POLL: Should Franco Harris Pursue Leniency for PSU Sanctions?
The Steelers legend, PSU alumni and Hall of Fame running back wants the NCAA to consider reinstating at least six years of the late Joe Paterno’s wins.
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Franco Harris has consistently defended the late Joe Paterno in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
Now, Harris of Sewickley is on a mission to get the NCAA board members to lift some sanctions against Penn State University.
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, the former Pittsburgh Steelers running back began individually visiting the 18 NCAA board members on Tuesday hoping to find leniency for Penn State.
Harris told the Trib he believes the NCAA’s sanctions--which included a $60 million fine and the elimination of 111 victories from 1998 to 2011--were a rush to judgment against Penn State and former head coach Paterno.
University trustees accepted the sanctions, which were based on former FBI Director Louis Freeh's report that Paterno and other top university officials concealed allegations about Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant coach convicted in June for molesting 10 boys. Harris and other PSU alum have called the report "highly flawed."
Harris is asking the board to consider reinstating at least six years of Paterno’s wins because during the first three years law enforcement cleared Sandusky, and in the final three years, the matter was in the hands of the state attorney general.
How do you feel about Harris' mission to reinstate some glory to Penn State? Should he pursue the sanctions? Do you think he'll be successful? Take our poll!
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Gary
3:38 pm on Thursday, September 6, 2012
I don't know what the board was thinking in the first place... Fact are facts, and wins are wins. I could see if he (or should I say they) were caught cheating. The reason I say "they" is because that's who the board ended up hurting- all the kids that played hard to win those games.