NCAA President Mark Emmert has made a misleading, damaging and untrue statement, published by the Associated Press, when he included Joe Paterno on his list of coaches that were fired for misdeeds.
Emmert should know that before you bunch everyone together and pass judgment you must get all the facts and the truth about each one. Obviously, he didn't.
I am very disappointed in Emmert and the NCAA for taking this position on Paterno, in essence becoming the judge, jury and executioner. But this should come as no surprise to those who know the NCAA.
In the article, Emmert made the following statements:
"You're seeing boards of directors, of trustees and presidents and athletic directors saying, 'You know you've done a great job here. We love you. We pay you really well. You get all this adoration. You've got to live by the rules." Emmert went on to say, "And that's a good thing."
Well Mark, in reference to your statement: Joe did live by the rules of the university, of the NCAA and the law. However, you omitted the fact that Joe Paterno and the Penn State football program did not commit even one major NCAA violation in 61 years.
We are talking about a man who had a great family life, who gave so much more than he received and the motto of his football program was "Success With Honor."
And yes, he lived by his credo as well as your rules.
In fact, in 2011 Joe Paterno's "Success with Honor" initiative earned Penn State the ranking of the No. 1 academic football program in the country.
In the article, Emmert said the five coaches who were fired (Paterno, Jim Tressel, Bobby Petrino, Butch Davis and Bruce Pearl) had been considered "untouchable" in the past.
Well, I would like to correct Emmert. The only "untouchable" in the history of college sports is the NCAA. You and your group are not accountable to anyone, as your actions have shown through the years.
The only other untouchable within the college and university ranks is the Board of Trustees. Once again, they are not held accountable to anyone, despite their misdeeds.
If a person or organization is found guilty of a misdeed after the investigation, I wholeheartedly support the action of them being held accountable. In my opinion, there should be no exceptions, including the NCAA and the Board of Trustees.
Franco Harris
Pittsburgh
Iuzzolino's numbers don't add up
How did Mike Iuzzolino ...
10. Average 21.3 points his junior year at St. Francis University while shooting only 12 times per game?
9. Average 24.1 points his senior year at SFU while shooting only 13 times per game?
8. Shoot 51.6 percent his junior year at SFU from 3-point range?
7. Shoot 52.8 percent his senior year at SFU from 3-point range?
6. Shoot 87.1 percent his junior year at SFU from the foul line?
5. Shoot 88.5 percent his senior year at SFU from the foul line?
4. Lead SFU in 1991 to their only NCAA tournament appearance?
3. Shoot 43.4 percent his first year in the NBA from 3-point range to rank among the league leaders?
2. Star as a player for 10 years in Europe?
1 . Get passed over as a candidate for head coach of the SFU men's basketball team?
Oh, yes. I forgot: There was a long-term family plan in effect the entire time.
Galen Bickel
Altoona
Report card on Krimmel hirings
At St. Francis, possibly the most important personnel decisions made by the athletic director are the hiring of the two head basketball coaches. In 2007 and 2008, and again during this month, Bob Krimmel has hired head basketball coaches in Loretto.
We offer this report card to evaluate the quality of his decision making.
Let's begin with the men. In 2008, Krimmel replaced Bobby Jones with Don Friday. In nine years, Jones averaged about 20 losses per season, and in the next four years, Friday averaged about 21 losses per year, including a 6-23 season in 2011-12.
During the past 12 seasons, Rob Krimmel was an assistant to these two head coaches. On April 18, 2012, Friday departed, and within 24 hours, the university hired Rob Krimmel as his replacement. The university decided not to conduct a search for other qualified applicants.
The decision to hire Rob Krimmel has been criticized particularly by Mirror staff. This fan believes that if a search had been conducted and Rob Krimmel emerged as the best candidate, some of that criticism would have been reduced. Instead, the university filled the vacant position in a manner which maximized concerns regarding whether the new coach was the beneficiary of nepotism.
However, the bottom line for me is this: As a child, I began rooting for St Francis back when O'Malley, Trosh and Aston were winning games in Altoona. So like all Red Flash fans, we sincerely hope Rob Krimmel is extremely successful as the new head coach. Still, I must give his father a D+ grade for his handling of these difficult decisions.
What about the women? I give Bob Krimmel a B+.
In 2007, he convinced Susan Robinson Fruchtl to coach at St Francis. Much has been written about her efforts to bring the program back to the top of the Northeast Conference. For the four best seasons under Robinson Fruchtl, her chief assistant coach was Joe Haigh.
All that I hear suggests we should give Bob Krimmel credit for selecting Joe Haigh to be the new head coach after Robinson Fruchtl departed to coach at Providence. If Haigh can sign a good recruiting class during the early-signing period in November and guide the team to a 12th conference championship in March, we must raise Bob Krimmel's grade to an A.
In summary, Bob Krimmel gets a good grade for his hiring decisions in the women's program and mediocre marks on the men's side. Clearly, we urge fans to unite behind these two head coaches and root hard for these deserving student-athletes. Go Red Flash!
A.J. Pietrolungo
Baltimore, Md.
Jones has most potential of PSU QBs
Based on last week's Blue-White Game, Cory Giger wrote in the Mirror on April 29 that Matt McGloin is still "far and away" the best quarterback on the team and the one who gives the Lions the best chance to win every week.
"Far and away?" Engage in hyperbole much?
Maybe McGloin should be the starter, but I'll take my chances with Paul Jones.
McGloin is already at his ceiling. I suspect that Jones will overtake McGloin by fall if he works hard enough with the receivers over the summer.
Not to be mean, but I don't think Rob Bolden has a chance of starting.
Noah Stewart
Altoona
Steelers push right buttons
The Steelers made a great choice in drafting David DeCastro in the first round.
Their line was really hurting the last couple of years. Now that they got DeCastro in the first round, it certainly won't solve all of their problems, but it will help.
If you look at what they were able to do with Maurkice Pouncey his first two years, that should give people a lot of faith that he will be able to succeed at a high level. It might take him a little bit to fit into a new system, but I believe that in time it will be the right decision.
They also drafted an offensive lineman in the second round so the line will be extremely young, but whenever they get older and used to playing with each other it will be worth it.
Pittsburgh made the right choices in the 2012 draft.
Tyler Luciano
Altoona
Heights letting its teams, players down
The mismanagement of taxpayer dollars at Cambria Heights over the years has been incomprehensible.
Just in the past three years alone we've paid a retired school teacher $72,000 to be the athletic director (three years at $23,500 per year), and just recently, the school board voted to extend his contract another three years at $19,200 a year.
The AD position has been grossly overpaid for a part-time job that has a secretary do the majority of the work. All the while, the AD and school board continue to cut and non-fund athletic programs along with having our kids pay $35 an hour to utilize the gym for various activities on weekends.
The school's budget has been so tight that the school depends more and more on the parents, volunteers, and booster clubs to provide the money to help pay for the athletic programs. The current AD has been counter-productive to say the least as our athletic programs and facilities continue to decline and dilapidate.
Everyone who follows Cambria Heights and the Laurel Highlands Conference knows that we have the worst sports facilities in the area with a long list of badly needed upgrades. Parents, community members, area businesses,volunteers and booster clubs continue to try and build up the programs, while the school board and AD continue to tear the programs down.
The only way to change the political climate at CH is to have morally obligated community members run against the good, old boys club, so that the best interest is in our kids and not political favors.
The Cambria Heights school board members should be ashamed of themselves for once again taking taxpayer dollars from our kids and their programs.
Tom Bearer Jr.
Carrolltown
