I’m going to tell you guys a quick story: last night I went to the movies and saw Ted. And while it’s just as crude and inappropriate as you would expect out of a movie from the creators of Family Guy, none of the jokes stuck out to me as much as what happened when I was walking into the theater.
Some dude out for a jog ran by me wearing navy blue shorts with the Penn State logo on them, and I distinctly remember thinking, “why would you wear those shorts out right now?” The same thing happened a few days earlier, when I parked next to a car with a Virginia license plate and a Penn State bumper sticker.
Why?
Why would anyone want to associate themselves with that mess right now?
And that is precisely the issue that second-year coach Pat Chambers and his coaching staff will face as they try to build that Nittany Lion program.
It is impossible to disassociate Penn State University from Jerry Sandusky or the resulting coverup, and the Nittany Lions may have already seen their first casualty. Brandon Austin, a four-star recruit from Philly and a PSU commit since February, has decommitted from the school. He has not yet given a reason for the decommitment, but It’s not outlandish to speculate that the combination of offers from biggers schools in conjunction with the current issues on the campus made Austin change his mind.
Football is always going to come first, second and third at Penn State and nothing the NCAA can do is going to change that. And now, when people think of Penn State, they are going to think of the football team and the university covering up for a pedophile.
That’s going to be a very, very difficult thing to get past.
(Photo credit: The Gazette)
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.