I was on my way down to Baltimore, Maryland for the weekend when I realized this astonishing fact. Nobody knows how to drive in the snow anymore. First there was a multiple car crash on Route 322 which halted and backed up traffic for miles and hours, then when the few frustrated drivers decided to turn around and head back home, they decided to make our lives even harder by driving at a glacial pace. I am not one to criticize any specific person’s driving since I’m grew up in LA and our traffic is infamous, but common, growing up in Pennsylvania we should all know how to handle snow in our cars. Lets not act like we’re dumbfounded every time Mother Nature decides to drop down on us. So for now, I’m back home and waiting to try my trip down to Maryland tomorrow early morning.

On the topic of frustrating things, what are the odds Sampson who is looking for a new job will be offered one at Penn State? DeChellis have shown signs of improvement over the last couple of years with good upsets over great teams, but year after year we are relegated to the bottom tier of the Big Ten and in a state rich with basketball talent (Pittsburgh to the west, Philadelphia to the east, Erie to the north,  New York City to the far east, how exactly are we not able to recruit 5 quality basketball players to come to Penn State in the same season?) I’m venting as a frustrated fan, but honestly lets face it, Penn State basketball will not grow into Indiana, Illinois or even Wisconsin under DeChellis. Sampson who is currently jobless and outcast by the coaching community for his violations is ripe for the picking. He will gladly go anywhere at this point and Penn State can easily pick him up with an offer of a job. The question is whether we as the Penn State community can lower our standards enough to offer a serial offender (a successful basketball coach at that) a job at a university who holds their morals to a high standard. Do we value winning at this point more than our standards and traditions?

I personally am sick of losing, and would take any help we can get at this point. There is no reason why Ohio State can recruit players with the sole intention of them playing 1 year and never graduating and Penn State not being able to compete in recruiting. Sampson will infuse new attitude, discipline and standards for a dying Penn State basketball program. We have suffered futility long enough, it is time for a change. Obviously the Penn State way is great, but not enough to sustain success, so whats stopping us from seriously considering Sampson? A possible NCAA tournament sanction against Penn State for a few years when he becomes coach? Pleaaasssseee…. this team couldn’t pray itself to March Madness here at Penn State let alone think a few years of tournament probation will honestly hamper a program already in the gutter.  With a matchup with the Wolverines this weekend, Penn State can solidify their bid for the NITs and possibly gain a favorable seed in the Big Ten tournament. But that is exactly the problem, have we lowered our standards so low that a NIT bid is acceptable and no longer humiliating that we’re relegated to the ‘not good enough’ tournament come March? I for one would rather decline an NIT bid than to humor those talking heads simply trying to fill the slots for the pointless tournament.

For the longest time, I’ve been trying to get a blog on my original website and my recent discovery of Wordpress has made that dream come true. I’ve been slacking over the past couple of days in terms of posts simply because I’ve been trying to get this bit up. The coding, the themes, the headaches, the list is endless. But I’m glad I’m finally able to get things up and running again. So without further ado, lets get down to business.

College Basketball Stats by StatSheet.com

The Iowa game was crucial for Penn State when it comes to remotely making a run in the Big Ten tournament. With Penn State, Iowa and Michigan bunched up together at the bottom of the standings, this win puts Penn State in a favorable position to possibly draw Illinois in their first round match up (who they’ve beaten twice this year).

This weekend’s match up with Michigan at home will determine their seed in the NIT as well as set them further apart from the drudge that is the Big Ten’s bottom half. Penn State would have a chance to earn their highest finish in the Big Ten standings under the DeChellis era if it weren’t for a road trip to Wisconsin and a home game against first place Indiana to end the regular season. But at least the basketball season is coming to a close and we can all look forward to the spring game that takes place next month in April.

Eventually we all hope deep down inside we all improve ourselves, and fortunately for us here at NittanyWhiteOut, we have. We are saying goodbye to nittanywhiteout.blogspot.com and saying hello to nittanywhiteout.com

So for those of you loyal reader, I welcome you to the new site and hope it is the beginning of great things. But for now, we are now moving to our new address. Update your bookmarks, feedreaders, links, etc. For the glory!

Lions by the Numbers:

6,615,318.04 : dollars raised through THON this year demolishing last year’s $5,240,385.17 record by $1,374,932.87
19,200 : bottles of Aquafina distributed throughout the dance marathon
1973 : year when the first official dance marathon began at Penn State, now the largest student run philathraphy in the world.
708 : dancers that participated in THON
46 : hours Penn State dancers had to stay awake and on their feet during THON this past weekend.
36 : ‘th annual Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon held at the Bryce Jordan Center this past weekend
13 : Point lead the men’s basketball team let slip away to the Golden Gophers in a 75-68 loss.
9 : game losing streak by the women’s basketball team. The longest ever in Nittany Lion history
8 : runs by the softball team in their victory over Appalachian State
2 : The second ranked men’s gymnastics team defeated #7 Ohio State by setting a season high score of 360.550

Just finished watching the Penn State-Iowa game at the bar tonight and boy am I depressed at our defense. The only reason why we won was because Iowa has a worse defense (which is saying quite a lot) than ours. There weren’t even enough fans in the stands tonight to fill an AA meeting. But a wins a win. More on this to come tomorrow. I’ve been quite preoccupied lately and will get back to normal blogging in the following days.

This is it.
People waited, complained, fumed for weeks over this match up but the time has finally come for the two to face off.

And you thought we were going to talk about some basketball game between the Coach Sanction led Hoosiers and Matt Painter’s railroad crew.

But unfortunately for everyone else who does not live in Indiana, there is another battle raging of epic proportions.

Clumpy, well-smeared bird droppings are just about everywhere at the northeast corner of East College Avenue and South Allen Street.

They started to fall like a daily shower sometime early last month. For reasons unknown, hundreds of crows began roosting in the trees there at night.

So far, they haven’t stopped. But they have left their mark — slippery and wet under foot, streaked across public benches and street lamps, a foul topping for new-fallen snow.

So what is deal ol State going to do about these foul mannered rivals invading Happy Valley?

OPP crews for the past few weeks have used power washers to scrub the
sidewalks clean. They also deployed biological cleaning agents to “remove debris and reduce odor,” Ruskin said. Penn State’s pest-fighting contractor, Terminix, is expected to deploy a thermal fogger over several days. The device sounds like a leaf blower and pumps out a nontoxic fogging agent, Ruskin said. He said it won’t hurt the crows but that “we hope to annoy them enough that they go away.”

Is there a more toxic version we can place in front of the football offices and ‘fog out’ Jay Paterno? There you have it, either Penn State will finally beat a pesky rival or we will continue to be held hostage by these beasts in the trees.

Before I go, I’m actually going to throw my premature support in favor of Indiana between the two rivals tonight. First of all, Indiana could use a pick me up. The Spartan win was good, but a win tonight means so much more. If Indiana manages to put away the Boilermakers late in the fourth, the Hoosier faithful will roar their approval to epic proportions if only just to vent off all the frustration they have felt over the past two weeks. I’m talking when Duke last played at Assembly Hall loud. I’ve visited Assembly Hall last year for the final home game against Penn State last year and the venue and its fans are a sight to behold. Unlike Michigan Stadium’s uppity full of themselves fans, or the hell hounds of Ohio State, Indiana fans treated us with respect and even laughed when we tried to be rowdy. There’s just no price you can put on classy fans these days. So for that, I have become a Hoosier fan second to Penn State and I shall be rooting for them to beat the Boilers tonight and carry the Big Ten’s banner into the tournament.

	Team	Record (Conference)	Alpha (last week)	Explanation
1	Purdue	21-5 (12-1)		They just keep on winning, its almost amazing. There is that big showdown at Indiana (#2) coming up this week though. Winner of of the IU-PU rivalry will probably determine Big Ten champion. Purdue gets the nod over the Hoosiers this week because they managed to beat the Badgers who in turn beat the Hoosiers.
2	Indiana	21-4 (10-2)		Indiana is a good team. Their dismantaling of the Spartans (#4) during a chaotic period in Hoosierland clearly proves it. But Michigan State also lost to Iowa (#6) and Penn State (#9) so how good are they exactly?
3	Wisconsin	21-4 (11-2)		Wisconsin managed to beat Indiana, but it was off of a Brian Butch game winning 3 so it exactly isn’t a telling sign of their ability to beat the Hoosiers 9 out of 10 times. Indiana did blow out Michigan State at home and that is why they get the nod over the Badgers.
4	Michigan State	20-5 (8-4)		Michigan State is on a slippery slope downhill with 2 loses this week to Purdue (#1) and Indiana (#2). With Penn State up next at home however, they will easily get back on track. Can the Lions pull off a bigger upset of the Spartans in East Lansing?
5	Ohio State	17-9 (8-5)		Ohio State is and continues to be on the tournament bubble but the loss to Michigan was crippling. The Big Ten looks to be a 5 bid tournament conference at best and Ohio State continues to provide reasons to critics as to why only 4 should qualify.
6	Iowa	11-15 (4-9)		Iowa marks the start of the ‘bad’ tier of teams from the Big Ten. 2 losses this week to Minnesota (#7) and Michigan (#8) does not exactly scream NIT tournament worthy either.
7	Minnesota	15-9 (5-7)		Minnesota beats Penn State (#9), Penn State beats Illinois (#10), Illinois destroys Minnesota by 24. How exactly can we begin to rank teams at this point.
8	Michigan	8-17 (4-9)		Michigan gets the #8 spot for their upset of the Buckeyes and having beat Penn State earlier in the season.
9	Penn State	12-12 (4-8)		Penn State gets a 1 point win against the Illini. The last time the Lions swept the Fighting Illini in one season? Never since their inception into the Big Ten. Their week gets tougher with games @ Michigan State (#4), and @ Minnesota (#7).
10	Illinois	11-15 (3-10)		They beat Minnesota by 24 then they lose to the Lions by 1. Go figure.
11	Northwestern	7-16 (0-12)		Utterly hopeless…

Lions by the Numbers:

14 : consecutive wins by the #2 men’s volleyball team after beating Princeton 3-0 on Saturday to remain undefeated
9 : out of 10 bouts won by the #9 wrestling team against Purdue in their last home match of the season
7 : game losing streak by the Lady Lions; the longest in Penn State history. What do we expect when we take coaches from the Irish
6 : goal difference in the 2 wins by the Penn State Icers over Navy and Delaware
1 : First time the mighty Fighting Illini have been swept by the Lions in basketball

1. As a general question, evaluate your recruiting class. Is it more or less what you expected, were you pleasantly surprised or horribly, horribly disappointed? Were your team’s needs adequately addressed or will you be starting a two star running back at center next year?

First off, Penn State hasn’t had a recruiting class with less than 15 commits since 2001 when they had 11. This year we hauled in 14 with a potential jewel of a 15th in Pryor so I am satisfied but not excited with this year’s recruiting class.
I would have definitely preferred a few more wide receivers seeing as we lose Williams and Butler to graduation and/or NFL next year, but with the limited amount of scholarships we could have offered this year, we got what essentially were the basics. Great linebackers and a decent running back in Brandon Beachum will carry Penn State a long way in the following years.

2. Who were the big catches in your recruiting class? Name two players matriculating to your school whose existence everyone else in the Big Ten will curse for the next four years.

Michael Mauti will make his mark in the linebacking lore of Penn State. And it would be a lie to say Big Ten coaches haven’t had nightmares of Penn State linebackers since their inception into the conference. Mauti will simply be another name they will curse the night before playing Penn State. It was simply shocking to see that Penn State actually recruited Mauti from Louisiana considering our track record with Southern recruits NOT from Florida. But Mauti actually turned some heads when he played in the US Army All-American game.

A second would be Jack Crawford. Penn State has always been adequate in developing defensive ends and with 4.5 speed, Jack Crawford should be a beast coming around the corner flushing quarterbacks out of the pocket. With offers from Ohio State, Minnesota, Michigan, Rutgers and Boston College, Crawford was a good steal out of New Jersey.

3. You can’t win them all. Maybe some slick talking carpetbagger schmoozed his way into your living room, sold you a set of ginzu knives made out of tin foil, and walked off with your wife and your star recruit. Perhaps an in-state lock who grew up with [Insert University Here] posters on his wall and your coach’s face tattooed on his arm decided to go elsewhere for reasons no one seems to understand? Did your recruiting class lose someone big on signing day, who was it, and was your school able to yoink someone else to cover his loss?

This one’s easy. The loss of Michael Shaw to Michigan hurt. More so than most Lion fans will admit. But with junior Evan Royster, sophomore Stephfon Green (an all star recruit last year), and junior Brent Carter waiting for their turn, Penn State should be set at the position for next year, but the loss of a big name, highly ranked recruit always hurts.

But surprisingly the biggest recruit we lost out on simply because we didn’t go all out on this kid was Darrel Scott. This might seem contradictory seeing as I just mentioned that we are not desperate for a running back recruit, but a 4.4, 200 pound running back who scored 45 touchdowns his junior year is always good for any program. He was actually considering Penn State in addition to his final two choices of Colorado and Texas, but as usual Penn State rarely puts forth any effort in recruiting out of the Northeastern zone and we fell out of his radar rather quickly.

4. There’s been a spirited debate about this whole “Coaches’ Code” among the members of the Big Ten coaching fraternity. Do you believe this exists or is it a line being floated by the guys who couldn’t keep their recruiting classes together? Bonus points for declaring your coach a poacher or a poachee in creative fashion!

I made it clear how I felt about Rich Rod in a recent post for stealing 2 recruits from fellow conference members and was simply dismissed as sour grapes by fellow bloggers. But lets face it, stealing recruits from conference members is in fact much worse than taking them away from other schools out-of-conference. Why? Because these are the same people you have to meet, greet and hang out with annually and more often than once. Its like the idea of not taking a shit where you sleep. But Brian at Mgoblog pointed out instances where coaches have ’stolen’ recruits and I’d like to note that all of Penn States’ steals have been from out-of-conference rivals so at least Joe Paterno can look at his fellow conference coaches in the face at the Big Ten banquet without his peers feeling the need to punch his face in. What Michigan fans point out is true, anything goes when it comes to recruiting, but there is indeed an honor code which has in turn been translated into ‘coaches code’ between Big Ten coaches. This is the same honor code that coaches honor when they punt the ball being up by at least 2 possessions and begin running the ball when they’re up by a bit in the fourth. Its not a written contract, its just a show of respect. Rich Rod obviously did not get the memo when he fled West Virginia in the dead of the night, a classic move by a classy guy.

5. Finally, who’s the slickest, smoovest, most Billy Dee Williamsesque recruiter in the Big Ten? Who’s the worst, most incompetent, “trip over the flat tire on his Yugo” recruiter in the Big Ten?

The slickest has to be Jim Tressel. Do not tell me winning the Big Ten recruiting wars 3 years running is not a testament to his ability to recruit. Yes the 2 national title trips have helped, but he needed recruits to get him there, and he obviously got them prior to the last 2 title debacles. With two title trips in 2 years now on his resume, the only way he could possibly elevate his ability to recruit is if he rolled up in an Aston martin.

On the opposite end of the spectrum has to be (drumroll…) Kirk Frentz. Yes, he gets the most out of his recruits, but after a successful few years in the early years of this century, he was still unable to keep the momentum going. And you can’t tell me Iowa is a much harder place to ask football players to attend than Illinois, frigid Minnesota and Northwestern. Yet those coaches seem to haul in a few big name recruits while Iowa just seemed to have plateaued. Hell even Iowa State is doing better than Iowa.

You’ve got to feel bad for the Indiana basketball program. Penn State fans have never been accused of, or even mentioned in the same breath as any violations minor or major, but Indiana basketball deserves so much better. When they forced Mike Davis out the door in 2006, Indiana basically sold their soul to the devil. Mike Davis was a man of integrity and character but in the end, those did not translate into wins and Hoosier nation had enough of mediocrity.

Instead of promoting from within the program, the Hoosiers were desperate for a man to bring quick success to a once proud program. They took a risk in hiring Kelvin Sampson from Oklahoma where he guided the Sooner program to eight 20-win seasons and 10 NCAA appearances. Kelvin Sampson had no ties to the tradition rich Hoosier basketball program, and his hire screamed desperation by Indiana University. Unfortunately Kelvin Sampson was already in trouble with the NCAA for breaking the rules during his time at Oklahoma. By hiring Sampson, Indiana was clearly more desperate than they should have been.

Now they are suffering the consequences. Kelvin Sampson is a serial rule breaker and can’t weasel his way out of this one. I take no pleasure in the beaten state of the Hoosier program, but I do feel a ‘I told you so’ is on order. I was not happy with the way they forced out Mike Davis simply because he wasn’t winning as much. Coincidently his forced resignation came the day after losing at Penn State in 2006, giving the impression that it was such a low point in Indiana basketball that he could no longer continue coaching.

Penn State’s Ed DeChellis has never been associated with winning, but he will never be accused of any NCAA violations during his tenure here simply because he represents the Penn State way. Joe Paterno might not be winning like he used to, but he too will never be accused of any violations as long as he is the head of the football program.

So the question now, is it worth the risk to go after a shady character of a coach simply for the wins and risk embarrassing your athletic program or continue to accept mediocrity as long as integrity is involved? Indiana clearly made its choice of the former by hiring Kelvin Sanctions from Oklahoma when they could have gone with a safer choice. But Kelvin Sampson was a winner, his record guaranteed it and Indiana was so starved for wins that nothing else could stand in its way. With Kelvin Sampson’s firing imminent, where does Indiana go from here?

More importantly, with all the talk about Joe Paterno’s retirement, how does Penn State learn from this Indiana fiasco. There is no doubt Penn State is starved for another title shot, any title shot, but are we as a fan willing to go to the depths of hell and give away our soul simply for a coach who will do everything at any cost to get us back there? Or do we stick to tradition and promote from within, most likely Galen Hall or Tom Bradley. Both are exceptional assistant coaches, but if we can’t get to a title game with them already on the staff, what are the odds we will once they take over? Its time for Penn State to make their decision, and lets hope we don’t pull an Indiana on this one.

We’ve been getting snow and lots of it here at State College the last couple of days. And when you mix snow, lots of snow and Penn State you get:

in-bred trash from the backwards state of West Virginia

In a recent post, I managed to make mention of the state of West Virginia in referring to the backhanded ways of Rich Rod, the state’s native son. The way I made mention of the state however, was intended to be more descriptive of the dirty man himself, but in a vent of fury, tossed the entire state into the blender. That was clearly not a fair assessment on my part and the state deserves better than such whimsical criticism or to be associated any longer with a man like Rich Rod.

Congratulations to Purdue for beating the Spartans. I was at the Penn State upset of the Spartans a few weeks ago, and they seemed to have the same bewildered look at the end of the game when they slowly lost control. This Michigan State team won’t be making it deep into the tournament this year but I fear that Purdue won’t either. I’m glad they are doing really well this year in the Big Ten, but their youth will show come tournament time when they face good quality teams day in and day out in grind it out matches. But I’ll still be rooting for the Big Ten as always come March. (Explains why I never win the betting pool).

In 1987, Southern Methodist University, a WAC conference team was handed the NCAA ‘death penalty’ because 21 players received approximately $61,000 in cash payments from a booster while they were on probation for another violation. The penalty was downright shocking. A loss of 55 new scholarships over 4 years, loss of 3 coaching positions for 2 years, cancellation of the 1987 season and a limit of only 7 games (all on the road) for the 88′ season, and a 2 year bowl, TV ban. The consequences of the penalty was so severe that the school voluntarily canceled the 88′ season as a lost cause.

Now fast forward to 2008. 21 years after the dreaded SMU ‘death penalty’, the NCAA is faced with yet another possible headache. After an eight month investigation by Yahoo! Sports, it has been revealed that USC Heisman winning running back Reggie Bush has been receiving improper benefits during the 2 years he attended the university, 1 of which when they won the national championship. This was not one isolated incident where Reggie Bush was given money, but a 2 year long history of improper benefits for Reggie as well as his immediate family members. Documented records show:

• $595.20 in round-trip airfare from San Diego to Oakland in November 2005 for Bush’s stepfather, LaMar Griffin, his mother, Denise Griffin and younger brother to attend the USC-California game at Berkeley. The fees were charged to the credit card of Jamie Fritz, an employee of Ornstein. The document detailing the charges was provided by Lee Pfeifer, an estranged business associate of Ornstein’s.
• $250.65 for limousine transportation from the Oakland airport to the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco that November weekend for the Bush family, charged to Fritz, according to a document. Ornstein acknowledged both he and Bush’s family stayed at the luxury hotel.
• Suits for Bush’s stepfather and brother to wear during the Dec. 10, 2005 Heisman ceremony in New York, a makeover for his mother for the event and limousine transportation;
• Weekly payments of at least $1,500 to the Bush family.
• $623.63 for a hotel stay by Bush at the Venetian Resort & Casino in Las Vegas from March 11-13, 2005, charged to Michaels, according to a document signed by Bush.
• $1,574.86 for a stay by Bush at the Manchester Hyatt in San Diego from March 4-6, 2005, paid for by Michaels, according to a hotel document, a hotel employee and a source.
• Approximately $13,000 to Bush from New Era to purchase and modify a car, three sources said.
• As reported by Yahoo! Sports in April, $54,000 in rent-free living for a year at Michaels’ $757,500 home in Spring Valley, Calif., according to Michaels and San Diego attorney Brian Watkins.
• Also from previous Yahoo! reports, $28,000 from Michaels to help Bush’s family settle pre-existing debt, according to Michaels and Watkins.
• Thousands of dollars in spending money to both Bush and his family from the prospective agents, according to multiple sources.

So why the hold up? This has been in the news and even redocumented in the book ‘Tarnished Heisman’ in even greater detail and Reggie Bush still cannot be forced to talk. The NCAA isn’t exactly a beacon of consistency when it comes to handing out sanctions for similar crimes which is also why the outcry of anger from fans across the country alleging bias by the NCAA towards USC and protecting their modern dynasty. Such allegations may actually be based on some truth.

In 1989, Oklahoma State was levied with a 2 year TV ban, 3 year bowl ban, and loss of 5 new scholarships for 3 years for 1 athlete receiving cash payments and a sports car at no cost during his first 2 years with the team.

Then in 1996, Florida State was given no sanctions when players were taken by prospective agents on a documented $6000 shopping spree at Foot Locker including dinner outings and small cash payments. The difference? The NCAA found little evidence of the school’s knowledge or participation during the violations.

Well that makes sense, Florida State knew nothing of the violations when they happened if they found no evidence of it many of you will say. Well, in USC’s case, it is well known that sports agents wander Heritage Hall where USC’s athletics offices are located:

according to a Los Angeles Times story that documented the rampant presence of agents at USC during the 2005 season.

In January, according to the Times, USC offensive line coach Pat Ruel surveyed the lobby outside the football offices and saw more than a dozen unfamiliar faces.

Furthermore, sources told Yahoo! Sports that representatives of a fledging marketing firm from which Bush and his family allegedly received improper benefits were allowed in the USC locker room during the 2005 season.

Sources also said USC running backs coach Todd McNair knew of Bush’s involvement with the marketing firm before last season’s national championship game against Texas.

So once again I ask. WHAT’s THE HOLDUP?

NCAA by-law 12.3.1.2 states that an athlete shall be deemed ineligible if he or she accepts benefits from agents or marketing representatives. The rule further states that student-athletes, their family or friends cannot receive benefits or loans from agents. Additionally, NCAA by-law 12.1.2.1.6 states that athletes cannot receive preferential treatment, benefits or services because of the individual’s athletics reputation or skill or pay-back potential as a professional athlete, unless such treatment, benefits or services are specifically permitted under NCAA legislation.

The rules are clear, there is obviously financial records available if Yahoo! Sports can find them, how is the NCAA unable to find sufficient evidence of wrongdoing? I am not rooting for the death penalty (though because they are not already under probation, it does not apply), but I am asking for a fair sanction, any sanction to be handed down. Why should anyone be bent up over something that happened a few years ago? Because while everyone had to win by the rules, USC reaped the benefits of an athlete being pampered and basically paid during his years at USC. He may single handedly be the reason why they won some of the games they did, Fresno State 05′, Notre Dame 05′, etc. So while everyone was running the marathon in their standard sneakers, USC took a taxi to the finish line. So you better bet that I’m pissed and want blood.