One man’s humiliation is another man’s opportunity.
By the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s recent punishment of Pennsylvania State University the school has all its football wins since 1998 erased and has to pay a $60 million fine.
The punishment also means that the school will eliminate certain athletic scholarships and all the football players can transfer and play for other schools.
And so some coaches are going shopping. According to a piece by Erik Malinowski at Deadspin:
It’s practically open season on Penn State’s football roster, as far as other Division I coaches are concerned. Any current Penn State player can transfer without penalty, and so long as another team has a scholarship opening, then all that’s needed is a handshake.
Enter University of Southern California vampire Football Coach Lane Kiffin:
And no college football coach is readier to shake some hands than ol’ Lane Kiffin, who knows a thing or two about playing through NCAA sanctions. Gosh, he’d just love to offer up Penn State coach Bill O’Brien some words of wisdom. Of course, what he really wants is a running back. For example, Penn State junior Silas Redd, who averaged 140 yards rushing a game last season on his way to 1,241, the 10th-highest total in school history. You know, hypothetically.
Kiffin recently praised Penn State coach Bill O’Brien and apparently even offered O’Brien advice (what advice would be useful to O’Brien at this point?).
While NCAA rules don’t actually allow Kiffin to publicly say “I want Silas Redd on my team, now” everyone knows that’s exactly what he’s angling for.
Someone could really come out of the Penn State scandal very well off.
