Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/79325
Penn State's embattled football program gets a lift from energized alumni SUPPORT GROUP L | isa Draper didn't attend football games when she was a student at Penn State. She got her Ph.D. in 2002 without ever having set foot in Beaver Stadium. Said Draper, "I just never bought into the football stuff." But when the Nittany Lions open their season Sept. 1 against Ohio, Draper intends to be in the stands, cheering on the dozens of players who chose to remain on campus in the wake of major NCAA sanctions. "I want to show these guys that they didn't make a bad decision," she said. "Other people have made bad decisions. It's not their fault, and people shouldn't be coming down hard on them. I feel very passionately about supporting these athletes. They got a raw deal." Draper lives in Lower Macungie, a few miles southwest of Allentown, where she teaches social studies. Last month, she and her young son drove three hours to State College and checked into a local hotel so they could get up at the crack of dawn the next day for a rally at the Lasch Building. As fans crowded around the edge of the adjacent practice field, Draper held up a sign bearing Penn State's football graduation rate – 87 percent – in big, blue letters and chastising the NCAA for its decision to impose penalties that some say are the harshest it has ever meted out to any school. Draper looked as though she could have filled up a dozen placards with questions for college sports' gov- erning body. She settled for one, but she made it count. In bold penmanship full of underscored lettering, Draper asked, "Where are their priorities?!" She isn't alone. Emotion has been running high at Penn State all summer, stoked by the Sandusky trial, the Freeh report, the dismantling of Joe Paterno's statue and the NCAA's imposition of harsh sanctions, including a four-year postseason ban, the forfeiture of 40 scholarships and a $60 million fine. The consensus nationally has been that the punishment will devastate the football program, rendering it uncom- petitive for at least the next four years and perhaps longer. But coach Bill O'Brien is fighting back against that narrative. He has been emphasizing the program's at- tributes, one of which is a large and loyal fan following. While he won't be able to sell bowl games and champi- onships when he goes recruiting this coming off-season, he will be able to sell exposure. He can tell prospective GROUP HUG Penn State players share an emotional moment with fans following the team's workout July 31. The fans were on hand for a pep rally organized by former player Keith Conlin.