College Sports Business News - The Publication for College Sports Administrators

Penn State’s Board of Trustees Demonstrates Leadership

While watching the press conference Wednesday night, I was struck by how many times the Vice Chairman of the Board, John Surma, indicated that he did not have information in response to rapid fire questions from a rabid media; and, yet, the Board took swift, unprecedented and decisive action in accepting (forcing) the resignation of long time Penn State President Graham Spanier and ending the tenure of Head Football Coach Joe Paterno after 46 years in that position.The contrast was stark between the Board acting decisively with imperfect information and the inaction of university administrators and coaches when faced with glaring evidence of Sandusky’s misdeeds. Making critically important decisions without full and complete information is never easy nor is it preferable, but it is often necessary in a leadership role. The Board demonstrated its willingness to lead Wednesday night by making two very difficult decisions to end the careers of Spanier and Paterno despite all of their many achievements on behalf of the institution.

Fundamentally, the unanimous decision of the Board was based on its belief that these individuals (Spanier, Paterno, AD Tim Curley and VP Gary Schultz) did not act appropriately over the years on information that they possessed about Sandusky and his alleged criminal actions. Unlike its administrators and coaches, the Board looked at the information in front of them and drew the only conclusion possible. Rather than deluding themselves into believing that these individuals acted appropriately or that there might be some rational and extenuating explanation for their failure to act, the Board used its common sense, intuition and street smarts to draw the only possible conclusion from the incomplete information in front of them: these individuals failed to ask questions, failed to act, failed to properly report and failed to follow-up in an appropriate, responsible and moral manner.

This failure of leadership must be trebled in this case because everyone involved knew that Sandusky was spending his time with The Second Mile and all of its troubled young boys, making PSU complicit in the abuses that subsequently occurred.  This was particularly unconscionable.

Nothing could be more apt than an observation by noted Irish philosopher Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  Whether they were good men in this case is up to debate, but what is not debatable is that they did nothing. Fortunately, the Board being made up of good men and women took leadership action in spite of imperfect information. 

By Dave O'Brien, CSBN Editor

Dave O'Brien J.D. has been a college sports executive and educator for over 25 years.  He served as a Division I athletic director at Long Beach State University, Temple University and Northeastern University for 16 years (1991-2007). 

O'Brien is currently the Director of the Sports Management Program at Drexel University where he also teaches at the undergraduate, graduate and law school levels.  In addition to his academic position, O'Brien is the managing partner of the O'Brien Sports Group which provides a wide range of consulting services to the college sports industry, including NCAA rules compliance, risk management audits, business support services, executive recruitment, training workshops and more. He is also an editor of College Sports Business News.

O'Brien is active nationally in sports law matters as co-author of a monthly column on college sports law issues published in College Athletics and the Law and as a consultant on sports topics including pay equity, retaliation, harassment, Title IX, and coaching contracts.  

Prior to becoming an athletic administrator, O'Brien served in a variety of roles in higher education, which included assistant to the president for legal and legislative affairs at Montclair State University and the assistant vice president for administration and finance at Long Beach State.  He also served on the legislative staff of the New Jersey Senate and practiced law in New Jersey. 

O'Brien is a graduate of Moravian College and Seton Hall Law School, and has also attained certification from the Sports Management Institute as part of its inaugural class. He can be reached at dobrien@collegesportsbusinessnews.com

Comments(1):

1. culpability

   Just getting around to reading this...and I love the Edmund Burke quote which is spot on. One thought is the Board must also be held accountable. If they were unaware...ignorance is a poor excuse leaders and if they really were aware...well then. It's the Board's job to know what's going on irrespective of what the president is forthcoming with. The Institution is bigger than any one man or two men and there needs to be some provision in the governance process to ensure transparency is the rule of the day .

   Thursday, May 10, 2012 dale