Scandal Puts PSU Football Discipline in Spotlight

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By GENARO C. ARMAS

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - A Penn State administrator responsible for overseeing student discipline said former coach Joe Paterno did not have the authority to change his office's decisions when football players were sanctioned.

Joe Puzycki said Tuesday night in an email to The Associated Press that "we adjudicated athlete cases the same as we did any other student" - though Paterno was vocal in sharing his opinions.

The interactions outlined by Puzycki, currently a university assistant vice president, offer a contrasting view to comments made by former student affairs vice president Vicki Triponey, to whom Puzycki once reported. Triponey said Paterno's players got in trouble more often than other students, and got special treatment compared to non-athletes.

"In some cases where Mr. Paterno disagreed with our handling of a situation he would openly articulate that position to me. This position in itself, though, never changed my or my staff's decisions," Puzycki told the AP. "Mr. Paterno in his position as a coach simply did not have the authority to change any of our decisions. That could only be done through formal student appeal or administrative review."


Read more: http://sports.excite.com/news/11232011/v9830.html

[joeybee12]

1. Puzycki is still employed there because he's willing to lie to protect the university...nt

[montanacowboy]

2. Paterno just keeps stinking more everyday

like a rotting fish

I don't think we will ever know the cover ups he was engaged in. It was everything to protect HIS "Image"

And now allegations coming forward with underage children .....

[dballance]

3. BULLSHIT

The athletes get preferential treatment even at schools that don't have a program like PSU. You think the administration at PSU is going to risk the millions of dollars in TV coverage and donations by suspending a player? No fricking way.

It's the same moral principle that Wall Street practices; that oil companies practice; that pharmaceutical companies practice; that the Vatican practices.

We have no moral compass in this country any longer. Greed, "success," fame; power. Those are the values we hold dear now.

[Aaria]

4. Their just trying to look like they always take the high road, and did the right thing. Crock

[russspeakeasy]

5. El Toro Po Po.

[jwirr]

6. There is going to come a day when we realize that this is happening

in other colleges as well. Maybe not the child abuse but the practice of protecting athletes from the consequences of their actions. Many colleges have deep investments in their sports teams and this encourages this practice. We have known for years that this needs to stop but no one does anything about it.

[DallasNE]

7. Puzycki Misses The Point

The fact Paterno had direct input means that his athletes almost certainly received preferential treatment in setting the original sanctions. For Puzycki to say that Paterno did not have authority to change the decision he had already agreed to is beside the point and is nothing more than a feeble attempt to deflect a very valid criticism of what was happening at Penn State. It certainly does nothing to refute the charges leveled by Triponey though his statement does help define the process and exposes the flaws in the process.

[rocktivity]

8. Smoke, meet gun.

Triponey told the AP there was "an ongoing debate" throughout her four years at Penn State over who should deal with misconduct by football players. Her 2005 email was sent the day after a heated meeting in which Paterno complained about the discipline process..."He knew better than anyone how to discipline them. We wanted to show him the (disciplinary) data and suggest that 'Well, whatever it is we're doing, it's not working'...The meeting ended up being a one- sided conversation with the coach talking about his...not being happy with the way we were running the system."

:headbang:
rocktivity