= Premium Content

  • Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Previous

Next

Paterno Clashed With Penn State Official Over Discipline for Football Players

November 22, 2011, 10:43 am

Joe Paterno, the longtime Penn State football coach who was ousted two weeks ago, fought the efforts of a university official who sought to punish football players who got in trouble, The Wall Street Journal reports. Citing internal e-mails between Vicky Triponey, formerly the university’s standards-and-conduct officer, and Graham B. Spanier, who was fired as president this month in the wake of a child-sexual-abuse scandal, the Journal portrays a coach who resisted attempts to hold football players to the same code of conduct as other university students.

In a 2005 e-mail to Mr. Spanier, Ms. Triponey wrote: “The coach is insistent he knows best how to discipline his players … and their status as a student when they commit violations of our standards should NOT be our concern … and I think he was saying we should treat football players different from other students in this regard.”

In another 2005 message to Mr. Spanier and to the athletic director, Timothy M. Curley, she said the athletic department had resisted her staff’s efforts to investigate football players, who she said got in trouble at a “disproportionate rate” from other students. “The calls and pleas from coaches, board members, and others when we are considering a case are, indeed, putting us in a position that does treat football players differently and with greater privilege,” Ms. Triponey wrote. She resigned in 2007, citing “philosophical differences.”

A spokesman for Mr. Paterno’s lawyer, Wick Sollers, said the allegations set forth in the Journal article were “out of context” and “filled with inaccuracies.” A Penn State official told the Associated Press that “we adjudicated athlete cases the same as we did any other student.”

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

  • Print
  • Comment
  • dale1

    Treating students differently because they happen to be athletes?  What’s next, exorbitant college coaching salaries, an arms race to attract the most talented athlete-students, and a scandal every other week?  Oh wait…

  • _perplexed_

    After reading the WSJ article, I must conclude that either it is a complete hatchet job with multiple fabrications, or Penn State was a model of the worst rather than the best of rule-following good sportsmanship, or the entire enterprise of big time college sports is deeply corrupt.  The last seems most likely.   

  • tlnorth

    Ah yes, extra running and extra weight lifting is adequate punishment for athletes. The coach not only instills discipline, but also builds better athletic bodies. It’s a win-win, for athletics that is. 

  • co80121

    Just so we are clear: Vicky Triponey was the Vice President for Student Affairs at Penn State.

  • drangie

    I suspect this is just part of the slow drip of further unsavory information that will continue to leak out.  

  • greeneyeshade

    Ouch.  Prior to this it appeared the NCAA would have to go after PSU on grounds of “lack of institutional control,” still likely–and serious–but a standard that’s a bit fuzzy.  The NCAA rules on treating students equally will be red meat for NCAA Enforcement investigators.  If proven, the Nittany Lions will become the Nittany Kittens.

  • greeneyeshade

    From the WSJ:  “Mr. Paterno’s lawyer, Wick Sollers, said through a spokesman that ‘the allegations that have been described are out of context, misleading and filled with inaccuracies….Penn State’s record of producing successful student athletes under coach Paterno’s guidance is unquestioned.’ ”

    Well, not any more.

  • sross

    As a 36-year college professor and I am just shocked by this news.  Really, football players were treated differently than other students!  I am just sitting here in a stupor.  Shocking.  Just shocking.  The next thing we will learn is that most cars are powered by gas. 

  • 22072358

    I find this very hard to believe considering that at one point Joe made the entire team clean up the stadium after a home game due to trouble that some players had gotten into.  I think all of the media is just on a witch hunt trying to dig up any dirt they can about Paterno.  Why don’t you go after the real perpetrator, Sandusky?  I don’t see his name splattered all over the news and he is the one who should be hung.  Let’s dig a little deeper into his past and find what else he did.

  • 22199179

    As a grad student in PA, I visited Pen State to meet with their Act 101 staff for a paper I was writing and I was told about a student athlete that drove his car up on the sidewald/grass next to the building his class was in so he would be on time for class and had hundreds and hundreds of tickets, but no one stopped him because he was a STAR student athlete.  I don’t remember now which sport he played, but this gave me a very clear picture of how they treated their student athletes.  Any other student would have had a hold on their account and wouldn’t have been able to register for the next term!

  • profvirginia

    Nothing surprising here — I ran into similar situations through faculty governance at a Big 10 university. I assume that requesting special treatment for athletes for academic and disciplinary issues is fairly universal at all major athletic programs. The surprise would be to find such a university where this is not the case.

  • 22236026

    While I agree with the posters who express “so what else is new?”, the other side of this is that for decades Penn State has been lauded, and to some degree congratulated themselves on being different, the model of what a major NCAA football team should be.  So, that’s the news, and why any information that contradicts that well polished image/brand (and some might say, smugness) of Penn State draws so much interest.   

  • dale1

    Right, and the figurehead and role model for so many decades is one Joe Paterno.  No one is excusing or ignoring the allegations against Sandusky.  But it’s quite another thing to suggest that the emperor, who is now shown to be pants-less, still has his clothes.

  • http://gehenus.myopenid.com/ Gehenus

    My wit deserts me. That there is no change from the tribal insanity I witnessed in small town SC to the big time in college sports? I’m shocked and appalled. I wonder if those athletes were also great scholars? Just like in high school.

  • 22288647

    Happens all the time with athletes no matter the school.  Why should Penn State be any different in the “high stakes” world of professional college sports. Faculty and staff working with Athletes are not suprised.

  • davidmilstone

    As onlookers, we should be careful to not lump all athletic programs and all athletes into the same category.  While there are obviously numerous examples of arrogance and elitism in sports around the country, there are also numerous examples of athletic programs (not just division III) that go to great lengths to ensure equal treatment for their athletes.  Additionally, numerous athletes, themselves, do not seek special treatment when they err.  Throughout my career, I have met many from all sides of this issue.  Bottom line for me – trustees need to ensure that athletes are students (like all other students) and that their athletic programs exist, in part, as a healthy component of the collegiate experience.  When this goes astray, I suggest that Governor’s and other trustee-appointing authorities remove trustees from these institutions.  Perhaps I am naive – but are we not in a time of accountability?!

  • lexalexander

    “Are we not in a time of accountability?” Why, yes. Yes, we are. The number of investment bankers alone who have been hit with prison terms for fraud and conspiracy, and massive civil judgments, boggles the mind.

    /irony

  • charlie1112

    All of the self-righteous academicians now take delight in demonizing Paterno.  The fine reputation he developed at Penn State will now be scrutinized and discredited by those who revel in other people’s misery.  Did Paterno make a mistake?  Absolutely.  Is he a monster, like Sandusky?  Absolutely not.  I am waiting for the inevitable “links to the Mafia” accusations.

  • jeffgray

    This is exactly correct.  The situation at Penn State is certainly serious, beyond serious, and of the worst kind.  But the tendency to pile on, and the broad brush stereotyping of all student-athletes and programs is a bit much.  There are plenty of great student-athletes and coaches, and great programs, and participation in intercollegiate athletics can be and in many cases is an important component in the college experience for many, an experience that extends well outside the confines of the classroom for most students and institutions that have a broad educational mission.  Of course, the good examples, many of which include the lower profile programs and student-athletes that more closely resemble the “collegiate” model of play, who may have stronger academic profiles and a greater appreciation for the academic and athletic opportunities they are provided with, can get lost in conversation when the focus is on the scandals, which there are too many of.  The fact that a football coach was advocating for his athletes and resisted the institutional disciplinary process is news only under these circumstances; find me one coach who does not do this, or who would not try to if they thought they could pull it off.  Many of them hang onto similar beliefs, that only they know how to discipline their athletes.  This tendency extends well beyond football coaches (basketball, baseball, and the list goes on).  Others outside of the athletic program can get pulled into the lobbying efforts as well, so the issues extend beyond coaches.  Most reasonable people disagree with coaches on this approach, and the institutional process runs its course.  This requires strong administrators who are not willing to allow head coaches of major, high profile athletic teams to run the institution.  Coaches run teams, not the institutions they exist within.  Administrators run the institutions, which the teams are part of.  Coaches need babysitters, unfortunately.  The day any institution forgets this, and entrusts too much to a high profile coach, is the day they start down the slippery slope, as so many have done in the past, failing to learn from the mistake of others.

  • dank48

    I’d guess that Ms. Triponey will be having a more enjoyable Thanksgiving than a number of other former Penn State employees.

  • dreamman

    Enough is enough already Mr. Paterno lost his job (interesting that Penn State let the president retire, but fired Joe Paterno if I’m not mistaken), he has cancer. He made a mistake all this hatred and anger should be directed toward Sandusky.

  • dxg197

    Clearly Paterno was building a legacy based on a lie.  Now everybody knows it.

  • bfrank1

    Now, how is Jo-Pa like the Pope? Before the Catholic defenders rush out barking, hear me out. Jo-Pa is the highest moral authority in college football – revered and respected because his operation was ‘different’, and in many ways, it actually is different from the mainline of big-time college football programs. Does the Catholic Church proclaim and in many instances demonstrate high moral principles? Yes. Did the Pope abuse his power over children? We hope not, and no evidence demonstrates his direct involvement, nor that of his recent predecessors. BUT – what the Pope(s) in Rome and their hierarchy are tainted by is the blind loyalty and defense of the power and privilege of their INSTITUTION over the rights of the individuals they had accepted responsibility for and had power over, AND the corruption of moral authority of their flock by their hypocrisy and bad example. Jo-Pa is a member of that flock, and in many ways, Jo-Pa is the ‘pope’ of his realm. From whence does he draw his moral standards and examples? And how does he actually employ them? Does the PSU football program strive to achieve more for its players and broader university scholastic ideals than merely winning? In most cases, it would appear so. But when a moral challenge arises in the ranks, did Jo-Pa mistakenly put his loyalty and moral authority to the defense of his INSTITUTION over the protection of those who were ultimately in his care? Sadly, and predictably, based on his models, that appears to be the case. ‘Say it ain’t so, Joe’, to quote the Black Sock scandal.

  • 22118130

    Well said. I think like most people in this country who follow college sports, I believed the legend of Joe Paterno, that he was the best– moral, decent, cared about his players and his community. What we’re discovering now is there was a Code of Silence when it came to protecting PSU’s reputation. Another former college coach, Barry Switzer (who had his own failings) said you couldn’t have something like what occurred at Penn State happen and people in the football program not know something  about it. Paterno knew enough to know something wasn’t right. He may have even acted to push Sandusky out. After all, Sandusky retired at 55, a pretty young age. What Paterno didn’t do was everything necessary to prevent future acts like the one reported by McQueary from happening again. And, for that he richly deserves to fall from his pedestal.

  • Socratease2

    Wow, I need to set my hyperbole filter to a higher setting to sift through these “comments.” I like how people always want to keep their world a tidy shade of black or white. People are  good until they do something “ungood” and then everyone loves to jump on and say they have always been a negative force. Sorry that the world is a bit more complicated than that but I would say, “Judge not that you not be judged.”. Joe Paterno may have done many good things during his tenure as coach there, certainly people speak of him highly, so that does not excuse his alleged actions in this case (I’ll wait for due process before burning the witch) but also doesn’t mean his actions over 40 years were a lie. And I didn’t go to PSU and don’t give a rip about Penn state football.

  • Socratease2

    I don’t know what happened back in the “day” but you are so wrong to think that, at present, coaches, athletic directors or presidents are “hikacking” campus Student Affairs offices and telling them how to prosecute cases of student-athlete misconduct. That is laughable. If you think the response of Student Affairs is to say “Oh, yes, coach, we’ll keep this hushed up, don’t you worry” then you are living in the SEC in the wrong decade. You better be ready to look surprised quite a bit because I can say with 100% accuracy that during student misconduct investigations/hearings, the athletic dept at my university (D-I) expects none and gets none of this special student treatment you describe. And, a final note,  Something can’t be “fairly universal” it is either universal or it is not and in this case, it most certainly is sometimes always never true.

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.