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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NCAA cans VP who screwed up Miami investigation

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Well, folks, the NCAA internal review ordered by its leader, Mark Emmert, is done, and the scapegoat properly identified, as expected. ?????????? ??????? As those of us who have run consulting assignments know, the ostensible object of the assignment is one thing and the actual desiredresult is another. In this case, it was a “who shall we fire to deflect public criticism from Mark Emmert” assignment.

The result? Vice President of Enforcement Julie Roe Lach got the ax. See the Yahoo Sports story on the subject.

So, what do you think? Emmert comes off as the enforcer’s enforcer and slithers cleanly away from any culpability himself? ??? ???? ????? ?? ???????? You’re thinking like I’m thinking. ????? ???? ?????? Emmert is the “Teflon Don” of the NCAA.

Julie is the fourth member of the NCAA investigative staff to go to the guillotine, voluntarily or not. Her severance follows the dismissals of Ameen Najjar (who also botched the Miami case), Abigail Grantstein (whose boyfriend bragged that she had the power to deny UCLA’s Shabazz Muhammad the right to play), and Bill Benjamin, whose short, eight-month tenure as director of enforcement turned quite a few heads, lemme tellya.

Lach was well-respected and broadly regarded as competent. Nevertheless, someone’s head had to roll and you can be damn sure it wasn’t going to be Emmert’s.

I would say that the NCAA is more screwed up than ever, and this scapegoat-seeking review did nothing to dispel that notion. In fact, by taking the action he did, Emmert affirmed the notion.

Meanwhile, Emmert is doing additional damage control by “initiating the process of seeking feedback from NCAA member schools about the best way for [the enforcement arm] of the association to operate.” Expect that to go in one ear and out the other.

Jonathan Duncan has been named interim vice president of enforcement. Anyone want to predict how long he’ll last?

Read more in ESPN.com.

By the way, I’m not the only one who believes that Emmert is hiding behind the contrived culpability of his underlings for the sorry state of the NCAA. He is a grand scale shirker. Dana O’Neil of ESPN has some interesting opinions on the subject.

 

NCAA to Investigate PSU

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The latest entity to ride the “strike while the iron is hot” investigation bandwagon careening toward Penn State is the NCAA. In a letter to President Rodney Erickson dated November 17, NCAA President Mark Emmert advised Penn State that the NCAA would be investigating its “institutional control” over its intercollegiate athletics program in light of the Sandusky situation.

“I look forward to the complete cooperation of Penn State in our review and any future action that we may take.”  —Mark Emmert

Emmert promised that the investigation would not interfere with existing inquiries from the State and Federal governments. In addition, there is a pending internal inquiry directed by the Board of Trustees.

The letter requires the university to provide fully substantiated responses to the following questions:

  1. How has Penn State and/or its employees complied with the Articles of the Constitution and bylaws that are cited in this letter?
  2. How has Penn State exercised institutional control over the issues identified in and related to the Grand Jury Report? Were there procedures in place that were or were not followed? What are the institutions expectations and policies to address the conduct that has been alleged in this matter upon discovery by any party?
  3. Have each of the alleged persons to have been involved or have notice of the issues identified in and related to the Grand Jury Report behaved consistent with principles and requirements governing ethical conduct and honesty? If so, how? If not, how?
  4. What policies and procedures does Penn State have in place to monitor, prevent and detect the issues identified in and related to the Grand Jury Report or to take disciplinary or corrective action if such behaviors are found?

Obviously, this is not a purely athletic issue, as virtually the entire university was implicated in looking the other way while Sandusky continued his alleged assaults on youngsters. The NCAA should restrict its investigation to the athletic program, however, because to go beyond that would demonstrate yet another time that athletics are getting too big for their britches.

Just what penalties or sanctions the NCAA might impose upon Penn State in the aftermath of this “review” is anybody’s guess.