The Nebraska Cornhuskers head into Happy Valley, PA, for a crucial game against Penn State Saturday. The question is, will Joe Paterno still be Penn state’s head coach?
Before, you puke up your last meal, that is not a misprint. Paterno’s tenure will reportedly soon be over, perhaps within days or weeks, in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal that has implicated university officials, according to two people briefed on conversations among the university’s top officials, according to the New York Times.
Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State defensive coordinator under Paterno, has been charged with sexually abusing eight boys across a 15-year period.
Paterno is under fire, as he should be, for failing to involve police when he learned in 2002 of an allegation of one assault of a young boy — around age 10 at the time.
Two top Penn State officials were charged with perjury and failure to report to authorities that they knew of the allegations.
Granted, due process has not taken place as far as being proven in a court of law and in the age of social media and message boards things do get vastly distorted. However, it is my understanding that it was an intern that notified Paterno and he then told Penn State athletic director Tim Curley.
The layers of culpability are vast, assuming the allegations are true to the extent they are being reported. Something happened, just a matter of to what degree. Paterno might not have been involved in the matter other than being a link in the chain of communication. Paterno is a coach, not a policeman or investigator.
If the intern felt that a crime was committed, the intern could call the
police. It is my understanding that at no time was it made clear that a crime was
committed but that Sandusky’s conduct was “inappropriate.” Of course it’s inappropriate, it’s also illegal.
As for Paterno, he may have fulfilled all of his legal obligations, however, when he noticed
that nothing ever came of it, he should have notified the police. If I found out my brother was taking advantage of a child, I would report him immediately, and it should be the same way with employees. This is a disgustingly grotesque situation that Paterno should have taken care of, but he did not do so which is why he probably will no longer be employed by the
end of the month, if not the end of the week.
When people think of a college football program lacking institutional control, the recent examples are Reggie Bush and USC along with Jim Tressel and Ohio State.
Just before the 2006 draft, reports surfaced raising questions about whether Bush's family received gifts in violation of NCAA policies.
Ohio State suspended Tressel for the first two games of the 2011 season and fined him $250,000 for failing to notify the school of NCAA violations involving Ohio State football players and a financial arrangement with Edward Rife, owner of a local tattoo parlor, who was at the time under investigation by the FBI for drug trafficking. The arrangement, which resulted in five Ohio State football players being suspended, involved trading championship rings, jerseys and other football-related awards for tattoos.
With Penn State, the lack of institutional control does not even begin to describe it. It’s one thing to protect adults that we have blind spots for but to let this happen to kids, there is no defense at all.
Showing posts with label Jim Tressel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jim Tressel. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Husker season at a crossroad
I have always found it mildly humorous when the mainstream media uses the past to predict the future, especially from a previous tenure. Look no further than Dirk Chatetlain's post in the Omaha World Herald. Chatelain posted:
"Tuesday night, I had a flashback.
I know, the talent level is deeper. I know, the coaching staff is better. I keep telling myself those things.
But Nebraska got pummeled on national TV Saturday night. Now Yoshi Hardrick is defending Taylor Martinez from a girl in Spanish class. Bo Pelini is conducting longer, more competitive, more physical practices.
This feels like September 2007 all over again.
Remember that fall, Nebraska also had a fourth-year head coach coming off a Big 12 championship game loss to Oklahoma and a bowl game defeat. Remember the defense was supposed to be pretty good — and wasn’t. Remember the quarterback issues.
Bill Callahan responded to the embarrassing 49-31 loss to USC that was not even that close with full-pads practices. Why, you ask, weren’t the Huskers in full pads before? Callahan didn’t have an answer.
After the USC blowout, NU avoided upset against Ball State. But public scrutiny intensified, prompting Corey McKeon’s famous remarks at a press conference. A few quotes from that day:
“This isn’t a down year for Nebraska. We’re 3-1 and people are looking at it like…we’re Notre Dame, like we’re 0-4.”
“You think it just ends on the field with the fans? No, it doesn’t end there. It doesn’t end anywhere. It’s hard for me to go to class after playing the way I played. It’s hard for me to sit there and know that everyone around me is looking at me thinking something.”
The Huskers of 2011 are coming off a 48-17 road loss to Wisconsin and quarterack Taylor Martinez has taken his share of jabs among the Nebraska fan base.
However, what people do not realize is that what determines a team's success over the course of a season is almost all mental. Talent plays a huge role because it forgives a player when he doesn't perfectly execute the mental part of each play. Obviously some teams are too talented for other teams even at mental perfection, but I don't think that's Nebraska's issue. After watching the game in Madison on Saturday I can still see the Huskers winning out but it depends on head coach Bo Pelini's ability to hold the team.
The Nebraska team that rolled into Madison could have won that game. I'm not saying they were the better team. They weren't. I'm not saying they were equally or more talented than Wisconsin. They weren't. But they could have won the game had they done certain things.
We can point to a lot of reasons that Saturday happened but among them include a poor game plan, many mistakes, inability to close on third down (especially on defense), etc. Now if that was a one-game thing then fine but what's interesting to see is if this team can take what happened in stride, continue to attempt to follow a coherent game strategy and remain focused.
To that end, I agree with chaelain bcause the Huskers face a pivotal game saturday at home against an Ohio State team that is still reeling from its off-the-field issues that led to the dismissal of head coach Jim Tressel. Like the Huskers, the Buckeyes are a wounded animal after losing 10-7 at home to Michigan State.
However, where the comparison is not yet accurate is that the 2007 team was broken. I don't think that this team is broken but what could happen is that players can start getting fed up with other players' mistakes and it can lead to more mistakes and lapses in concentration and effort.
That sort of thing becomes the identity of the team. Mistakes are going to keep happening, especially with Martinez or whomever is at quarterback. So if the coaches can't keep everyone on task, this team will probably fall apart. Also, the coaches could keep coming up with gameplans that re obviously frustrating to the players and the players will stop listening. If any of that happens then yeah, we could see a 2007 like season.
However, I just don't see it happening. Pelini can be caustic but it seems like the players love him and he has a different kind of arrogance than someone like Kevin Cosgrove or even Billy Callahan (who I actually didn't mind as a person, just as a coach). If the Huskers keep up this sloppy play then they won't win as many games as they should because their chances of beating teams like Iowa, Michigan State and Penn State goes from the 70-80% range where it should be given their talent to a much lower range (which I still think is greater than 50%).
This Nebraska team is about as predicatable as the stock market. Lots of highs and lows so far. There is a real lack of consistency overall in both defense and portions of the offense. Coaching as well.
However, a win this week at Ohio State and next week at Minnesota would help point the Huskers back in the right direction.
I have never been so uncertain about a season as this. Of course being in the Big 10 the first year doesn't help either.
"Tuesday night, I had a flashback.
I know, the talent level is deeper. I know, the coaching staff is better. I keep telling myself those things.
But Nebraska got pummeled on national TV Saturday night. Now Yoshi Hardrick is defending Taylor Martinez from a girl in Spanish class. Bo Pelini is conducting longer, more competitive, more physical practices.
This feels like September 2007 all over again.
Remember that fall, Nebraska also had a fourth-year head coach coming off a Big 12 championship game loss to Oklahoma and a bowl game defeat. Remember the defense was supposed to be pretty good — and wasn’t. Remember the quarterback issues.
Bill Callahan responded to the embarrassing 49-31 loss to USC that was not even that close with full-pads practices. Why, you ask, weren’t the Huskers in full pads before? Callahan didn’t have an answer.
After the USC blowout, NU avoided upset against Ball State. But public scrutiny intensified, prompting Corey McKeon’s famous remarks at a press conference. A few quotes from that day:
“This isn’t a down year for Nebraska. We’re 3-1 and people are looking at it like…we’re Notre Dame, like we’re 0-4.”
“You think it just ends on the field with the fans? No, it doesn’t end there. It doesn’t end anywhere. It’s hard for me to go to class after playing the way I played. It’s hard for me to sit there and know that everyone around me is looking at me thinking something.”
The Huskers of 2011 are coming off a 48-17 road loss to Wisconsin and quarterack Taylor Martinez has taken his share of jabs among the Nebraska fan base.
However, what people do not realize is that what determines a team's success over the course of a season is almost all mental. Talent plays a huge role because it forgives a player when he doesn't perfectly execute the mental part of each play. Obviously some teams are too talented for other teams even at mental perfection, but I don't think that's Nebraska's issue. After watching the game in Madison on Saturday I can still see the Huskers winning out but it depends on head coach Bo Pelini's ability to hold the team.
The Nebraska team that rolled into Madison could have won that game. I'm not saying they were the better team. They weren't. I'm not saying they were equally or more talented than Wisconsin. They weren't. But they could have won the game had they done certain things.
We can point to a lot of reasons that Saturday happened but among them include a poor game plan, many mistakes, inability to close on third down (especially on defense), etc. Now if that was a one-game thing then fine but what's interesting to see is if this team can take what happened in stride, continue to attempt to follow a coherent game strategy and remain focused.
To that end, I agree with chaelain bcause the Huskers face a pivotal game saturday at home against an Ohio State team that is still reeling from its off-the-field issues that led to the dismissal of head coach Jim Tressel. Like the Huskers, the Buckeyes are a wounded animal after losing 10-7 at home to Michigan State.
However, where the comparison is not yet accurate is that the 2007 team was broken. I don't think that this team is broken but what could happen is that players can start getting fed up with other players' mistakes and it can lead to more mistakes and lapses in concentration and effort.
That sort of thing becomes the identity of the team. Mistakes are going to keep happening, especially with Martinez or whomever is at quarterback. So if the coaches can't keep everyone on task, this team will probably fall apart. Also, the coaches could keep coming up with gameplans that re obviously frustrating to the players and the players will stop listening. If any of that happens then yeah, we could see a 2007 like season.
However, I just don't see it happening. Pelini can be caustic but it seems like the players love him and he has a different kind of arrogance than someone like Kevin Cosgrove or even Billy Callahan (who I actually didn't mind as a person, just as a coach). If the Huskers keep up this sloppy play then they won't win as many games as they should because their chances of beating teams like Iowa, Michigan State and Penn State goes from the 70-80% range where it should be given their talent to a much lower range (which I still think is greater than 50%).
This Nebraska team is about as predicatable as the stock market. Lots of highs and lows so far. There is a real lack of consistency overall in both defense and portions of the offense. Coaching as well.
However, a win this week at Ohio State and next week at Minnesota would help point the Huskers back in the right direction.
I have never been so uncertain about a season as this. Of course being in the Big 10 the first year doesn't help either.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
2011 Huskers more under the radar than last year
The 2011 Nebraska football team is not being counted out by any means and is projected by many to win the Legends division in its first season in the Big 10.
In fact, with the trials and tribulations of Ohio State, some are saying that the Huskers could win the Big 10 title outright. Keep in mind, Nebraska’s last conference title was 1999.
To refresh your memory on Ohio State, on March 8, head coach Jim Tressel was suspended by the university for two games, and fined $250,000 for not informing the university and the NCAA that he had information that five of his players received improper benefits from a tattoo shop in downtown Columbus. Among those those players, including Mike Adams, Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Solomon Thomas, Jordan Whiting, was quarterback Terrelle Pryor. The five players are suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season. Pryor has since decided to enter the supplemental NFL draft.
Tressel’s suspension was also later increased to five games by the university. The NCAA filed a letter of allegations in late April 2011 with Ohio State alleging that Tressel lied to the NCAA in December, 2010 when he claimed to have no knowledge of the players activities with the tattoo shop. Furthermore, he is alleged to have knowingly used ineligible players during the 2010 season. On May 30, Tressel resigned as head coach.
Nebraska and Ohio State meet in Lincoln on Oct. 8 and could potentially play on Dec. 3 for the first ever Big 10 title game at Lucas Oil Stadium.
In 2009, Nebraska went 10-4 but won six of its last seven games. The last two of those contests included a controversial 13-12 loss to Texas in the Big 12 title game and a 33-0 flogging of Arizona in the Holiday Bowl.
That strong finish had a lot of Husker zealouts (including this one) sipping the Kool Aid in the form of thinking Big 12 title, BCS bowl bid and potentially a shot at the National Championship.
Those aspirations looked realistic when the Huskers opened the season 5-0 and moved as high as No. 5 in the polls with quarterback Taylor Martinez having a Heisman Trophy candidate season. Then Martinez was banged up in the second half. The Huskers had three close losses (20-13 to Texas, 9-6 to Texas A&M and 23-20 to Oklahoma). Nebraska then took Washington lightly in the Holiday Bowl and lost 19-7.
Even though Phil Steele’s magazine, which has been the most accurate preseason predictor the last 13 years, picked Nebraska to meet Oregon in the Rose Bowl, this preseason of expectations has a “under the radar” feel compared to last year.
On the surface, the Big 10 schedule makers did Nebraska no favors in its maiden voyage in the conference. The Huskers face what most tab as the top three clubs in the Leaders division (Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State) but despite just 12 starters returning, Nebraska has a better-than-average chance to win the Legends division. Michigan State might have a say in that matter but the good news is the Spartans have to come to Lincoln on Oct. 29.
Much of the fate of Nebraska’s season will come down to the return to health of Martinez. When he was healthy, Nebraska’s offense averaged 38.9 points per game but when he was banged up that scoring average dropped to 22.7. The other half of the equation will be how soon does new offensive coordinator Tim Beck find a scheme he wants to settle in with and develop. Keep in mind, that was the ultimate downfall of his predecessor Shawn Watson, who changed schemes about as often as most people change underwear.
On defense, despite losing quality players like CB Prince Amukamara, S Eric Hagg, S DeJon Gomes and DE Pierre Allen, Nebraska has more than enough quality talent defensively. Keep in mind some consider Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini as bright of a defensive mind as Alabama head coach Nick Saban even though Pelini is not in Saban’s class as a head coach.
The Huskers definitely do not lack for talent on defense because DT Jared Crick, LB LaVonte David and CB Alfonso Dennard are among the best in the nation at their respective positions.
Even though preseason hype is not where it was entering last year, look for Nebraska to be better than certain people think.
In fact, with the trials and tribulations of Ohio State, some are saying that the Huskers could win the Big 10 title outright. Keep in mind, Nebraska’s last conference title was 1999.
To refresh your memory on Ohio State, on March 8, head coach Jim Tressel was suspended by the university for two games, and fined $250,000 for not informing the university and the NCAA that he had information that five of his players received improper benefits from a tattoo shop in downtown Columbus. Among those those players, including Mike Adams, Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Solomon Thomas, Jordan Whiting, was quarterback Terrelle Pryor. The five players are suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season. Pryor has since decided to enter the supplemental NFL draft.
Tressel’s suspension was also later increased to five games by the university. The NCAA filed a letter of allegations in late April 2011 with Ohio State alleging that Tressel lied to the NCAA in December, 2010 when he claimed to have no knowledge of the players activities with the tattoo shop. Furthermore, he is alleged to have knowingly used ineligible players during the 2010 season. On May 30, Tressel resigned as head coach.
Nebraska and Ohio State meet in Lincoln on Oct. 8 and could potentially play on Dec. 3 for the first ever Big 10 title game at Lucas Oil Stadium.
In 2009, Nebraska went 10-4 but won six of its last seven games. The last two of those contests included a controversial 13-12 loss to Texas in the Big 12 title game and a 33-0 flogging of Arizona in the Holiday Bowl.
That strong finish had a lot of Husker zealouts (including this one) sipping the Kool Aid in the form of thinking Big 12 title, BCS bowl bid and potentially a shot at the National Championship.
Those aspirations looked realistic when the Huskers opened the season 5-0 and moved as high as No. 5 in the polls with quarterback Taylor Martinez having a Heisman Trophy candidate season. Then Martinez was banged up in the second half. The Huskers had three close losses (20-13 to Texas, 9-6 to Texas A&M and 23-20 to Oklahoma). Nebraska then took Washington lightly in the Holiday Bowl and lost 19-7.
Even though Phil Steele’s magazine, which has been the most accurate preseason predictor the last 13 years, picked Nebraska to meet Oregon in the Rose Bowl, this preseason of expectations has a “under the radar” feel compared to last year.
On the surface, the Big 10 schedule makers did Nebraska no favors in its maiden voyage in the conference. The Huskers face what most tab as the top three clubs in the Leaders division (Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State) but despite just 12 starters returning, Nebraska has a better-than-average chance to win the Legends division. Michigan State might have a say in that matter but the good news is the Spartans have to come to Lincoln on Oct. 29.
Much of the fate of Nebraska’s season will come down to the return to health of Martinez. When he was healthy, Nebraska’s offense averaged 38.9 points per game but when he was banged up that scoring average dropped to 22.7. The other half of the equation will be how soon does new offensive coordinator Tim Beck find a scheme he wants to settle in with and develop. Keep in mind, that was the ultimate downfall of his predecessor Shawn Watson, who changed schemes about as often as most people change underwear.
On defense, despite losing quality players like CB Prince Amukamara, S Eric Hagg, S DeJon Gomes and DE Pierre Allen, Nebraska has more than enough quality talent defensively. Keep in mind some consider Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini as bright of a defensive mind as Alabama head coach Nick Saban even though Pelini is not in Saban’s class as a head coach.
The Huskers definitely do not lack for talent on defense because DT Jared Crick, LB LaVonte David and CB Alfonso Dennard are among the best in the nation at their respective positions.
Even though preseason hype is not where it was entering last year, look for Nebraska to be better than certain people think.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)