Penn State Sports Magazine
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4 8 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M E D I T O R I A L MATT HERB MATT.HERB@ON3.COM W ith student-athletes having gained a form of free agency via the transfer portal and also being free to cash in on their fame via name, image and likeness deals, it's easy to as- sume that the world of college athletics has become more player-friendly. That's certainly the case in many respects. Some of the self-serving re- strictions that the NCAA imposed in the name of promoting amateurism have been overturned in recent years, empow- ering players to a degree that their pre- decessors could scarcely have imagined. But as their world has become more businesslike, the pressure to perform at a high level has intensified, particularly in the Power Five, where the latest wave of conference realignment and the escala- tion of media-rights deals have added to the professionalization of the student- athlete experience. That's why it was gratifying to see Penn State take some steps recently to address the mental health of its student- athletes. In November, PSU announced that it had filled two of the four health and wellness positions that are being cre- ated in the athletics department. Heidi Christy is a therapist who spent the pre- vious 11 years working in private practice in Butler, Pa. Kathryn Pohland worked for 15 years as vice president and thera- pist at Life's Journey Counseling Center in the Pittsburgh area. At Penn State, Christy and Pohland will "serve as athletic counselors and provide additional health and wellness resources and support," according to a university news release. In addition, PSU has enlisted Mantra Health to offer help to Nittany Lion ath- letes whenever they may need it. It's an online clinic, accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "Support for strong mental health is personal to me and critical to our depart- ment," athletics director Patrick Kraft said. "We have to do our part to change the way mental health is viewed and to combat the stigma surrounding it." The concerns are likely to become even more acute when the Big Ten expands in 2024 with the addition of USC and UCLA. There's never been a coast-to- coast conference in major-college sports, and while we haven't yet seen any sched- uling models for football, basketball or the Olympic sports, it's hard to imagine how Big Ten schools could routinely incorporate cross-country flights into their itineraries without asking athletes to endure some academic hardship. The burden of all that travel is likely to fall hardest on the Los Angeles schools, because every out-of-town Big Ten road trip they take is going to be at least 1,500 miles. Already, we're starting to get an indication of how UCLA student-ath- letes feel about it. In a survey of 111 athletes across a vari- ety of UCLA sports, 77 percent said they were concerned about increased travel demands, while 66 percent were worried about missed class time. The misgiv- ings were much greater among female student-athletes, with 83 percent saying they were concerned about the increased travel and 75 percent expecting to miss more classes than they do now. Those concerns are sure to resonate with PSU's student-athletes. Like UCLA and USC, Penn State is on the edge of the conference's footprint and is going to be sending its teams on 2,500-mile road trips in the not-too-distant future. The Nittany Lions won't be doing those trips as often as the Los Angeles schools will, since they're closer to the league's geographic center. No matter how the scheduling difficulties are resolved, though, the Lions are going to be racking up their share of frequent flyer miles. There had been some talk in California that the concerns about student-athlete welfare, coupled with the backlash over the abandonment of the Pac-12, might be enough to derail UCLA's entrance into the conference. That speculation proved unfounded. On Dec. 14, the school cleared its final hurdle when the University of California Board of Regents approved its entry into the Big Ten. The vote was a backhanded acknowl- edgement of the windfall that UCLA will reap by switching conferences. The Big Ten's new media-rights deal will net members about $100 million annu- ally, which is roughly $70 million more than the school is currently bringing in as a Pac-12 member. Considering that UCLA's athletics department has re- ported a $62.5 million deficit for the 2021 fiscal year, the revenue can't start flow- ing in soon enough. Viewed entirely through that lens — as a matter of financial well-being — there's a lot to like about Big Ten expan- sion. Why view it entirely through that lens, though? The people who generate all the money that's flowing into the coffers of schools and conferences these days need to be treated as more than just disposable freelancers whose working conditions are of secondary importance. Schools have an obligation to provide them with the resources they require to handle what they're being asked to do. It's good to see Penn State stepping up to meet that need. ■ Athletics director Patrick Kraft hailed the recent addition of two wellness counselors, noting that Penn State's effort to meet athletes' mental health needs "is per- sonal to me and critical to our department." PHOTO BY RYAN SNYDER PSU Looks To Meet Athletes' Needs Off The Field VARSITY VIEWS