublimation” is what Lawrence J. Peter called it in “The Peter Principle.” What is wrong with that? Highly respected and revered offensive coordinator Fran Ganter was given the same treatment by the sainted Joe Paterno and we all accepted the move. Sebastianelli is still at least titularly in charge of sports medicine at Penn State. Why is it necessary to have an orthopedic surgeon at every football practice? Isn’t a sniffle doc good enough? If someone breaks a leg, they go to the hospital, where there are lots of ortho guys and gals. Sebastianelli is still there if they need him and will still perform surgery on players as needed.

Here’s a good one:

“O’Brien hired Penn State alum Tim Bream, who worked with Joyner at the ’92 Olympics, as athletic trainer in February 2012. Sources involved in health care for Penn State athletics who spoke with SI on the condition of anonymity say they saw Bream, who does not have a medical degree, engage in practices normally reserved for doctors, such as giving players anti-inflammatory drugs without a prescription and lancing a boil on a player’s neck. University medical sources also said that Bream told physicians to stop talking with the parents of players and that doctors should not spend as much time with the team.”

Turns out that Bream might have been dispensing Voltaren, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). Although it is prescription only, so was ibuprofen at one time. This class of drugs includes aspirin, ibuprofen, relafen, etc. The same side-effects and precautions apply to all of them. I suppose we’re getting into spirit of the law versus letter of the law issues here; however, I doubt that handing out anti-inflammatories to guys with sore knees with blanket authorization by a doctor somewhere in the chain is something to be particularly concerned about. Lancing a boil isn’t exactly major surgery — it’s usually done as self-surgery. Come on, SI! Find something really wrong.

The folks in the Lasch Building unfortunately dignified this hit piece with a response or two. I think that’s reflexive after all the crap that has been slung at Penn State during the past year-and-a-half; nevertheless, I find it somewhat unsettling. Whether or not there is any substance to the allegations made by SI, Penn State should not feel obligated to defend itself. The University we know and love should keep a stiff upper lip and do business as usual.

The bottom line? Making personnel moves in the medical staff does not imply that athletics have too much power. It merely means that executive decisions are being made internally, not at the behest of the ever critical, mud-slinging press.

 

How to Come Up With $60 Mil

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As you know, Penn State is faced with the requirement of paying a directed $60 million fine assessed by the NCAA. How will the University amass the resources to deal with what seems to be such a huge financial hit?

Athletic Director Dave Joyner describes the situation as a war. “We’re in an occupation, if you will, and so now we’re rebuilding.”

Mark Dent of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has written a two-part, informative piece in this subject area. In the first part, he focuses on where the money will come from, and along the way he discusses in detail the trade-offs involved in the notorious STEP program. In the second, he examines the effect of the financial pinch on other sports beside football.

Check it out.