GUEST POST: Reaction to The NCAA Sanctions on Penn State

This piece was written by Dan Ryan. Dan is a graduate of Quinnipiac University, where he majored in marketing and minored in public relations. Currently, Dan is a sport industry professional and is earning his Masters in Sport Management from Drexel University. From the I-95 crew, thanks for writing Dan!

into storage it goes...

The Penn State scandal has taken a mind of its own. As many sports related scandals go, similar to shark infested waters, once there is one drop of blood the feeding frenzy begins. Cue the media, the public, all lining up to take their own personal shot at the crucified remains of the Penn State Football program. At what point is enough enough When does the persecution stop and the healing begin?

Without doubt, some of the penalties handed down to Penn State make sense in my opinion. The $60 million fine going to programs designed to deal with victims of child sexual abuse (and the same with the Big Ten's decision to deny Penn State its share). The five year probationary period. All are just in my eyes.

However, the remaining sanctions seem to be as accurate as buck shot. Why penalize people who are guilty of nothing, the coaches attempting to rebuild today and most of all the student-athletes, who are supposed to come first in all NCAA-related deliberations? Reducing the scholarships to a near crippling point, removing all postseason play, all actions directly penalizing the people in place today that will be responsible for picking up the carnage left by one individual's actions and several others poor judgement.

As for erasing 111 of Joe Paterno's wins from the Penn State and NCAA record books, in what way does that bring justice to the young men whose lives will never be the same because of the horrible acts committed by Sandusky? What competitive advantage did Penn State gain from failing to act on an assistant coach who was suspected of child

abuse? The NCAA has decided not only to join the witch hunt, but lead it by tearing down the legacy of a now defenseless man who single handedly made Happy Valley what it is today.

Penn State's decision to tear down the Paterno statue is just another example of "a panicked response to the public's understandable revulsion." I understand and believe what Joe did and what he failed to do is unforgivable, but he also did so much good for the university as a whole, not just their athletics. No matter how deep the new, frightened leaders of PSU try to bury Joe Pa's legacy, the good and the bad, he will always be first in everyone's mind when you step foot in Happy Valley. Why not embrace that and let the statue serve as a reminder. By tearing it down it makes everyone forget the past. What we need to do is remember the past, no matter how painful the memory is.

As for the current and future players, the question is asked, Would you stay? The way I see it is this entire scandal, all the public opinion placed on this school, comes down to the question "if it was me, what would I do?" Well the public came out in crowds proclaiming had it been them they would have stepped forward immediately, they would've stopped Sandusky if they were Mike Mcquery, if they were Joe Paterno, they would've always made the right decision and never made a mistake. The only problem is we are all human, and none of us are perfect. Many of these same people are now saying leave PSU and try to avoid the darkest period in college football history, you shouldn't suffer because of the actions committed by someone else.

If we have learned anything from this tragedy it should be not to run from the problems that stand in our path, but confront them and move past them right now. To the players who have a decision to make, I hope they see the mistake Joe made in attempting to tip toe around the allegations rather than face them head on. PSU Football was built on pride. The players who take the field at Beaver Stadium over the next four years are not playing for bowls or championships, nor are they playing for themselves. They are playing to restore a legacy that took 54 years to build and just 9 months reduce to rubble. These men are playing for the healing and forgiveness of others.

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Penn State's Statement on the Freeh Report

The following message was sent to Penn State alumni yesterday a little before 5pm.  

PENN STATE ISSUES STATEMENT ON FREEH REPORT

July 12, 2012, SCRANTON, PA - Today's comprehensive report is sad and sobering in that it concludes that at the moment of truth, people in positions of authority and responsibility did not put the welfare of children first. The Board of Trustees, as the group that has paramount accountability for overseeing and ensuring the proper functioning and governance of the University, accepts full responsibility for the failures that occurred. The Board, in cooperation with the Administration, will take every action to ensure that events like these never happen again in our university community.

The focus of all of our actions going forward will be on driving a culture of honesty, integrity, responsible leadership and accountability at all levels and within all units of our institution.

Judge Freeh's report concludes that certain people at the University who were in a position to protect children or confront the predator failed to do so. There can be no ambiguity about that. The defenseless victims and their families are at the forefront of our thoughts and prayers. We are deeply sorry for the failure to protect these vulnerable young boys from the pain and anguish they suffered. At the same time, we are filled with admiration for the bravery shown by the young men and their families who came forward to ensure that justice will be done.

While today's issuance of the Freeh Report provides some level of clarity for our community, it does not undo the pain that the victims of Jerry Sandusky have experienced, and continue to experience. We will continue to offer counseling to Mr. Sandusky's victims, listen to them and take affirmative steps to address the harm they have suffered.

Beyond our campuses, the University is undertaking a number of actions to help build greater awareness of the societal issue of child sexual abuse. We are partnering with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) and have also created the Center for the Protection of Children at the Hershey Medical Center. Penn State University intends to be a constructive leader in preventing, reporting and responding to such abuse. This is a problem that plagues our nation, and we have a special duty to increase awareness, prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse.

Judge Freeh's investigation was intended to identify where failures occurred and what changes should be made for the future. As the Freeh report noted, the University has already taken steps to begin addressing some of the shortcomings.

The Board of Trustees acknowledges that it failed to create an environment of accountability and transparency and did not have optimal reporting procedures or committee structures. Beginning in March 2011 and continuing until the publication of the Grand Jury presentment in November 2011, the Board failed to make proper inquiry of President Spanier and others regarding the Sandusky matter. As a result, the Board was unprepared to deal with the events that occurred in November 2011.

The Board has begun taking a more active oversight role and has implemented specific oversight committees, focused on Risk, Audit, Legal, Compliance, Academic Excellence, Governance and Human Resources. Furthermore, the Board is committed to greater transparency and communications with the entire University community.

Additionally, the University Administration has strengthened policies and programs involving minors, child abuse and mandated reporter training; ensuring a process for prompt reporting of abuse and sexual misconduct; hiring a new, full-time Clery Compliance Coordinator and providing Clery Act training for employees; and establishing a position of, and commencing a national search for, a director of University Compliance. Further information can be found here:http://progress.psu.edu/.

In the weeks ahead, the University will carefully review and consider each of the report's recommendations. Tomorrow at its regularly scheduled meeting, the Board of Trustees will consider a series of immediate next steps. President Rodney Erickson has appointed three members of his senior leadership team to coordinate and implement operational changes suggested by the Freeh Report.

As the Freeh Report notes Penn State "is an outstanding institution, nationally renowned for its excellence in academics and research." Nothing in this report detracts from the many significant accomplishments of our faculty, staff, students and alumni. We also remain proud of the accomplishments of Penn State's student athletes over many years, and we reaffirm the fundamental premise that academic excellence and athletic achievement are wholly consistent and complementary goals.

With the release of the Freeh Report we are beginning to correct our failures, promote healing and build a stronger tomorrow for Penn State. We are continuing the process of addressing the most painful chapter in the University's history so that we can heal and move forward.

Message from PSU Board of Trustees

A MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Today with the report released by Judge Louis Freeh, the Penn State Board of Trustees delivered on the commitment we made last November when we engaged Judge Freeh to conduct an independent investigation into the University's actions regarding former Penn State employee, Jerry Sandusky, and the handling of allegations of the child abuse crimes of which he has since been found guilty.

Judge Freeh and his team conducted a rigorous, eight-month investigation into all aspects of the University's actions to determine where breakdowns occurred and what changes should be made for the future. We like many others have eagerly anticipated Judge Freeh's Report of the findings of his investigation.

His report has just been released at http://thefreehreportonpsu.com/ and we currently are reviewing his findings and recommendations. We expect a comprehensive analysis of our policies, procedures and controls related to identifying and reporting crimes and misconduct, including failures or gaps that may have allowed alleged misconduct to go undetected or unreported. We will provide our initial response later today.

We want to ensure we are giving the report careful scrutiny and consideration before making any announcements or recommendations. We are convening an internal team comprising the Board of Trustees, University administration and our legal counsel to begin analyzing the report and digesting Judge Freeh's findings.

As we anticipate the review and approval process will take some time, our initial response and immediate next steps will be presented at 3:30 at the Dayton/Taylor Conference Room at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center.

These top-line reactions will provide an overview of our process for developing and implementing a plan once we have studied the report and have a better understanding of what it means and how we can implement findings to strengthen Penn State's role as a leading academic institution and ensure that what occurred will never be allowed to happen again.

Dan Wetzel: Setting the Standard

Many in the sports industry consider Yahoo! Sports to have the best collection of sports journalists, so it makes perfect sense for one of their own to be leading the way in the field.  Dan Wetzel’s investigative journalism has been earning critical acclaim for some time now, but this year has really been Wetzel’s time to shine. 

Corruption has become a niche in the sports field that Wetzel has more or less dominated.  Back in 2000, he and Don Yeager wrote the book Sole Influence which documents the corruption that companies such as Nike bring into the “amateur” athletics of college and high school.  The interest in corruption of college athletics seemed to continue growing when Wetzel began to take perhaps the biggest and most obvious form of college corruption, the Bowl Championship Series.

Throughout the NFL season, Wetzel is known to take a quick break and write about the NFL.  Last year, Wetzel wrote on the legal troubles of Detroit Lions defensive lineman Nick Fairley.  Whether it is the NCAA or the NFL, Wetzel has corruption in football on complete lockdown.

Death to the BCS is the highly successful book that Wetzel wrote along with Josh Peters and Jeff Passan.  The book clearly lays out not only the corrupt system and brash suits behind the system, but also an alternate system.  The alternate system was a basic form of a playoff that, unless the suits were deemed mentally incompetent, would have to be put in place because it made them more money than before.  It took a few years but eventually they realized what needed to be done.  Whether or not the book was of any influence remains to acknowledged, but it was inherently critical in fueling the fire.

Interestingly, Wetzel was one of the very few (maybe the only national) sportswriters covering the Sandusky trial on a daily basis.  We aren’t talking a simple one column summary of the day.  Wetzel was going two-a-days during many of the days during the two week trial (check out his archive here to see the incredible work).  Even after the verdict, Wetzel is not waiting until the sentencing to continue his stranglehold on the story nationally.  He has written columns about the Paterno Papers and every detail that has come out since. 

To make his work on the BCS and the Sandusky trial even more remarkable, he was working on parts of both of them simultaneously.  College football agreed to a four team playoff on June 26.  The Sandusky trial’s verdict came on June 22.  The grumblings of college football began long before the final approval which meant that it needed to be written about multiple times per week.  The Sandusky trial was a two week affair whose aftershock was written about weeks after the verdict was reached.  He went back and forth each topic fluently and did not sacrifice content along the way.

The reason that Dan Wetzel is such a great journalist is that it’s clear he does not write with some hidden agenda.  Wetzel tells the story how it is.  He doesn’t preach about how these guys are ruining the sports they play.  He doesn’t make vast generalizations that get the media talking in circles.  Wetzel, plain and simple, reports the news.  In this day and age of media where everything is done based on number of views or retweets or ratings, it is refreshing that there is somebody at the top of the journalism game that doesn’t worry about all the “popularity” stuff.  Wetzel lets the stories speak for themselves.  His writing is well-crafted yet it isn’t overbearing.  Dan Wetzel is one of the best investigative journalists in the industry as we speak.  It’s time for everybody to take notice.

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