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Other than a few sports like wrestling, it seems as if the overall state of PSU athletics really has fallen in recent years.

PSU did win the Men's Big 10 Soccer Championship this academic year, so we always have that.
 
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Why are we so tribal? Why are we so emotionally invested in the success or failure in on field competition?

I had a fellow collegiate sports parent who's child graduated and the child was a mentor to my kid. The parent embraced me at a tailgate and told me this..."In another year, no one is going to give a shit if they won or lost. No one is going to care if they were an All-American. They don't put a win-loss record on their resume." The only thing that matters is the piece of paper they receive at the end of their academic career."

It was a cold bucket of reality and I never forgot it. It completely changed my perspective.
Okay. Then let's stop the pretense and just have club sports, and stop charging excessive ticket and parking fees, which probably is the way it should be anyway. As long as you're going to go through the pretense of being a big time college athletic program, then success on the field, court and rink matters. God, I read once that even Joe Paterno said that he never could've implemented his Grand Experiment if he did not have success on the field.
 
It's about perspective. I recommend that you get some.
Please don't speak for me. I have perspective. I'm 54 years old, and have experienced my fair share of athletic highs and lows, so I know how to deal with them. The success of any team that I support doesn't affect how I live my life. With that said, when you play a D-1 sport at a school like PSU, there must be a higher expectation than for a 6-year old who is playing a youth soccer game and gets a participation trophy.

Also, just to let you know, I believe that there should be a minor football league so that kids like Parsons don't have to go through the charade of pretending that they're a student athlete. This way, actual students who have no hope of ever playing in the NFL actually can play college football and represent their school. I think that shows what my perspective is about big time college athletics.
 
Why are we so tribal? Why are we so emotionally invested in the success or failure in on field competition?

I had a fellow collegiate sports parent who's child graduated and the child was a mentor to my kid. The parent embraced me at a tailgate after another heart breaking loss and told me this..."In another year, no one is going to give a shit if they won or lost. No one is going to care if they were an All-American. They don't put a win-loss record on their resume. The only thing that matters is the piece of paper they receive at the end of their academic career."

It was a cold bucket of reality and I never forgot it. It completely changed my perspective.
That piece of paper is not a guaranteed ticket onward and upward. Playing on a major college team opens a ton of doorways for these kids. And being an All American keeps those doors open for quite awhile. So for the players winning and losing does have consequences. Besides, losing a game is the same as working all week and not getting paid on payday. Sucks.

As for the fans, most do put far too much into winning and losing. It should have much affect on their lives at all. Does pay bills, fix relationships, help you lose weight, boost your career. In fact it has almost no affect on people outside the program. And if it does......than time to step back and re-evaluate.
 
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That piece of paper is not a guaranteed ticket onward and upward. Playing on a major college team opens a ton of doorways for these kids. And being an All American keeps those doors open for quite awhile. So for the players winning and losing does have consequences. Besides, losing a game is the same as working all week and not getting paid on payday. Sucks.

As for the fans, most do put far too much into winning and losing. It should have much affect on their lives at all. Does pay bills, fix relationships, help you lose weight, boost your career. In fact it has almost no affect on people outside the program. And if it does......than time to step back and re-evaluate.
This is, of course, correct.

Winning and losing, being a starter, being an all-american - are they everything? Of course not.

But do those things matter? Of course, they do.
 
Why are we so tribal? Why are we so emotionally invested in the success or failure in on field competition?

I had a fellow collegiate sports parent who's child graduated and the child was a mentor to my kid. The parent embraced me at a tailgate after another heart breaking loss and told me this..."In another year, no one is going to give a shit if they won or lost. No one is going to care if they were an All-American. They don't put a win-loss record on their resume. The only thing that matters is the piece of paper they receive at the end of their academic career."

It was a cold bucket of reality and I never forgot it. It completely changed my perspective.
If you think that playing college football doesn't help these people in their adult lives, you're crazy.

It does matter.

We cheer because it IS TRIBAL. Seriously, stop with your woke word salad.

PSU football is TRIBAL. As is USC football.

Think the recruit we tried to sign that ended up at Ohio State is JUST NOW a dirtball and the kids we did sign are angels? Surely not. So, the only reason we root for "our guys" and against "their guys" is that IT IS TRIBAL.
 
So, you actually played or your kid(s) played at the "D-1 level?" You know what goes on; Off-field team commitments, fund raising work, charity work, compromised academic pursuits?
Tutors to help your academics, learning skills like discipline, organization, and time management, meeting large numbers of business leaders, politicians, administration, and more. Travel to new areas and expanding your network there. For anyone on the team and the staff it is a huge positive.
 
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These are hard working, honest, excellent administrators you're talking about.

Second only to the chief of diversity compliance.

You should be thankful that we take money from you to pay for these excellent people.

You had better get with the program, Comrade.
Don't we have 4 ADs for gender compliance and diversity??? God, I have to get one of these worthless high paying jobs!
 
Winning program/programs no longer matter. Big 10 money caused this. For all of you that want to leave this conference, forget it. I would never miss a PennState event a few years back, now I only watch if I’m home flipping channels. This includes football which has become painful to watch. However I will make time to watch the wrestling match with Iowa tonight. For those of you who think the wrestling team lost a step to Iowa, you proved how little you know about the sport.
 
Winning program/programs no longer matter. Big 10 money caused this. For all of you that want to leave this conference, forget it. I would never miss a PennState event a few years back, now I only watch if I’m home flipping channels. This includes football which has become painful to watch. However I will make time to watch the wrestling match with Iowa tonight. For those of you who think the wrestling team lost a step to Iowa, you proved how little you know about the sport.

Which conference is the PSU wrestling team?
 
I

"Woke word salad" LOL!

I'm surprised you didn't mention that you have a Master's Degree or tell us that you got an "A" in Physics 406, decades ago or what your GPA was. Your responses always reflect how pissed off you are and that you feel you are superior to everyone LOL!!!

Pathetic
I thought "woke word salad" was a great touch.
 
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Which of her hires were mistakes?
That would be a good debate. Could someone please list all PSU coaching hires since Sandy arrived in 2014? It would be helpful if we had a list to see.

It would also be interesting to see which coaches were hired more by committee (like Franklin IIRC) and which were hired more by Sandy.

That said, there’s more to an ADs job than just coaching hires if you’re going to evaluate job performance.
 
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts about why this has happened. I mean, in years past, we always would place highly in the All-Sports Rankings, and sometimes even battle Stanford for the lead. Those days seem to be over.
Whenever you hear people say that CEOs and executives are paid too much, we should consider the cost of hiring bad leadership.
-By all accounts, Sandy was a failed AD at Cal. At PSU, she has expanded the bureaucratic mess and overhead. Whatever the exact cause, the overall success of PSU varsity athletics has decreased. Why PSU thought Sandy would be different here than she was at Cal, is a mystery.
-The Academic standing of Florida State has increased significantly since Barron left Tallahassee. Conversely, PSU's academic standing has had a precipitous slide since he came to PSU.

Leadership matters. Leaders drive culture, organization, and execution, and accountability.
 
Whenever you hear people say that CEOs and executives are paid too much, we should consider the cost of hiring bad leadership.
-By all accounts, Sandy was a failed AD at Cal. At PSU, she has expanded the bureaucratic mess and overhead. Whatever the exact cause, the overall success of PSU varsity athletics has decreased. Why PSU thought Sandy would be different here than she was at Cal, is a mystery.
-The Academic standing of Florida State has increased significantly since Barron left Tallahassee. Conversely, PSU's academic standing has had a precipitous slide since he came to PSU.

Leadership matters. Leaders drive culture, organization, and execution, and accountability.
Well said my brother!!! Sums up everything perfectly! We need another Jim Tarman or Tim Curley. People who actually knew how to be an AD and beat the bush and bring in the donations!!! FUND RAISING!!! Try it Sandy. IT IS PART OF YOUR JOB!!!
 
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Well Goooooolly. Most of you folks sound batshit crazy!

I need me some more Kid Twist! Never stop being you sir.
 
Some by quite a bit. Inadequatecrecruiting, inadequate coaching. Inadequate player developmentment.
 
At this point we‘re not having much success. You want honor go bust up some rocks. It’s an honorable profession. No need to spend 150k for an education for that. Last time I walked on campus with my daughter in her dorm, thought I was in China. Where’s the honor in that? Not enough American students willing to pay for the ridiculous tuition increases. There is no honor in this admin, it’s all about the money. Never forget it it. Without success/winning the money goes bye bye. I grew up in S. Philly, mom still works at Wendy’s and happy, is that honorable, successful or both? Everyone has an opinion on what is honorable. My opinion is firm, excepting mediocre results is not honorable.
 
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At this point we‘re not having much success. You want honor go bust up some rocks. It’s an honorable profession. No need to spend 150k for an education for that. Last time I walked on campus with my daughter in her dorm, thought I was in China. Where’s the honor in that? Not enough American students willing to pay for the ridiculous tuition increases. There is no honor in this admin, it’s all about the money. Never forget it it. Without success/winning the money goes bye bye. I grew up in S. Philly, mom still works at Wendy’s and happy, is that honorable, successful or both? Everyone has an opinion on what is honorable. My opinion is firm, excepting mediocre results is not honorable.
Which administration is not about money? College tuition nationally is up about 500% the last 30 years.

PSU tuition did not just start going up in 2012.

You are all over the place. Too many foreign students, cost, results. Wth?
 
Keep drinking the kool aid. I also have a son the graduated from a California State University. FYI he was excepted at University Park also. Tuition room and board less than one third the cost of PennState. PennState is one of the most expensive state universities and cost have risen significantly. While I loved my time there and so did my daughter, if I had to do it over again she would have went somewhere else for the money. Money saved would have payed for her follow on schooling.

Foreign students bring in the money. My daughter shared her dorm room with a Chinese student as a freshman. The young lady went to the room twice all year. Worked out for my daughter and PennState. The girl rented a house by herself. If interested you can read for yourself the cost of education at PennState and all Pa schools.

 
Keep drinking the kool aid. I also have a son the graduated from a California State University. FYI he was excepted at University Park also. Tuition room and board less than one third the cost of PennState. PennState is one of the most expensive state universities and cost have risen significantly. While I loved my time there and so did my daughter, if I had to do it over again she would have went somewhere else for the money. Money saved would have payed for her follow on schooling.

Foreign students bring in the money. My daughter shared her dorm room with a Chinese student as a freshman. The young lady went to the room twice all year. Worked out for my daughter and PennState. The girl rented a house by herself. If interested you can read for yourself the cost of education at PennState and all Pa schools.




So it has nothing to do with football games won?

Nobody made you send your kid to PSU. That was your choice. I guess you made a bad decision. Whose fault is that?
 
We had the best WVB coach in the history of the sport. He got old and didn't recruit well for a few years and then he retired. We are no longer elite in WVB.

Almost sounds like what happened in another one of the sports here..... hmm
 
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Well said my brother!!! Sums up everything perfectly! We need another Jim Tarman or Tim Curley. People who actually knew how to be an AD and beat the bush and bring in the donations!!! FUND RAISING!!! Try it Sandy. IT IS PART OF YOUR JOB!!!
Time Curley was a terrible AD. What you want an AD who cost the athletic department millions of dollars be mishandling a pedophile which landed him in jail? The ad who over saw the building of the worst college basketball facility. A facility that the team couldn’t practice in at times because of concerts. The ad who failed to keep the athletic department with modern times. Curley was about 10 years late on STEP and botched it so bad that it took years for attendance to return. He wasn’t a great fundraiser. He had Joe who could close in donations better than anyone. Penn State annual revenue lagged behind many of it peers and was not even in the top 3 in the Big. Curly was a terrible AD that road on the coattails of Joe.
 
Time Curley was a terrible AD. What you want an AD who cost the athletic department millions of dollars be mishandling a pedophile which landed him in jail? The ad who over saw the building of the worst college basketball facility. A facility that the team couldn’t practice in at times because of concerts. The ad who failed to keep the athletic department with modern times. Curley was about 10 years late on STEP and botched it so bad that it took years for attendance to return. He wasn’t a great fundraiser. He had Joe who could close in donations better than anyone. Penn State annual revenue lagged behind many of it peers and was not even in the top 3 in the Big. Curly was a terrible AD that road on the coattails of Joe.
Followed by Joyner, followed by Sandy. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️
 
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So it has nothing to do with football games won?

Nobody made you send your kid to PSU. That was your choice. I guess you made a bad decision. Whose fault is that?
I can never be disappointed in losing a football game when expectations are low, thats the reality. I will watch a good game now days , teams don’t matter to me.

My daughter made her own choice, of course she didn’t pay for it. PennState was a good decision, a bad financial one maybe. She makes good money but that was after follow on schooling.

You on the other hand seem like a lemming. Probably a blind Biden follower and believe everything you here about Covid. I can picture you riding in a car with a mask on. Enjoy your life of acceptance.
 
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