Penn State Might Ask NCAA To Reduce Sanctions

In what will probably amount to the functional equivalent of farting against a hurricane, Penn State coach Bill O'Brien recently submitted a presentation to the Penn State board of trustees that encouraged them to push back against NCAA sanctions.

O’Brien addressed the trustees for more than an hour Friday morning behind closed doors during the board’s executive session at the Penn State Fayette branch campus. The presentation’s slides were visible from a hallway through several full-length glass-paned doors into the room where the session was held.

The specifics about the proposal were not available, and officials, including O’Brien, declined to go into details about his visit, which was initiated by the board.

But, one of the presentation slides had the heading “potential proposal to modify sanctions” and another had a heading concerning the impact of the scholarship reductions that are part of the sanctions.

This is actually fairly interesting. On one hand, it's hard to argue that Penn State didn't (in some way) deserve punishment for a systematic covering up of a pedophile's activities while under the auspices of their program. On the other hand, the completely draconian and arbitrary way that punishment seems to have been handed down can be argued against, especially in light of how badly the NCAA botched the Miami investigation.

Adding to this is that the NCAA used the Freeh report as a guideline, and according to PSU, they've implemented almost all of the report's recommendations.

It appears that O'Brien wants to push for an ease on the scholarship reductions that he knows will gut his program in a few years, but it remains to be seen if the NCAA will have any sympathy for his plight.