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Dave Jones credits 4 people for the survival of PSU FB. Any guesses?

The sad thing is Penn State football wouldn't have needed saving if it wasn't for the gutless stupidity of a few people. Why doesn't Jones write a column naming four people who tried to destroy Penn State football??


+1.
 
Excerpt from his article. This sums up better than I even could exactly what we disagree on. He believes contrition was best and being right isn't enough. I say being right is almost always enough and you need to be willing to die, or in this case have your public image killed for what you believe in. This University for me is one of those things, to our leaders it was not.


"Then-PSU president Rodney Erickson had to make a decision on whether to sign the NCAA's consent decree or fight. I have maintained before and will here that it was a much tougher decision than all the university's patriots and legal pundits who deal in absolutes would have you believe.

Erickson's decision was to simply survive. He has been called inept and cowardly for this. I think that's unfair.

Many people I respect who know more about the legal process than I have told me the case was a slam-dunk in Penn State's favor had it immediately contended the NCAA's decision to move outside its stated enforcement protocol and lay down penalties from its executive level for what was a criminal act. The organization's bully tactics have come to light in the interim.

These people conveniently forget or never recognized in the first place exactly how venomous was the national perception of Penn State at the time. I believe a position of contrition rather than contention was a wise one in 2012. That the football program was allowed merely to stay afloat without an injunction was better for the perception of the university in the long run.

Some people will never be convinced of this because they live in the bubble of central Pennsylvania. They don't understand how an immediate legal process being initiated by Penn State in 2012 could have backfired on the school's national image. Sometimes being right doesn't matter. Living to fight at the right time can be the better play."
 
Exert from his article. This sums up better than I even could exactly what we disagree on. He believes contrition was best and being right isn't enough. I say being right is almost always enough and you need to be willing to die, or in this case have your public image killed for what you believe in. This University for me is one of those things, to our leaders it was not.


"Then-PSU president Rodney Erickson had to make a decision on whether to sign the NCAA's consent decree or fight. I have maintained before and will here that it was a much tougher decision than all the university's patriots and legal pundits who deal in absolutes would have you believe.

Erickson's decision was to simply survive. He has been called inept and cowardly for this. I think that's unfair.

Many people I respect who know more about the legal process than I have told me the case was a slam-dunk in Penn State's favor had it immediately contended the NCAA's decision to move outside its stated enforcement protocol and lay down penalties from its executive level for what was a criminal act. The organization's bully tactics have come to light in the interim.

These people conveniently forget or never recognized in the first place exactly how venomous was the national perception of Penn State at the time. I believe a position of contrition rather than contention was a wise one in 2012. That the football program was allowed merely to stay afloat without an injunction was better for the perception of the university in the long run.

Some people will never be convinced of this because they live in the bubble of central Pennsylvania. They don't understand how an immediate legal process being initiated by Penn State in 2012 could have backfired on the school's national image. Sometimes being right doesn't matter. Living to fight at the right time can be the better play."


(Enter fart sound).
 
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"Many people I respect who know more about the legal process than I have told me the case was a slam-dunk in Penn State's favor had it immediately contended the NCAA's decision to move outside its stated enforcement protocol and lay down penalties from its executive level for what was a criminal act."

So even if you are innocent, it's better to plead guilty if people are very very angry with you. Good lesson to be learned there, kids.
 
I'll go with Ira Lubert, Dave Joyner, Fly'in Ly'in O'Brien and Rodney Erickson?

Doofus Davey "tO$U" Jones is the epitome of a servile "mouthpiece" for the corrupt, malignent, self-congratulatory, self-promoting, self-serving Brigade of Thieves, Liars, Charlatans & Whores otherwise known as the Executive Committee of the PSU BOT and "Emeritus Board Members" of same.
 
He might be *partly* right. The tenor of the country was such that we would not have been given any benefit of the doubt had we fought this all the way--and even the courts might have declined to get involved. All it takes is one judge, and you don't get an injunction. But imagine a scenario where they did not take away wins, did not name Paterno specifically, and made no mention about culture.... There, contrition might have been the best move.

That said, the NCAA's clear overreaching did engender a lot of sympathy for Penn State--once things cooled down.

I still see Rodney as a weak leader. however. There were issues that he did not stand up on which he should have.
 
Our image is forever dog crap anyway.

I was at the Phillies game the other day and met I guy I know who went to the same HS as me and went to Penn State too. He's a couple years older than me. He says he's been back to one game since the scandal exploded and says it's not the same anymore and I couldn't agree more. I'm not about to read Jones, I thought he was giving us a break not writing his snarky bullshit anymore but alas I guess not. But his opinion about who saved what is no better than anyone's here, and in many ways far less informed. He has zero skin in the game, he has no insight into what it means to be an alum from here and see this happen. All he has is cynicism and a front row seat to throw tomatoes at PSU and the fan/alumni base any time he wants. He can FOAD.
 
"Many people I respect who know more about the legal process than I have told me the case was a slam-dunk in Penn State's favor had it immediately contended the NCAA's decision to move outside its stated enforcement protocol and lay down penalties from its executive level for what was a criminal act."

So even if you are innocent, it's better to plead guilty if people are very very angry with you. Good lesson to be learned there, kids.

Yes, Jones proves what a jerkoff he is again.
 
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Davey conveniently forgets how poorly PSU managed this whole mess from the beginning. Maybe there was no better choice at the time of the consent decree. But, PSU backed themselves into that corner themselves. Not willing to give Erickson or the BOT deserve criticism for their epic failure. I am willing to give O'Brien and the players most of the credit here. I am sure others deserve it, too. And how about some credit to the fans and alums who continued to support the University and football program in its most difficult time?
 
"Many people I respect who know more about the legal process than I have told me the case was a slam-dunk in Penn State's favor had it immediately contended the NCAA's decision to move outside its stated enforcement protocol and lay down penalties from its executive level for what was a criminal act."

So even if you are innocent, it's better to plead guilty if people are very very angry with you. Good lesson to be learned there, kids.

If it keeps you from getting lynched, maybe. And that was the way the public was at that time. I *do* live outside the Happy Valley bubble (sadly, I live inside the tOSU bubble--to which locals are equally oblivious). It was pretty nasty at times. I have some personal examples and stuff that happened to friends.

And let's face facts--some of this stuff *did* happen on PSU's property. There is a certain amount of responsibility there. We're still not sure of Old Main did anything wrong (personally, I think they missed things that are obvious *in hindsight*--but were not then) or if they were criminally responsible.
 
There is a difference between criminal guilt and public perception. I said in December 2011, then America will want Penn State to pay for this... not because they were found guilty, but because they were perceived as guilty. The problem I have is immediately throwing Joe under the bus, even more so that Spanier/Curley/Schultz, when Joe was not implicated in the grand jury presentment. I think if Penn State wanted to show contrition, it should have been immediately transparent regarding the administration and BOT, and not involved with a back room negotiation to punish the football program.
 
Any guesses?
th
 
And how about some credit to the fans and alums who continued to support the University and football program in its most difficult time?
Yes, I believe the people who saved Penn State were those who wouldn't accept this crap on face value. Alums and fans and students and advocates who wouldn't let others at work, the dinner table, family gatherings, social functions, or even those in media and entertainment get away with mischaracterizing the facts and push a failed and faulty narrative.
 
There is a difference between criminal guilt and public perception. I said in December 2011, then America will want Penn State to pay for this... not because they were found guilty, but because they were perceived as guilty. The problem I have is immediately throwing Joe under the bus, even more so that Spanier/Curley/Schultz, when Joe was not implicated in the grand jury presentment. I think if Penn State wanted to show contrition, it should have been immediately transparent regarding the administration and BOT, and not involved with a back room negotiation to punish the football program.

Totally agree. The jury is still out on C, S & S (figuratively and literally). But nobody, outside of HV, knew who those people were. Joe was, and still is to some extent, the PSU brand. You MUST protect the brand. I get them separating from C S & S, but they should have a) asked for cooler heads while they did an investigation (putting joe on leave) and b) defended him when evidence showed he followed the law, procedures and was a willing participant.
 
Any guesses?
I live outside of the "Central Pennsylvania Bubble". I live in "Real World Bubble". I can tell you, without any hesitation, that Rodney Erickson was a coward - and ill-prepared to deal with the crisis. "Failure of Leadership" was spewed by the BoT about JVP....how ironic they chose those words. David Jones is a hack and I'm certain he's not lamenting the damage that was done to JVP
 
I didn't want to give Jones the click but holy crap. He thinks sometimes being right doesn't matter?? I'd agree with him if someone had a disagreement with their spouse about something trivial. In that case you'd let things go for the sake of household harmony. In the case of PSU being right certainly did matter especially when you consider the millions of dollars the university has pissed away because being right, you know, apparently didn't matter.

It's also funny Jones writes about people living in the central PA bubble. He obviously doesn't realize he's living there too as evidenced by his contention that any defense would have backfired on PSU's national image. Had Jones left the bubble he would know the national image at the time was about as bad as it gets.

The whole portion of the article which is posted here is just inanity on Jones' part. He admits PSU likely would have won a legal challenge to the consent decree yet feels the right move was to accept responsibility and spend millions of dollars for something because doing otherwise would have made people mad?? Yeah, that makes sense. Let mob rule determine what we do.
 
Jones is dead on with Erickson, OBrien, and Mitchell. Replace Delany with Corman and the PSU fans who showed up at the games and it's they who saved PSU football.

Hmmmm...
  1. The Rod
  2. OBie
  3. Mitchell
  4. Corman
  5. Fans

Isn't that five? And, while I am at it, isn't a 'grand slam' four points (kidding on the "points" thing)?
 
Excerpt from his article.
These people conveniently forget or never recognized in the first place exactly how venomous was the national perception of Penn State at the time. I believe a position of contrition rather than contention was a wise one in 2012. That the football program was allowed merely to stay afloat without an injunction was better for the perception of the university in the long run.

Some people will never be convinced of this because they live in the bubble of central Pennsylvania. They don't understand how an immediate legal process being initiated by Penn State in 2012 could have backfired on the school's national image. Sometimes being right doesn't matter. Living to fight at the right time can be the better play."

+1 and this is well stated. I believe the national firestorm was wrong, it was misguided, it was largely caused by a series of errors and accidents, from the careless handling of the grand jury presentment to Freeh's speculation and grandstanding.

But it was a media/public opinion firestorm like I have never seen in my lifetime. I worked in media for 22 years and I have never seen this level of national anger directed at an institution. Just about the whole country wanted to see Penn State burned to the ground. It was almost a perfect storm.

For whatever Erickson's and the board's mistakes -- you really can't imagine what it had to be like to be in their shoes. You have to give them some slack because the pressure was so extreme. In the atmosphere after Freeh's press conference, to stand up to the NCAA really might have backfired. Heck, even Congress was starting to get involved. Corbett, who has always hated Penn State, might have been able to get the legislature to just slam PSU and eliminate its independence -- whcih would have done tremendous harm to PSU the academic university.

In the end the proof is in the pudding. They accepted the sanctions knowing they could be reversed -- and they were right. And here we are today. PSU the football program survived, but more importantly PSU the university survived and thrives.

I was as angry as anybody about the sanctions but that's how I see it now. It's almost comical but even the football team did okay -- they only ended up losing a few games they wouldn't have lost under Paterno. In the end they didn't even get a single losing season.
 
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Davey conveniently forgets how poorly PSU managed this whole mess from the beginning. Maybe there was no better choice at the time of the consent decree. But, PSU backed themselves into that corner themselves. Not willing to give Erickson or the BOT deserve criticism for their epic failure. I am willing to give O'Brien and the players most of the credit here. I am sure others deserve it, too. And how about some credit to the fans and alums who continued to support the University and football program in its most difficult time?

Abso freakin lutely.
I like O'Brien but even he didn't give the alums and the fans enough credit.
 
+1 and this is well stated. I believe the national firestorm was wrong, it was misguided, it was largely caused by a series of errors and accidents, from the careless handling of the grand jury presentment to Freeh's speculation and grandstanding.

But it was a media/public opinion firestorm like I have never seen in my lifetime. I worked in media for 22 years and I have never seen this level of national anger directed at an institution. Just about the whole country wanted to see Penn State burned to the ground. It was almost a perfect storm.

For whatever Erickson's and the board's mistakes -- you really can't imagine what it had to be like to be in their shoes. You have to give them some slack because the pressure was so extreme. In the atmosphere after Freeh's press conference, to stand up to the NCAA really might have backfired. Heck, even Congress was starting to get involved. Corbett, who has always hated Penn State, might have been able to get the legislature to just slam PSU and eliminate its independence -- whcih would have done tremendous harm to PSU the academic university.

In the end the proof is in the pudding. They accepted the sanctions hopign they could be lifted, the sanctions were lifted, and here we are today. PSU the football program survived, but more importantly PSU the university survived and thrives.

I was as angry as anybody abotu the sanctions but that's how I see it now.
That's why you hire good people to help you manage a crisis like this and spin things away from you and your brand, which was Joe (as Obliviax said).
 
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+1 and this is well stated. I believe the national firestorm was wrong, it was misguided, it was largely caused by a series of errors and accidents, from the careless handling of the grand jury presentment to Freeh's speculation and grandstanding.

But it was a media/public opinion firestorm like I have never seen in my lifetime. I worked in media for 22 years and I have never seen this level of national anger directed at an institution. Just about the whole country wanted to see Penn State burned to the ground. It was almost a perfect storm.

For whatever Erickson's and the board's mistakes -- you really can't imagine what it had to be like to be in their shoes. You have to give them some slack because the pressure was so extreme. In the atmosphere after Freeh's press conference, to stand up to the NCAA really might have backfired. Heck, even Congress was starting to get involved. Corbett, who has always hated Penn State, might have been able to get the legislature to just slam PSU and eliminate its independence -- whcih would have done tremendous harm to PSU the academic university.

In the end the proof is in the pudding. They accepted the sanctions hopign they could be lifted, the sanctions were lifted, and here we are today. PSU the football program survived, but more importantly PSU the university survived and thrives.

I was as angry as anybody abotu the sanctions but that's how I see it now.

I have three STRONG disagreements
  • They threw Joe under the bus on day one. He was and is the PSU brand. That was ludicrous. There was NEVER any evidence that Joe participated...none. They should have put him on leave pending investigation
  • They allowed, probably promoted, Freeh throwing Joe under the bus. This is unspeakably horrible. And, it occurred months later (when the storm was no longer blowing).
  • We now know that the NCAA never floated the death penalty....that Rod capitulated, without the entire BOT, and that was made up to protect him.
Those three issues, to me, totally invalidates any sympathy or "good' the BOT performed.
 
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