Blue White Illustrated

I t's still being talked about. The San- dusky scandal may have occurred four years ago, but the ongoing legal fallout has continued to make headlines, and head coach James Franklin said recently that he has been working to ensure that those headlines don't hinder Penn State's recruiting e3orts. Franklin said during the Big Ten's annual media summit in Chicago earlier this sum- mer that he has strived to maintain open lines of communication with recruits. A series of accusations against Joe Paterno and his sta3 contained in a lawsuit be- tween the university and its insurer rekin- dled memories of the NCAA's decision in 2012 to penalize the football program. But there's been no talk of further sanctions, and Penn State is eager to make that clear as it battles other schools that might want to use the scandal as a talking point. "I think like anything in life, people just want to understand," Franklin said. "And they want to make sure that they under- stand what the future holds and the di- rection. And that's what we have to do. "So whenever information comes out or anything comes up that we have to deal with, it's getting on the phone as quickly as you possibly can with the high school coaches, with the recruits, with their families, and just making sure that they're understanding it." Franklin said the Big Ten, NCAA and Penn State's administration have all been "very supportive," providing resources and answers for recruits and their families who have questions. "There have been things that have been said and done that cause concern, and you need to be able to answer those ques- tions," he said. "But once we've been able to do that, we've been really fortunate that we've been supported, and people have understood." Franklin acknowledged that "negative recruiting happens all over the country," adding that the sensitivity of the subject matter in Penn State's case leads to some tough questions at times. However, he added that he and his sta3 have been for- tunate to have solid answers to the ques- tions that do arise. Prior to the league meetings, athletic di- rector Sandy Barbour said that university o4cials, including president Eric Barron, have been in frequent communication with the NCAA and Big Ten regarding the ongo- ing developments in the Sandusky case. "They could not be more pleased with how we've gone about addressing what they consider to be our issues," Barbour said. "We in many respects have become kind of the benchmark for some of the things that we've done here institution- ally and athletic department-wise, cer- tainly from a governance standpoint. "To insinuate that NCAA enforcement is looking at us and considering additional sanctions is preposterous. They consider the case closed. There are no more sanc- tions. Both the Big Ten and the NCAA agreed to end the sanctions 18 months early. There is no more monitor. And again, for someone – anyone – to try to plant in the mind of a 17-year-old that you don't want to go to Penn State because they're going to get hit with the death penalty or there are going to be more sanctions is not only untrue, but disingenuous and I think a real slap in the face to this profession." Penn State's concerns about negative re- cruiting came to the forefront earlier this summer when Franklin raised the issue in separate interviews with BWI and the Reading Eagle. Although he did not cite speci1c instances of negative recruiting, he did say this to the Eagle's longtime Penn State beat writer, Rich Scarcella: "The people we're competing with – Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame – this is just not something they have to deal with. Although we want to move on, those other schools are not letting us move on." In Chicago, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio denied using the scandal to re- cruit against Penn State. Franklin and Bar- bour declined to say which schools they believed were using negative tactics, but Barbour said emphatically that recruits were being told that Penn State is at risk of going back on probation, a contention that she described as "not factual." "It's one thing to take facts and skew them a little bit," she said. "It's another thing not to be factual." Barbour added, "I think this is some- thing that has been going on around our sanctions and around our relationships with the NCAA. But frankly, of late it's been taken to a new level. … What is being used is that, given the new Sandusky news, Penn State is going to get put on probation again. And as I said [previ- ously], that's 2at-out untrue. The NCAA is very pleased with how we've handled this. We have done everything they've asked us to do, and both the Big Ten and the NCAA consider the matter closed." Barbour didn't elaborate when asked whether Penn State would report its complaints to the Big Ten, saying only that the university intends to "handle it appropriately." Franklin said he thinks the matter needs to be addressed. "I do think there's a line you do not cross," he said. "But I guess in some ways that's the nature of the beast. I think some people are going to look for weaknesses and try to take advantage of those, but to me there is a line that you do not cross. So we'll see how that whole thing plays out. There's a time and place for everything." ■ PSU sees misinformation as recruiting impediment | For daily and breaking news updates on Penn State football recruiting, visit bwi.rivals.com.

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