As easy, enjoyable and ultimately useless as it would be to complain about the change, this is so much better.
And, while it’s not something that resonates with me, at least it’s honest.
Forget about “Success with Honor.” It’s “Success … However” these days at Penn State — and it existed before two separate NIL groups trying to support Penn State athletics finally agreed to do the logical and necessary thing and unite last week.
It’s now Happy Valley United, for those of you who want to donate so football players already receiving a scholarship, a stipend for cost of attendance, Pell grants if they’re eligible, free books, training table access and healthcare can get an extra five figures or so a year to make ends meet because they wear a blue-and-white uniform. Of course, they only get NIL support for doing “community service,” which is why groundbreakings and octogenarian birthday parties not far from campus have been so well attended lately.
Still, it’s not really about NIL (and the group will support more than football players, but you get the point and that’s a column for another day). “However” is about a mentality — a do-what’s-necessary, keep-up-with-the-Alabamas-and-Ohio States mindset that’s rooted in reality. Without an aggressive and organized collective supporting Penn State’s revenue-producing sports, without facility upgrades and without embracing transfers, it’ll be harder to win. Everyone else across the conference and country is investing, re-recruiting and spending, after all.
It’s not selling out, either. A collective and those investments represent necessary business these days. Then again, with a recent (and correct) IRS opinion that collectives are not nonprofits, maybe we’re moving closer to what’s really happening: pay-for-play, another level of pro spots. For me, I already have pro teams so no thanks on that approach on a college campus — although that’s probably a minority view.
The previously preached mentality was “Success with Honor,” and there was some reality there as well.
As it was initially conceived (or pitched), it was about student-athletes, community, loyalty, shared values and, supposedly, a little more than winning and losing. Now, in fairness, it was as much public relations and spin as it was a guiding principle or requirement. It had some truth in its roots, though, and it sure sounded good.
It certainly sounded better to Penn Staters than those who were not part of the Nittany Nation. Just ask someone from Pitt.
To that person, and to appropriately cynical members of the national media, “Success with Honor” always sounded a little holier than thou — and Penn Staters were generally blind to that reaction. They dismissed anyone who viewed the spin as negative. They minimized them because they didn’t get it or because their program was not capable of operating in that manner.
Penn State seems to have gone all in with the updated approach, and that’s OK. The examples are everywhere, including:
- money-making efforts around Beaver Stadium with the Legacy Plaza (bricks costing $350-$1,000 outside the south endzone) and Tunnel Club (an exclusive pregame location inside the stadium costing $10,000 a year for four passes per game and some additional events) as well as a movie night and yoga in the stadium (which are more about access and feel-good vibes than revenue);
- an ever-expanding and ever-spending football program that recently added a director of high school relations;
- a men’s basketball roster that feels like a real-live version of “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh” as the incoming coach seeks to put a competitive and interesting team on the floor in his first season;
- a starting five of additions to the women’s basketball team via transfers as the existing coach seeks (and maybe needs) to put a competitive and interesting team on the floor in her fifth season; and
- three transfers, with two as likely starters, joining the defending national champion wrestling team as a proven coach seeks to continue one of the most successful dynasties on college sports.
Maybe every one of the additions are the greatest people in the world — grounded, hardworking and ready to add to Penn State’s long tradition of success and establish their own legacy at the university at the same time. If so, that would be great. Plus, as a season ticket holder for at least one of those teams and a casual fan of the others, it might be fun to watch.
In my lifetime the closest Penn State men’s basketball got to Georgetown or North Carolina was a tightly contested game once a decade. More likely it was back-to-back scores scrolling across ESPN’s Bottom Line, depending on the schedule that night.
Now, the Nittany Lions have a small handful of players who started their college careers as blue-chip recruits at those blueblood schools who’ll be playing for them. That might be something.
It’s certainly qualifies as “However,” a necessary approach if the athletic department wants its teams to compete on even ground with other teams. It makes sense — just as it does with the examples above and many not included in that brief list.
Some words from Steve Jones, the longtime football and men’s basketball play-by-play man and overall Penn State Athletics ambassador, ring in my mind regarding all the changes.
When he was asked what he wanted in the next men’s basketball coach before the position was filled, he said he wanted someone who wanted to be here as much as he did. To me, that leans more toward “Honor” than “However,” and it’s the right perspective. At least it’s the one that’s been dominant in my Penn State lifetime.
Maybe some Penn State fans were naïve or too loyal, which would be a surprise because I usually lean toward cynical. Still, with all the changes driven by a necessity to compete, maybe we’ve reached a place where we can at least be honest with ourselves.
It might be hard to hear, but it’s true. Penn State is not all that different from other places. Sports are a big business. There will always be some feel-good, person-next-door, overcome-the-odds stories as we move forward. But if there are more of those than wins, the folks in charge might not be in charge for long.
So maybe we can all agree to drop the holier-than-thou “Honor” stuff and embrace success “However” it comes.
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