Eleven Warriors

Don Van Natta says "PSU (BoT) expected to ratify sanctions (officially)".

The Penn State University board of trustees will hold a special meeting Sunday and is expected to formally ratify the consent decree of sanctions agreed to last month by university president Rodney Erickson and the NCAA, "Outside the Lines" has learned.

Board chairwoman Karen Peetz called the meeting "so that there can be no misunderstanding as to where we as the board stand."

Erickson and the NCAA signed a consent decree on July 23 that laid out a package of sanctions against the university and football program as a result of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. The sanctions include a $60 million fine, a four-year bowl ban, scholarship losses and the vacating of wins from 1998-2011.

The resolution the board will consider states "the process followed by the (NCAA) was unfortunate and the punitive sanctions are difficult," and refers to the consent decree as "binding."

The outcome of Sunday's meeting seems almost certain, sources told "Outside the Lines," because two straw polls about whether to appeal the sanctions were taken by a quorum of trustees during a conference call Tuesday.

So it looks like Peetz and the full BoT is trying to head off that NCAA lawsuit by the Paterno-loyalist trustees.

Also, Adam Rittenberg reports that "O'Brien urges Penn Staters to move forward".

But he also made it clear that the Penn State community needs to start turning the page. O'Brien referenced this several times during his media briefing Thursday:
 

• "This is a special place. Now we all have to come together and realize we're in the position we're in. We have to. We have to stop arguing about it, and we've got to move forward."

• "I've got to make sure that our football team does a great job of coming together, playing as good of football as they can play and then involving themselves in the community in many ways because we've got to move forward. I always talk about this meeting can't be a review of the last meeting. We have to accomplish what we did in the last meeting, implement those ideas and then move on to the next meeting. We've got to get going that way, forward. So that is my goal with this football team. Hopefully, that helps the university."

• "We're very mindful of what happened here. But it's time to stop the dour attitude, it's time to think about ways to help us through this. It's time to understand that we've got to move the university, the athletic department and the football team forward." 

O'Brien sent a direct message here without doing it in an overly direct way.

It's a free country, and if people want to file appeals, even on actions that aren't appealable like NCAA sanctions, they can. But does that help O'Brien and the Penn State program? Is it merely creating more distractions for a team that has more than its share the past 10 months? Is it further hurting the perception of Penn State?

I exchanged emails with a member of Penn State's Letterman's Club earlier this week. He said he supported the appeal from the former players, but also felt it was a distraction for O'Brien and the current team.

At some point, it stops becoming about restoring legacies or wins or blasting the NCAA or the university president or the board of trustees. At some point, the focus and energy needs to shift toward what's happening now and what will happen in the future.

[bold in quote is mine - NC]

Rittenberg's article is important in that he's pointing out to readers the fine-line that BOB is trying to walk here. BOB's actually trying to talk this batshit crazy fanbase off of the ledge and focus on the future. It really could blow up in his face if he's not careful. Because "how dare you draw attention away from the Paternos and our virtuous leader?"

When all is said and done, it appears that the cult is Paterno's actual legacy at Penn State. Good luck BOB, I hope you're successful. You might want to hire some security for your family though.

The group on Tuesday filed an appeal of the consent decree imposed upon Penn State, challenging the manner in which the consent decree was reached and accusing the NCAA of violating its own bylaws in handing down the punitive penalties against the football program. The former players, part of Penn State's Letterman's Club, all competed between 1998-2011, the period where all Penn State wins were vacated as part of the NCAA's sanctions.

 

The eight ex-players are: Michael Robinson (2001-05); Anwar Phillips (2001-05); Josh Gaines (2004-08); Shamar Finney (1998-2002); Richard Gardner (1999-2003); Gerald Cadogan (2004-08); Anthony Adams (1998-2002) and Justin Kurpeikis (1996-2000). Former Penn State assistant Bill Kenney, who worked on the staff full-time from 1988-2011, also signed the appeal.

The appeal challenges the validity of the Freeh Report and the NCAA's use of it in place of a standard investigation into Penn State. Much of the focus seems to be on the vacated wins.

 

From the appeal:
"... despite an express finding in the consent decree that 'no student-athlete is responsible for these [Sandusky-related] events," the NCAA decided nonetheless to 'vacate all wins of the Penn State football team from 1998 to 2011.' This sanction is unreasonable, excessive, unprecedented, and constitutes an indignity to the men who honorably fulfilled their responsibilities as student-athletes and coaches at Penn State under Coach Joe Paterno during this time period. If a primary intended purpose of the sanctions is to attempt to change the culture at Penn State and 'realign it in a sustainable fashion with expected norms and values of intercollegiate athletics,' these sanctions not only miss the mark, but they inflict permanent damage to an entire generation of student-athletes ..."

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You know what? I think I'm going to appeal the decree as well. On account that the sanctions weren't crazy enough. I want NCAA to force Penn State to wash that tattered pillowcase they call a mascot.

Anyone else want to appeal this sucker?

At least four Penn State Board of Trustees members intend to file an appeal Monday afternoon with the NCAA over sanctions levied against the university after the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal because they say the NCAA did not give the school due process in meting out its punishment.

Trustees and a person with first-hand knowledge of the discussions said the move is a precursor to a federal lawsuit asking a federal judge to invalidate the sanctions, because trustees expect the NCAA to reject the appeal.

The trustees are also trying to determine whether university president Rodney Erickson had legal authority to sign a consent decree agreeing to the package of sanctions -- a $60 million fine, a four-year bowl ban, scholarship losses and the vacating of wins from 1998 through 2011.

Ryan J. McCombie, a retired Navy SEAL who joined the board in June, spearheaded the challenges on Monday, writing to fellow board members in a letter obtained by ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that he has hired Boston attorney Paul Kelly to file the appeal and that trustees should join him in his effort against the NCAA and in trying to determine whether Erickson had authority to act alone.

Kelly declined comment but said the appeal would be sent to the NCAA around 4:30 p.m. ET.

McCombie, one of three new trustees elected by alumni to the 32-member board, was one of the most outspoken trustees at a July 25 board session about Erickson not consulting a majority of trustees before signing the consent decree, trustees said.

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Four thoughts.

• I feel sorry for Erickson. What a thankless position he is in. The only reason he didn't run this by the BoT is because of McCombie and the other new pro-Paterno board members. They almost certainly would have leaked the negotiations.
• Anyone else wondering if Emmert regrets talking the NCAA Board of Directors out of the death penalty. Some other commentor on 11W said this last week. A civil suit would allow the NCAA to use subpoena power in an investigation. This could get very interesting.
• The Paterno cult has obviously forgotten that the Dept of Education investigation is ongoing. All of these actions they are taking are going to have repercussions. Very, very bad repercussions.
• By the time the cult is finished, there will only be a giant crater left in Happy Valley.