By
Ray Blehar
Today's interview of Mark Emmert was more evidence that Senator Jake Corman's claims of a total victory over the NCAA and the organization's surrender were greatly exaggerated.
USAToday reported that Emmert called the sanctions levied upon Penn State as "right and appropriate."
In addition, Corman's "total victory" didn't stop Emmert from continuing to hide the fact that he (and former PSU President Rodney Erickson) manipulated the process to result in the draconian sanctions levied on the PSU football program. Instead, Emmert insisted that the NCAA Executive Committee (EC) had determined the outcome.
Emmert: "I remain pleased with where the executive committee wound up in that case."
NCAA EC Was A Rubber Stamp
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| Ed Ray and the Puppet-Master |
Unbeknownst to Ray, Penn State informed the NCAA in December 2011 that the Freeh Report would serve as PSU's response. Other documents obtained from Old Main (in the course of my investigation) revealed that Emmert informed PSU (in January 2012) that he would "wait for Freeh Report."
After Erickson, Karen Peetz, and Ken Frazier publicly accepted the Freeh Report, Emmert and Erickson quickly decided to begin negotiating the penalties in a settlement arrangement. The deposition of PSU BOT Chair Keith Masser (pages 25 and 26) and an email between Don Remy and Gene Marsh also confirmed that the discussions of a negotiated settlement began on Monday, July 16th -- before the NCAA EC first met to discuss the Freeh Report (on July 17th). The penalties and the language of the consent decree were finalized before the EC met again on July 22nd.
The evidence revealed that the NCAA runs in a similar manner to the PSU Board of Trustees -- a small group makes the decisions which get rubber stamped during the "official vote."
Corman Complicit In Hiding The Truth
While Corman was right about many things about how the University was unfairly treated by NCAA, the above evidence reveals he cherry picked the facts to make the case that former PSU President Erickson was put in a no-win position by the NCAA.Jake's spiking of the ball on the one yard line and declaring"total victory" likely kept the "smoking gun" evidence of Erickson's cooperation with the NCAA from being fully exposed. To date, correspondence between Freeh, Tomalis, and the NCAA, as well as the source materials used by Freeh, remain heavily protected.
Had Corman not taken his foot off the throat of the NCAA, there is little doubt that PSU's Alumni-Elected Trustees would not have had to file a lawsuit to see the documents that remain hidden.
In another ironic twist, Corman charged the NCAA with utilizing the same tactics of the PSU Board of Trustees Inner Circle when he stated: "there was a manipulation of the process to get a quick outcome.” In essence, Corman was unwittingly making the case that PSU and the NCAA were cooperating.
As the evidence in the Sandusky scandal revealed, from November 2011 forward up until the recent decision to settle with more Sandusky victims, it has been the Inner Circle's modus operandi to manipulate the process and preclude meaningful debate to get to a quick outcome.
It happened in the removals of Spanier and Paterno.
It happened in the acceptance of the Freeh Report.
It happened in the negotiations of the NCAA sanctions against the University.
And, as stated previously, it happened on April 9th in the decision to settle the pending cases (and avoid discovery) in the civil lawsuits by Sandusky's victims.
Total Victory Was Hollow
In the restoration of Penn State's 112 football victories, statecollege.com lauded Senator Corman as Penn State's "knight in shining armor." |
| Emmert still claiming victory |
The bottom line is that result of Corman's lawsuit was PSU agreed to saddle its football program with $60 million in fines in exchange for 112 victories. PSU remains penalized by the Big Ten and was required to enter into a new consent decree and Athletic Integrity Agreement with the NCAA
Corman's "total victory" was hollow...and Emmert knows it.
Thanks Ray for exposing this poseur. Corman has never worn a white hat. He still does not support Yudichak's bill to change the governance at Penn State.
ReplyDeleteDo you expect Gov Wolf to help set things right regarding child welfare in PA?
DeleteIt wasn't on his radar during the campaign. He was sent a questionnaire by Protect PA's Kids and, to the best of my recollection, his staff didn't have the background to fill it out (where unaware of the issues).
DeleteI have seen little mention of it by him since he took office.
Why did Corman agree to a settlement that let the NCAA and Penn State trustees?
ReplyDeleteWas it just politics to save Penn State trustees and NCAA bigwigs, mostly fellow GOP, from embarrassment at trial?
Was it the $45 million of Penn State money Corman got for the state treasury and having Penn State pay his $1.5 million in legal bills? Had it gone to trial, Corman would have had to pay his own, much higher, legal bills, and Corman probably wouldn't have gotten any of Penn State's $60 million.
Jake has been straddling the fence every step of the way during the scandal. When Lynne Abraham's investigation of TSM was shut down, Jake's response was that he didn't see a point in it because the charity was closing down.
DeleteThe charity remains open.
Jake was on the TSM Board in 2009 when the Sandusky investigation was underway. I doubt that he was kept in the dark about it (though he won't admit it).
Corman played the game far enough to be labeled (by some) as a hero -- but definitely stopped short of letting PSU's shenanigans with the NCAA get exposed.
The pattern repeated.
Oh man. This is sounding worse and worse.
ReplyDeleteWolf did not have child welfare on his radar when campaigning for Gov against CORBETT??
And Corman was on the TSM board as recently as 2009???
It seems like you guys are overdue for a lucky break on this tangle of wrong-doing.