Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1420595
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 1 3 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M and after he'd relayed that message to his players and staff in an emotional team meeting on Nov. 9, the players demon- strated their dedication by holding a fun- draiser for Uplifting Athletes. The event, which took place while the board of trust- ees was debating whether to terminate Paterno and Spanier, was a "trashcan football" tournament, held at the stu- dent encampment set up outside Beaver Stadium for that Saturday's game with Nebraska. More than $600 was raised by participants, who threw footballs into enormous blue recycling bins on opposite ends of the gate area. Within the larger Penn State com- munity and the surrounding region, the events of early November served as a clarion call for ensuring that child abuse would be hunted and eradicated lo- cally. Throughout central Pennsylvania, support for the football program never waned. Meanwhile, Penn State carried on, first transitioning to Bill O'Brien, then endur- ing the imposition of severe NCAA sanc- tions before moving on to James Franklin, whose tenure is now at eight years and counting. In that span, dating back to the conclu- sion of the 2011 season, the Nittany Lions have participated in seven bowl games, missing the postseason only in 2012 and '13 when they were banned, and again last year during the COVID-impacted sea- son. In nine of those 10 seasons, the team finished with a winning record. And in three of four seasons from 2016 through 2019, the Lions played in New Year's Six bowls, winning the Fiesta and Cotton while reaching the Rose Bowl following the 2016 Big Ten championship season. Recovering from the sanctions that gut- ted the Lions' scholarship roster, the team secured spots in the final Associated Press Top 25 each year from 2016 to '19, finish- ing seventh, eighth, 17th and ninth in suc- cessive years. Throughout the past decade, the program has followed a path for- ward that has been intended to build on the successes and traditions of the past with an eye toward the future. As Penn State works to rebound from the disappointments of the 2020 sea- son, it finds itself again on the precipice of significant national success. Having been shaken to its core a decade ago, PSU has rebuilt itself and intends to keep growing. ■ A week that I'll never forget is one that, if I'm being honest, I'll also never actually remember with complete clarity due to the chaos that surrounded it. Because Facebook serves as our living diary, whether we want it to or not, I can confirm that on Sunday, Nov. 13, I described the experience as "a week from hell." Oddly enough, in reminiscing about the experience 10 years later, I don't remember it that way. MATT HERB: I don't know what I was expecting when my wife and I joined a procession of students as they streamed downtown from campus shortly after the announcement that Joe Paterno had been fired. Something newsworthy, I guess. I do know this: I did not expect to find myself running for my life. But as I approached the mass of people who had blocked traffic on Beaver Avenue, something spooked the crowd, and suddenly dozens of students were headed straight toward me at full gallop. My wife had steered clear of the intersection altogether. I'm not as smart as she is, and as the stampede approached, I turned and ran. Ducking into a stair- well in the Pugh Street parking garage, I spent a tense minute or two figuring out what to do next, eventually climbing up the stairs to the roof of the garage, hoping the crowd would disperse peacefully. For the most part, it did. My wife and I were living north of campus at the time, and as we began walk- ing home, we noticed that a group of students had gathered in the dim light in front of Old Main. It sounded as though they were singing. As we approached from College Avenue, we were able to make out the song: "Amazing Grace." The singing continued for a few minutes. After it stopped, someone at- tempted a "We are..." cheer, but the students on the Old Main steps clearly weren't there for a pep rally and offered a tepid response. More than the craziness downtown, that's the scene that has stayed with me all these years. It seemed to encapsulate not just a single night but an entire chapter of Penn State history — the somber, mournful core at the center of a maelstrom. GREG PICKEL: As a freshman student at University Park, I was told by other friends and classmates that my first bye week in State College would be quiet, with many people leaving campus for the weekend without a game to attend or to plan a Saturday around. Instead, it turned into nights of waiting for news of what would happen to Joe Paterno and days of reading breaking news stories and seeing national media outlets all over town. While doing an interview with NPR, the host was incredulous when I told him that campus was mostly normal during class hours. How could that be so? Weren't people rioting? That wasn't the case. It was orderly, but of course that wasn't always the case after nightfall and on some days even earlier. This 2021 Nittany Lions bye week was notable, but it won't replace that one in my memory bank. RYAN SNYDER: I remember traveling to Harrisburg to watch Bishop McDevitt's elite defensive end prospect, Noah Spence. Anyone who follows recruiting will remember the name. The Nittany Lions were considered the team to beat at that time for the five-star pass rusher. I grew up in Harrisburg, so a few friends were also at the game. I met up with them at halftime, just to catch up, and one of them noticed on this new popular app called Twitter that not only had Jerry Sandusky been ar- rested, but also Penn State's athletic director and president. I hung out for another hour or so, but it quickly became clear that a scouting report on Spence wasn't going to matter in the coming days, so I drove back to State College knowing I had to reach out to recruits. The message boards were already freaking out, asking how this could impact recruiting. Little did we know that recruiting was going to be very low on the list of things that mattered in the weeks and months to come. Once I got home, I reached out to many of the top committed players, just to get a feel for what they were thinking and if other schools were already trying to chip away. I don't remember too many kids having strong thoughts on it, which wasn't a surprise considering their age. Rather, it was the parents and the overall sense of worry that really stood out. Like the entire fan base, most were just absolutely shocked. But on top of that, they felt out of the loop and concerned. Probably half the parents I spoke with ended up asking me more questions than I asked them. I didn't have any answers, but you knew by the end of the day that this was con- cerning for so many.