New allegations are emerging regarding the Penn State football team, specifically head coach James Franklin and his involvement in the firing of former Director of Sports Medicine Dr. Scott Lynch. Lynch is suing the university for wrongful termination, claiming he was fired after multiple clashes with Franklin over his refusal to give players a medical clearance before he and his staff believed they had recovered.
While the testimony that Franklin interfered with student-athletes’ well-being is significant, other allegations from within the program came to light Thursday that are far more reprehensible than trying to get athletes back on the field before they were able to do so.
Dr. Pete Seidenberg, who was the head physician for the Penn State football team, He made a sworn statement that a player who was once under his coaching had attempted suicide. He died while attempting to jump from an open window. The player, who has not been named, was stopped and referred to a doctor for mental health treatment and was briefly hospitalized for psychiatric care.
Seidenberg alleges that rather than showing concern for the player or providing emotional support, Franklin and former athletic director Sandy Barbour worked to have him medically removed from the team, which could have resulted in his athletic scholarship being revoked and potentially reassigned to another player.
The doctor further testified that both he and Dr. Lynch had not complied with the demands of the coaches and AD, citing a pattern of win-at-all-costs behavior uncovered during the trial that would have resulted in the cancellation of a player’s scholarship before he had a chance to recover. This is yet another example of the pattern of win-at-all-costs behavior uncovered during the trial and once again shows a lack of consideration for athletes at Penn State.
Pressuring doctors to take players off the field early is nothing new in football — it’s the main reason the NFL began using independent medical staff to diagnose concussions on the sidelines in 2011. The protocol is still being revised and amended annually to ensure that team pressure doesn’t lead to players being forced back onto the field before it’s safe to do so.
Targeting athletes in mental health crisis It’s something completely different.Deciding it would be prudent to revoke a scholarship from an already vulnerable player who had attempted suicide would add additional pressure and potentially impact his mental state, further highlighting that Franklin views players as nothing more than a commodity.
These new allegations are fundamentally different from the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal, but they are rooted in the same core principle that the football team is more important than literally anything else.
Barber, who became Penn State’s AD in the wake of the Sandusky scandal, is set to retire from the school in 2022. Franklin remains a central figure in the football program, which has seen great success during his tenure. But those victories mean nothing if the players and students aren’t taken care of. And this ongoing trial shows that continued lack of care.
The NCAA and Big Ten are likely waiting for the legal process to be completed, even though this is a civil lawsuit. Neither organization has issued a statement at this time, but if further allegations come to light, especially if former medical staff testify, that could lead to new penalties against the team.
This is unacceptable and the school should be ashamed once again.
