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the football program was hit. And it's possible we never will. That's because the people who have been charged with setting things right understand that the university is not in a strong negotiating position. The consent de- cree that Penn State signed precludes any kind of legal action, and the NCAA has no incentive to show le- niency. Is there any public pressure outside of the Penn State community to lessen the penalties? Is the NCAA going to suffer any blowback by com- ing down too hard on the Nittany Li- ons? No and no. But no matter how one may feel about the bowl ban and scholarship reductions, there is one aspect of the NCAA sanctions that ought to give everyone pause, regardless of one's college allegiance. In handing down its decision, the NCAA ruled that players can transfer without penalty until the start of pre- season camp next August. The "free agency" period will pose major prob- lems for O'Brien after this season, as other schools will be looking to lure away Penn State's best players and will have seven months in which to make their pitch. You think guys like Deion Barnes, Donovan Smith and Allen Robinson put this matter to rest when they reaffirmed their commit- ment to Penn State during the sum- mer? You think Lane Kiffin won't call up his old buddy Ted Jones of Fletch- er-Jones Mercedes in Newport Beach and hop back on the Fletcher-Jones private jet if he thinks one of those guys could be persuaded to follow Silas Redd to USC? Think again. For rival coaches, Penn State remains a target-rich environment. The free agency penalty is going to keep O'Brien and his staff busy in the off-season; they will be forced essen- tially to recruit their top players all over again. But that's not the reason the NCAA's penalty is so wronghead- ed. The reason it's so wrongheaded is because it means players will have to endure nearly a full year of hounding from college coaches. These are guys with classes to attend, community outreach to perform and workouts to endure, and the NCAA has given its blessing to a measure that is going to create months of distraction. Distrac- tion, it should be noted, that players do not want. Said Barnes, "I don't think [coaches] should be calling any of us. I know myself personally, if they call, I'm not listening because I'm focusing on helping my team win." While it's impossible to predict what the next few months will hold, I sus- pect most players want to stay at Penn State. We tend to assume that these are strictly football decisions, because football is the part of players' lives that we see. But there are other considerations. Maybe the kid likes the social life. Maybe he's doing well in his major and doesn't want to up- root himself. Maybe he's clicked with the coaching staff and thinks his best chance of someday playing in the NFL is to remain at Penn State. Maybe he's got family within driving distance and isn't looking to leave the Northeast. Make no mistake, it was entirely fair for the NCAA to give players a chance to leave before the 2012 season. While the scramble to steal players away from Penn State may have been unseemly, they deserved the chance to escape from a situation they had no hand in creating. But to give coaches permission to hound Penn State players for a full year? That's a repudiation of NCAA president Mark Emmert's stated goals. "Our mission," he has said, "is to be an integral part of higher education and to focus on the development of our student-athletes." It's unclear how that mission is enhanced by allowing coaches to pressure players into trans- ferring to schools that for the most part have worse graduation rates than the one they're already attending. The free agency issues are part of a dark cloud that is hanging over Penn State right now. But even if their only option is to wait out the sanctions, the Lions can take some comfort in the re- alization that four years is not a lot of time in the broad sweep of history. The 2016 season might seem a long way away from our perspective, but it's coming. There's never been a cloud so dark that it didn't eventually lift. www.AmericanAleHouse.net 821 Cricklewood Drive, Toftrees State College Now in 2 Locations

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