The Rest of College Football

[*JD*]

I don't wish ill on the university but all parties involved should have to deal with the consequences of their actions or inactions.

I do also hope that Nebraska beats them this Saturday, just to upset those that are idiots in the crowd.

[Mike]

I'm almost as interested in the UNL game tomorrow than I am our own. The entire nation's eyes will be fixed on Happy Valley to see how the students and fans present themselves. I expect (perhaps I shouldn't) they will be much more contrite than they were on Wednesday. The fact that they are playing for Joe and want to give him the game ball is just crazy to me. They should play for their university and each other and try to avoid any connection to the atrocities JoePa is associated with at all costs. "Win one for the child molestation enabler!" just doesn't seem like a well thought out rallying cry.

[DennisT]

I noticed some kind of candlelight vigil went on there tonight. For the victims, not for Paterno. I was glad to see it.

[entropy]

http://deadspin.com/5858636/

A Penn State Attorney Who Reviewed The 1998 Police Report Against Jerry Sandusky Also Represented The Second Mile

In 1998, Victim No. 6 told his mother he had showered with Jerry Sandusky. She called Penn State University police, who interviewed both the boy and Sandusky and prepared a report containing details of inappropriate conduct. PSU's outside general counsel, Wendell Courtney, reviewed that police report on behalf of the school before submitting it to the Centre Country District Attorney. Courtney, who knew what Jerry Sandusky was alleged to have done—and admitted to—continued to represent The Second Mile for another 13 years.

It's not unusual for lawyers to take multiple jobs. But for Wendell Courtney, whose online profile for State College-based McQuaide Blasco states he was "Primary Counsel to The Pennsylvania State University" as well as "Pro Bono Counsel, The Second Mile," it's an extraordinary conflict of emotion, if not of interest. Courtney remained counsel for PSU until last year (he can be seen in this photo bicycling to the Penn State/Wisconsin football game in 2007, along with former University President Graham Spanier) until he was replaced in January 2010 when the school appointed its first fulltime in-house counsel. He continued to represent The Second Mile until this past Monday, when he withdrew as the scandal blew up.

There's nothing professionally wrong with representing a nonprofit organization for kids headed by a man who was accused of but not charged with abusing a child. But it doesn't look good, and Courtney knew that when he tried to deny his association with The Second Mile. This week, in response to his inclusion in the grand jury presentment, Courtney claimed he had only begun his work for The Second Mile in 2009, instead of prior to 1998. Today the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office rebutted that claim.

"It's clear from the findings of the grand jury that Mr. Courtney had direct dealings with both Penn State and The Second Mile and he had knowledge and was aware of the 1998 incident," said Nils Fredericksen, a spokesman for the AG. "The grand jury findings are based on evidence and testimony. There's no dispute he had interaction with both [Penn State and The Second Mile]."

[entropy]

Fake Bo Pelini, "Dear Joe Paterno: Sorry to see you've been robbed of your dignity and self-esteem. Signed, 17 boys"



@FauxPelini
Dear Mike McQueary: Glad to see PSU is protecting you after the threats you received. Signed, The Kid You Left in the Shower

[Rob F]

He liked how I moved, laterally, and how gifted I am,"

I wish I didn't read this.

Same here, heard the same quote on The Huge Show while driving home from work yesterday afternoon, and immediately thought Sanduskey was scoping out another potential victim.

Amazing how close Sanduskey was to JoePa's program at such a recent date. Bastard should have been castrated (in every sense of the word) well over a decade ago

[JRB]

Nothing will change. There will be righetous demonizing of Penn State for a while followed by a return to business as usual. People love getting upset about things for a short period of time. Very rarely does that upset lead to major changes anywhere but directly where the upset is targeted. I.E. Penn State will have massive changes--but no one else will be likely to feel the effect.

I cannot agree, in part because I hope we're able to salvage something good from this awful situation, but in larger part because I don't think the horrors at Penn State will be viewed by those involved collegiate athletics as entirely an outlier. This has been the worst year for scandal in college football since the 1980s, and the Penn State scandal is the ugliest in the history of the sport. The Penn State scandal is a breed apart from any of the NCAA rules violations we've seen in recent years(USC, Miami, Ohio State, North Carolina), but in every case, we've seen athletic administrators and/or coaches display deeply warped perspectives on the relationship of their programs to the universities those programs represent. We're also seeing these sorts of scandals at schools that have been flagship programs in NCAA competition, drawing more attention to the issues of corruption within university athletic departments. There has been withering criticism of the NCAA from nearly all media fronts this year, and the Penn State scandal will only intensify the criticism from those who feel the athletic tail has been waving the academic dog for far too long. I don't know how much change will come to college sports as a result of this long season of off-field debacles, or if said change will be for the better, but I'm almost certain that major change is coming.

[hack]

Presidents would be smart to use this in the war against athletic departments, but I haven't thought about this enough to understand what the early stages of that might look like. A group of major-school presidents signing a petition/declaration/something?

[Jeff Buchanan]

JRB is spot on here. The circumstances, the momentum for change, make it likely that major changes are coming.

Interesting article in today's NYTs-The Instituional Pass-where James Duderstadt, former M president, is quoted as saying college football and basketball have drifted so far away from the purpose of the university. We are supposed to be developing human potential not making money on their backs.

You can bet powerful people are going to act. How they act is not yet known.

[hack]

What are the possibilities?

[Jamie H]

There is too much money already involved. Money will always be the driving force and the money says that no drastic changes will occur (outside of the already ongoing push to the superconferences and playoffs). There will likely be some shuffleing of deck chairs around here or there and some power struggles that ensue, but I bet nothing major happens specifically due to the Penn State issue.

I also think this issue is a bit different in that the other scandals all involved NCAA rule breaking and the general sense of "geez, EVERYONE does it, everyone cheats, the whole system is corrupt, so why bother?". This is a criminal issure, and I don't think anyone looking at Penn State is going to think that every school is covering up for ex-coaches who are committing felonies.

Any big organization is capable of covering up bad behavior to try and protect its image. In this case it happened to be an NCAA football program. I don't associate the bad behavior at Penn State with other NCAA football programs any more than I would associate bad behavior at Ford with other car companies or bad behavior at Sears with other department stores.

[lineygoblue]

Sorry if I throw ice water on this discussion, but to me, the absolute WORST thing that could happen to college athletics, is to allow boobs like Duderstadt to run their schools' athletic departments. I know changes need to be made, but eggheads like Duderstadt and his ilk need to focus on what they do best.

... which is at the table with the table and "harumph" as in Blazing Saddles ...

[hack]

Not fair to eggheads. These are money grubbers. Eggheads care about the content and would rather stay in the lab than gladhand donors.

Agree with Jamie. Highly unlikely that CFB can be reigned in or otherwise moderated. Beasts like this either get killed or keep rampaging.

[lineygoblue]

I apologize to all eggheads everywhere ...

[hack]

I suspect the money grubbers might want one too.