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with the public sentiment expressed in the poll." Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien said "we play the schedule they give us," but added that he's looking forward to competing in an East Division with prestigious opponents like the Buckeyes and Wolverines, as well as the league's two newcomers. "I think dividing it into East and West was a great idea," O'Brien said during a Coaches Caravan stop in Reading, Pa., on April 30. "I think that the East Division is a tough division. That's murderer's row. But it's a great conference. I give Commissioner Delany a lot of credit. He's on the forefront of expansion and he's just a really smart man who I've come to know over the last year, and I appreciate his advice." Once the nine-game schedule goes into effect in 2016, teams from the East Division will host five conference home games during even-numbered years, like '16 and '18, while teams from the West Division will host five conference home games during oddnumbered years. Conference officials said that with the even-odd schedule rotation, they wanted every student-athlete to have the opportunity to play against every team in the conference at least once during a four-year period. The Big Ten is returning to a nine-game conference schedule for all teams for the first time since the 1983 and '84 seasons. "When you go to a 14-team conference, I think it's important to play more conference games," O'Brien said. "So that was coming down the pike anyway." Delany said that he was pleased to finally get the realignment figured out and the new nine-game schedule finalized. "Big Ten directors of athletics met in person or by conference call six times from December to March to discuss a new Big Ten football model," he said. "The level of cooperation and collaboration was reflective of what we've come to expect from this group of administrators who have worked extremely well together on a number of complex matters over the past several years. We are all looking forward to ushering in this new era of Big Ten football." The "new era" for Penn State means Michigan State is returning to the schedule, and with it, the Land Grant Trophy. The Lions and Spartans GOVERNANCE Three newcomers elected to board The 39 candidates in this year's trustees election broadened their platforms after a 2012 election in which much of the focus was on Joe Paterno's dismissal. But the results of the recent balloting seemed to indicate that many Penn State alumni saw the 2013 vote as a referendum on the board's treatment of the longtime football coach and its response to the Sandusky scandal. The winners, announced May 3, were Edward "Ted" Brown III, Barbara Doran and William Oldsey. All had been endorsed by the Paterno family and by Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, the advocacy group dedicated to the ouster of the nine alumni trustees who were sitting on the board in November 2011. "This is not just a small, crazy contingent of alumni. This is a very widespread group, and they're not giving up," Doran told reporters. "The board dismisses PS4RS as this militant, radical group, and I can tell you it's much deeper than that." Whatever the size of their constituency, the three Paterno-endorsed candidates garnered more than enough support to win seats on the board. Doran was the leading vote-getter with 15,085 votes, while Oldsey received 13,940 and Brown received 11,403. The two alumni trustees who were up for re-election – Stephanie Deviney and Paul Suhey – received 2,026 and 4,521 votes, respectively. In addition to announcing the election results, the board made a played for the trophy annually from 1993 to 2010, but the teams have not met the past two seasons. Penn State has played Ohio State annually since starting Big Ten competition in 1993. The teams have met number of changes to its bylaws at its May meeting, including a provision extending from three to five years the waiting period before a former university employee will be eligible to serve on the board. The rule prompted Jay Paterno to tweet the following: "Honored-sarcasm alertby new rule to keep me out." The waiting period will also apply to former trustees who leave the board and seek employment with the university. They, too, will have to wait five years before being eligible. However, the trustees did reserve the right to make exceptions, and the policy is not retroactive, meaning it will not impact athletic director Dave Joyner, who left the board in November 2011 to oversee the university's athletic department. PS4RS has vowed to continue pushing for change on the board, which now has 30 voting members with the governor and university president having lost their votes as part of the bylaw revision. Three more alumni trustees will be up for re-election in 2014: Marianne Alexander, Jesse Arnelle and Joel Myers. The reaction to the recent election highlighted the tensions that have made the board a microcosm of the Penn State community. Jay Paterno tweeted that it was a "good day for PSU," but a student named Paul Ferrera, speaking during the public comment portion of the meeting, sounded a cautionary note. "If we end up with a board full of Paterno faithfuls, we're going to fall behind," he said. "As a student who has gone through this for the last year and a half – please stop. Put your differences aside. Reunite. Refocus on what makes this place great."

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