Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/79325
recruits that they will be playing in the fifth-largest stadium in the world, and he can reassure them that many of those 106,572 seats – that's the stadium's official capacity – are likely to remain filled, as fans and alumni rally around the team. "We have a chance to play six or seven games before 108,000 people," O'Brien said. "I don't think there are any bowl games that draw those kind of crowds." He can also assure prospects that they will get to play on TV. One of the Nittany Lions' key talking points this past month has been that the team will still be a presence nationally during the regular season. The NCAA's refusal to issue a TV ban didn't come as much of a surprise. In the past 25 years, it has pulled only two Division I athletic teams off the air: the Maryland men's basketball team in 1988 and the Maine ice hockey team in 1996. The Nittany Lions' continued presence on TV is expected to prove significant in recruiting. Many prospects, partic- ularly those who grow up outside of a school's traditional recruiting base, form their opinions based on what they see on TV. For instance, Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase grew up in Kansas City, where Big 12 football ruled. The most prominent college teams in his hometown were Missouri and Kansas State, but he also got to watch the Illini on TV and liked what he saw of their team, their coaching staff and their game day atmosphere. "It was cool to be able to see that in high school," he said. Scheelhaase said that as long as it's playing on TV, Penn State will have a similar opportunity to make an im- pression. "It's going to be important for [prospects] to realize that people are still paying attention to Penn State football and they're still on TV and getting some national attention," he said. "I'm sure this year they'll be getting a whole lot of national attention, and it's something that's going to be important for them." TV appearances will also help keep the program's supporters engaged – not that enthusiasm has been lacking lately. Fans showed their support at SHOW OF SUPPORT Penn State fans hung signs of encouragement from the windows of the Lasch Building during an early-morning rally for the team July 31. the July rally, which was organized by Keith Conlin, a standout offensive tackle on the unbeaten 1994 team and host of a local radio show. A crowd es- timated at about 3,000 people showed up, including new trustees Adam Tali- aferro and Anthony Lubrano, the State College Spikes' Nookie Monster mascot and sign-waving fans from all over the country. There were three TV trucks in the parking lot and an equal number of radio vans. Campus police shut down traffic around the football complex for much of the morning, and fans cheered madly as players walked from the Lasch Building to Holuba Hall. "I wanted to jump in that line and walk into Holuba, too," said Conlin, who emceed the event from outside the football building. "Penn State play- ers always talk about the bus ride [to Beaver Stadium on game day]. That had to be pretty close right there. "We had a woman here from Califor- nia. We gave her a book. Whoever came from the farthest away got an award. And whoever came the earliest was going to get an award, too, but we didn't know who it was. We got here at 4:30 and there were already cars in the parking lot." Penn State must now find a way to keep that enthusiasm alive throughout Tim Owen the next four seasons. To that end, the university's athletic administration may roll back or even suspend the Seat Transfer and Equity Plan. STEP went into effect last season, calling on season ticket-holders to make donations to the Nittany Lion Club based on a formula that took into account seat location, parking options and the num- ber of tickets purchased. Coinciding with a downturn in the football team's performance – and a stubborn national recession – the program was unpopular even before the Sandusky scandal det- onated last November. The team's av- erage home attendance last fall was 101,427, a decline of 2,807 fans per game from the previous year and a de- cline of 6,827 per game from 2008, the Nittany Lions' most recent Rose Bowl season. Of the 10 most poorly attended games since the stadium's most recent expansion in 2001, three took place in 2011. Now that the Lions are not eligible to play for conference or national cham- pionships, Joyner said STEP may un- dergo changes. "We don't know what we'll do," he said, "but we're going to look at it." Meanwhile, Penn State is looking to preserve its game day traditions. It has already scheduled a Blue Out for