[NU Sports] If you ran Penn State...

[Jim Leonard]

I am not familiar with the NCAA regulations but I'm not sure this is a death penalty/ sports issue. The NCAA should be focused on the players going to class, not receiving money, etc. I could stand corrected, but I don't see the NCAA getting deeply involved. 
 
There are two separate issues at hand. One is legal and as Jeff pointed out the two fall guys have probably been identified. The other issue is who shall be allowed to represent the school. When the alumni proudly chant, "WE ARE....PENN STATE" what ARE they really all about? I think the line has been blurred greatly in recent years but you don't need to be in legal trouble to be fired. Penn State can send a message to Joe Paterno that says "You may not go to jail, but you did not live up to our standards and you no longer represent us."
 
I personally would like to see about 50,000 empty seats in Beaver Stadium on Saturday. I'd like to see a message from PSU fans that "WE ARE.....BETTER THAN THIS"
 
Jim
 
 


________________________________
From: Bill Bender <bbds5951 at yahoo.com>
To: "Beamsley, Jeff" <Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com>; Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>; Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 8, 2011 10:18 AM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] If you ran Penn State...


Another question is what the NCAA will do about this. It's by far the worst scandal in the history of college football.  
  
Hard to argue that you have institutional control of your program when your AD is facing criminal charges for covering up serial child rape. 
  
I think they should get the death penalty. 
  
BB 
 

________________________________
From: "Beamsley, Jeff" <Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com>
To: Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>; Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 8, 2011 10:08 AM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] If you ran Penn State...

Clearly a complex situation because there is the legal question and there is the moral question.

PSU appears to have covered themselves on the legal front.

There is the "he
 said/she said" discussion around what the Grad Assistant saw and then said to JoePa, the AD, and the VP.  JoePa appears to have followed PSU policy which was to immediately notify the AD.  The AD followed policy to notify the VP.  The AD and VP are now positioned to take the fall for the rest of the institution and the Grand Jury appeared willing to accept that trade.

So if it was my job to protect the institution of Penn State, I would do exactly what they are doing.  Limit the damage, cooperate with the authorities, blame the fall guys for bad judgment, pay for their defense, and hope that some dedicated alum will take care of them once they've served their time.  

I would also have Joe's retirement agreement in my back pocket in case this starts to reach beyond the existing indictments.  If it goes not further than these two, I would allow Joe to gracefully announce his retirement at a time in the not too
 distant future when it won't resurrect the whole scandal.  

Finally, I would have to ask myself if this job is worth the moral compromises that it has required me to make and might start to plan my own retirement.  But that's just me.

Jeff




-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Jim Leonard
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 10:44 AM
To: Northwestern Wildcats
Subject: [NU Sports] If you ran Penn State...

If you were the top person at Penn State (I assume it's a chancellor or provost), what would you do today? 
 
Would you let Coach Paterno's staff finish the season?
Would you selectively let Joe Paterno and Mike McQueary
 go?
Would you clean house between now and Saturday?   
 
This is not an easy situation. I would imagine that the top brass are hoping beyond hope that Tom Bradley can honestly say he knew nothing and can take over the reigns for at least the rest of this season. Joe Paterno may have a a thin veil of protection left, depending on what he was told. However, if it were up to me Mike McQueary would never represent the university again, starting today. 
 
Jim
 
 
PS - I have come to accept the fact that Ron Vanderlinden would never leave Happy Valley for Evanston but I wonder if that may change during the off season. 
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