Three Stars: May 13-19

Billy Downey (left) and Guy Gadowsky (right) both earned stars this week. But not Bryce Johnson.

3. @Billy_Downey
(Twitter)

It wouldn't be Director of Hockey Ops Billy Downey's Twitter account if it wasn't dropping some nice insider photos on everyone with exciting regularity. Linked above: Pegula Ice Arena's RapidShot Training System (more or less exactly what you think it is - a way to practice shooting off the ice and with the aid of high-tech gadgetry), which was installed last week.

Another recent Downey tweet showed off the arena's scoreboard, which was lowered on Friday so that speakers could be installed.

2. 2013 Draft Blog: Eamon McAdam Pt.4
2013 ISS Draft Rankings: May
(The Pipeline Show)

Eamon McAdam (now that the incoming freshmen have all been formally introduced, I'm going to stop slapping "2013 recruit" in front of them) continues to be all systems go for the NHL Entry Draft in June. He's retained his number three ranking among draft-eligible goaltenders from ISS, and also penned a fourth blog entry for TPS in which he recaps the end of his junior career with the Waterloo Black Hawks while also looking ahead to his schedule over the next few weeks - the draft combine, tryouts for next year's World Junior Championships team and of course, the start of summer classes at Penn State.

1. Q&A with Guy Gadowsky
(Lions 247)

I'd encourage everyone to read Andrew Dzurita's interview with Guy Gadowsky, but it's behind a pay wall. So... what to do?

I've seen people reference rules related to copy/pasting excerpts of pay articles that permit doing it on a limited basis, but am ignorant as to any commonly-accepted specifics concerning word counts, percentages or content. Also, I subscribed to Lions 247 for the sole purpose of reading this one article (and as someone who knows myself well, I probably won't cancel until I'm broke). So with those two things in mind, I don't think I'm committing some gross blogger ethical violation in sharing three of the 13 questions Dzurita asked. I'll even toss in a plug: I think Lions 247 is easily the best of the major-network un-free Penn State sites, so if you're going to pay for one, make it that one. Particularly since the others never have much of anything about hockey.

Of course, I didn't select the three questions at random, I picked those that involve Gadowsky saying things you may not have heard him say before (in other words, I deliberately skipped queries related to PSU's fan support, the Big Ten's toughness and whether last season met expectations). Is that crossing a line? Probably. Oh well.

---

Lions247: What's been the biggest challenge for you going out and recruiting?

Guy Gadowsky: I think it's the unknown. We're going up against programs who have a long-standing tradition of not only college success but alumni success in the NHL and so on. We're unknown. You can talk about the league, but it hasn't happened yet. You can talk about the arena, but we haven't seen it yet.

Lions247: You're getting some quality recruits, but on the whole have kids you've talked to been skeptical of trying to build a program from the ground up?

Guy Gadowsky: Some recruits are really hungry to be a part of building something, and I understand that very well. I think our captain Tommy Olczyk had a really good idea of the big picture of the pride it takes to build this program. Then there are other recruits who have the mindset of wanting to go into a program who already has the tradition in place. We have to get the right person for sure.

Lions247: I know you can't speak specifically on non-conference opponents before all the contracts are signed, but in general what is your scheduling philosophy?

Guy Gadowsky: I think you never really know, to be honest. A school like U-Mass Lowell wasn't a team who consistently gets to the Frozen Four and last year they did. So I think it also depends on the year, but our goal is to play great Division I opponents. We're listening to everybody and trying to provide the best Division I experience.

---

Does that last answer all but confirm that PSU is playing Lowell this year? I'm pretty satisfied that there's a critical mass of smoke there, but feel free to make your own call - between this and the message board rumor, you know everything I do about it.

Best of the Rest

SI Delves Into Penn State's Athletic Medical Staff
(Black Shoe Diaries)

In case you're one of the two Penn Staters who hasn't heard yet, Sports Illustrated took a giant dump on Athletic Director Dave Joyner in their latest issue (on newsstands now!), so I'm probably not doing my fake, unpaid job if I don't link something about it. I picked BSD because I thought it did a good job of overview, discussing both the initial story and PSU's response, while also taking a much-appreciated neutral stance and refraining from the blind Joyner/Board of Trustees bashing or #OneTeam/move forward flag waving that dominates so many discussions in the Penn State community these days.

The story has nothing to do with hockey, just the guy in charge of hockey and the rest of the athletic department and his decisions related to medical coverage for football. And it will probably blow over shortly, if it hasn't already, because there's not any firm evidence of wrongdoing by the university. Just a lot of in-fighting.

Brett Larson Joins OSU Staff as Associate Head Coach
(ohiostatebuckeyes.com)

This one goes a bit beyond the typical "update the masses on a Big Ten coaching staff addition" entry, because new Ohio State Associate Head Coach Brett Larson's previous job was as the head coach and general manager of the USHL's Sioux City Musketeers. While there, he tutored PSU goalie Matt Skoff and forward David Goodwin. As Larson started with the Muskies in 2011-2012, he just missed Tommy Olczyk (who was with the Icers that season), but I'll make an insane leap and guess that there's some familiarity there as well. Prior to the two USHL seasons, Larson assisted at Minnesota-Duluth for three, a stint that involved working with new OSU head coach Steve Rohlik. In case you needed the connection.

NHL 14 cover vote: Wayne Simmonds saves us all, beats Evgeni Malkin
(Broad Street Hockey)

Had Penn State football not re-set the bar on "bad offseason" for all eternity not too long ago, Cal Vulcans hockey would have a credible case for it. If you read these posts, you already know about the massive pot bust of now-former players Jesse and Steven Powell on April 16th, which resulted in the entire program's suspension, subsequently lifted a couple weeks ago.

Now we have the tale of former Cal player Corey Briggs. Last week, Briggs reacted to the Flyers' Wayne Simmonds - who is black, if you didn't know - eliminating the Penguins' Evgeni Malkin in an online vote-based tournament to determine the player on the cover of the next video game in EA's NHL series by tweeting that "if that [f-ing] [racial slur beginning with "c"] is on the cover in [sic] selling my equipment." Then he was decidedly less than remorseful when called out as the racist idiot that he is. As things turned out, Briggs left school and the Vulcans' program in December, but given that...

1. ...he was still listed on the roster at the time,
2. his Twitter avatar was (he deleted his account) a photo of him in a Cal jersey,
3. his father works for the team, helping to coordinate its recruiting and scouting efforts, and
4. the whole thing was publicized by a pretty well-read website...

...it still caused plenty of embarrassment for a program that was probably hoping to lay low for a while.

Your 2013-14 Illinois Big Ten Hockey Schedule
(The Champaign Room)

On a lighter note and elsewhere in the SB Nation network, here are Illinois' thoughts on the release of the Big Ten schedule a couple weeks ago.

And remember kids, no matter what a stripper tells you, there's no sex in The Champaign Room.

Johnstown continues to embrace hockey
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

The wave of good press for the NAHL's Johnstown Tomahawks in the wake of their first season in central Pennsylvania is still going strong.

Dallas Stars relieve Glen Gulutzan and Paul Jerrard of coaching duties
(dallasstars.com)

The Dallas Stars' firing of Glen Gulutzan last week severed (at least temporarily) one of the more prominent limbs of the Guy Gadowsky coaching tree. Gadowsky coached him with the defunct Fresno Falcons of the defunct WCHL in 1996-1997 and in 1998-1999 before moving into the college ranks with Alaska. It wasn't an insignificant pair of seasons for Gulutzan - in an interview after being hired by the Stars in 2011, he cited Gadowsky as one of his coaching influences.

Justin Kirchhevel was at UAA when an alleged incident involving former coach Dave Shyiak occurred

UAA coach accused of hitting player with hockey stick
(Anchorage Daily News)

I don't think I've done a thorough enough job discussing the utter clusterstorm that is Alaska-Anchorage hockey right now, so starting at the beginning...

1. UAA coach Dave Shyiak was fired in late March after a four-win season and seven mostly-terrible ones preceding it. In addition to lots and lots of losing, several players transferred out, including two (Justin Kirchhevel and Eric Scheid) who wound up at Penn State.
2. A committee to find Shyiak's replacement was formed and by mid-April four finalists were determined. Receptions were set up for Seawolves hockey alumni and the general public to meet the finalists, ask questions and register opinions. I had never heard of such events, but was told that it's not uncommon after jokingly asking the number to text in a vote and when the results show was to air. Penn State, apparently, can still go further on the whole "transparency" thing.
3. Almost immediately, the Alaska State Hockey Association and the UAA hockey alumni issued separate votes of no confidence in athletic director Steve Cobb. Both groups, more or less, were concerned with the state of the program and upset that they didn't have more say in the coaching search.
4. Despite being near the finish line, the entire coaching search process was started over on May 7th, with a new committee that included (surprise!) more UAA hockey alumni. The application period this second time around just closed on Friday.
5. The second committee will develop a list of finalists, who will then be added to the finalists from the first group. A combination of both committees will then come up with a recommendation for Cobb, who hopes to have the new coach in place by June 15th. What could possibly go wrong there? For whatever it's worth, three of the original four finalists have said they remain interested, while the fourth - Michigan Tech assistant Damon Whitten - has apparently pulled out. I'm going to go ahead and call Whitten the smartest of the four.

Which brings us up to the news at hand: former Seawolves forward Mickey Spencer, corroborated by two anonymous former teammates, alleges that Shyiak went Mike Rice on forward Nick Haddad during a practice on January 11, 2011.

"He tomahawked, lumber-jacked -- whatever you want to call it -- him across the thigh on his (hockey) pants,'' Spencer said. "We knew this wasn't a small deal, it's kind of a big deal. I've seen a coach break a stick over a goalpost or the glass because he's pissed about something, but I've never seen one take out his anger on a player.''

Spencer also claims that Shyiak later instructed the team to keep quiet about the incident.

The coach, through his attorney, does not deny contacting Haddad with a stick but disputes the nature and force of it, saying he was simply trying to get the player's attention. Haddad, for his part, seems to fall somewhere between Shyiak and Spencer in his recollection, saying that the act crossed the line, but that he and Shyiak made up shortly after and he considered it a dead issue at that point. A criminal investigation has been opened, but the guess here is that it gets about as far as the internal investigation conducted at the time of the incident. I mean, the alleged victim thinks it's "ridiculous," so...

Kirchhevel, by the way, was a member of the Seawolves during 2010-2011. Wonder what he thinks or knows about it.

Kurtz Joins PSU as Special Assistant

Morris Kurtz coached the Icers as they became the first collegiate team to play in Europe in 1976

Morris Kurtz, who coached the Icers to a 24-6-1 record from 1974-1976, has been hired by Penn State as a special assistant for athletic operations and will start Monday, as reported by the St. Cloud (MN) Times.

“I started talking with them because I still had a lot of friends from my time there,” Kurtz said. “It was just a progressive type of thing. I was thrilled at the opportunity. Penn State’s been significant for me. I met my wife in Happy Valley. It gave me the foundation that allowed me to eventually springboard to St. Cloud State.

“We never thought hockey would become a Division I sport. It was a pipe dream back when I coached. Thank goodness a lot of people worked hard to make it happen.”

After leaving PSU, where he earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. from 1973-1979, Kurtz, as mentioned, moved on to St. Cloud State, where he enjoyed a successful 27 years as athletic director before the 61-year-old retired late last year. Notably - and stop me if this sounds at all familiar - he oversaw SCSU hockey's transition to NCAA Division I in 1987 shortly after starting there. The Huskies, at the time, made quite an entrance, including the hiring of legendary coach Herb Brooks in 1986 and the construction of the 5,763-seat National Hockey and Event Center in 1989.

Since then, they have become one of the more stable programs in college hockey, making nine NCAA Tournament appearances (including this season, as they open their run with Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon) against just three losing seasons since 1996. Kurtz helped steer SCSU through the recent conference reshuffle by landing a spot in the NCHC, which will be one of the premier leagues in the country when it begins play next season, while several of their current WCHA rivals were left behind in the league, which is losing much of its luster.

His role at Penn State apparently will start with a heavy focus on hockey, but will broaden to include all areas of the athletic department.

“There are a lot of other assignments for me [outside of hockey],” Kurtz said. “But a lot of my time will be spent on hockey the first six to nine months with their transition to the Big Ten. My responsibilities will be department-wide.

“Sitting in the AD chair at St. Cloud State will certainly help me deal with things from budgets to fundraising to personnel issues. I’ve had invaluable experiences here that will allow me to help moving forward.”

It's a move clearly intended to help support PSU AD David Joyner, who has filled the role since the Jerry Sandusky scandal engulfed former long-time AD Tim Curley, but is often criticized for his lack of relevant experience as well as the manner in which the former Board of Trustees member acquired the job.

Even while still working at St. Cloud State, Kurtz had consulted with Joe Battista and Penn State's hockey people during throughout the Nittany Lions' DI launch and knows what awaits him at University Park.

“They’ve had an unbelievable reaction to hockey out there,” Kurtz said. “They’re putting seats into the arena this week. It’s going to be a wonderful place to play.”

“Retirement wasn’t what I thought it would be,” [he continued]. “I did some consulting work and that was OK. I just missed being around young people. I know the challenges that await me and I look forward to meeting them."

Notably, Kurtz also told the Times that he "definitely intends to make [an annual non-conference series between Penn State and St. Cloud State] happen. He'll also "do what [he] can" to continue to assist St. Cloud State with fundraising efforts for the National Hockey and Event Center, which is presently undergoing a renovation and expansion.

Three Stars: September 17-23

Lindsay Reihl (far left) and Jenna Welch (far right) will be the alternate captains this season. Taylor Gross (second from right) was previously named captain in May. The other three players pictured are (left to right) Emily Laurenzi, Paige Jahnke and Shannon Yoxheimer.

3. Penn State ice hockey preview: Goalie PJ Musico
(Stack the Pads)

Derek Meluzio's goalie preview Q-and-As have finally come around to hit a Penn State tender, and it's Mr. Cali Swag, P.J. Musico. While these pieces generally include a photo of the mask the subject will wear in the coming season, that's not the case here, as Musico's hasn't arrived yet. He did give an idea of what to expect, however.

All I know now is that it is a half California theme and half Penn State theme with the signature blue line separating the two. I still, myself, haven’t seen it.

2. Joe Battista: A Quarter of a Century Well Spent
(statecollege.com)

I don't play the must-read card too often with you guys, but I will here. Hey, if you don't care about Joe Battista's reflections on 25 years at Penn State, what are you even doing on this blog?

1. Reihl, Welch Named Women's Hockey Assistant Captains
(gopsusports.com)

Back in May, Josh Brandwene named junior forward Taylor Gross captain for 2012-2013. Now, thanks to a team vote last week, we know she'll be assisted by senior defender Lindsay Reihl and junior forward Jenna Welch.

Really, the team could not have done a better job distributing the letters. Former Connecticut Huskies Gross and Welch are two of the three Nittany Lions who have already played NCAA Division I hockey (the other, Nicole Paniccia, is a goalie) and are therefore uniquely qualified to serve as team leaders. Reihl is one of only two "club originals" on the team (along with Kate Christoffersen), is a three-time Lady Icers defensive MVP, and helped Team USA to a fourth-place finish at the 2011 World University Games.

It's worth pointing out that the previous paragraph contains the names of literally every junior and senior on the team, which certainly helped the decision process as well.

Best of the Rest

Men's Hockey to Host Midnight Practice on Night of Oct. 5
(gopsusports.com)

In an event similar to one held by many college basketball teams (although not including Penn State), the men's team will hold an open practice with free admission just after midnight on the first day NCAA rules allow full practices. Doors to the rink will open at 11:00 p.m. on October 5th, and the fun includes pizza, giveaways, an address from Guy Gadowsky and a public skate with the players following the conclusion of practice at 1:00 a.m.

The women, incidentally, were allowed to begin practice two weeks earlier, this past Saturday. There was no fan-engagement event involved but the team was certainly pumped for it, as expressed on Twitter by Brandwene and freshman defender Jordin Pardoski. GoPSUSports also chipped in a story about it.



ASU hockey seeks redemption heading into new season
(The State Press)

Arizona State, one of PSU's three ACHA opponents this season, generally does a good job with their media coverage, including this quick look at their coming season. House of Sparky, the Sun Devils' SBNation blog, has a written preview if you prefer that mode.

As mentioned in my post immediately previous to this one, the ACHA is now already in full swing, a full two weeks before NCAA teams are allowed to practice. Just to keep the opponent watch up to date, ASU opened with a 13-0 waxing of D2 Texas A&M on Thursday. Ohio swept John Carroll 9-1 and 5-3, while Oklahoma blasted D3 Arkansas with a pair of 10-2 results.

Mercyhurst Picked CHA Coaches' Top Choice For 2012-13 Season
(chawomenshockey.com)

PSU was voted into last place of the six CHA teams by the league's coaches in one of the most pointless exercises in organized sports: the preseason poll. Not surprisingly, the three programs that have played more than one Division I season before were the top three (Mercyhurst, Robert Morris, Syracuse, in that order), followed by Division III national champ RIT and Lindenwood, which began DI play last year.

Two CHA teams have already played exhibition games against a pair of junior teams, with RIT topping the Oakville Hornets 6-1 on Sunday and Mercyhurst blasting the Stoney Creek Junior Sabres 10-1. So hockey season is indeed here for both the men and women, even if it's only Nittany Lion opponents playing games for the time being.

RIT Hockey teams boast high expectations
(Henrietta Post)

In a nice little burst of synergy, here's an article previewing the RIT men and women simultaneously. The women, as just mentioned, are now a conference rival while the men will oppose the Nittany Lions on October 20th at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena.

In still more RIT-related news from last week, their women's team added Shivaun Siegl as an assistant.

David Joyner to Remain Athletic Director Until 2014
(Onward State)

The sooner Penn State gets a qualified athletic director that wasn't handed the job (supposedly on an "acting" or interim basis) without any sort of search process by Ira Lubert and his cronies on the Board of Trustees, the better off the university will be. Apparently, we're deferring "better off" until at least 2014.

Also, it amuses me how people who cite Joe Paterno's influence over Tim Curley as part of what led to The Scandal don't see history repeating itself.



Meet #19 Jill Holdcroft 
(YouTube)

The best women's player to ever come from the State College area highlights this week's set of "meet the women's team" videos. Also: Paige Jahnke, Hannah Hoenshell, Jess Desorcie, Darby Kern and Kate Christoffersen.

News - 2013 CCHA Championship Dates Announced
(ccha.com)

The CCHA, which I'm sure is not the least bit bitter about being torn asunder in the great conference realignment shuffle we started, decided to troll everyone one last time before disappearing. The league scheduled its last-ever championship game for Sunday, March 24th at 2:05 p.m. - roughly three hours after the NCAA Tournament selection show was originally scheduled to air on whichever ESPN channel wasn't already tied up with bass fishing that morning. The selection show will now go on at 9:00 p.m., likely delaying a scheduled airing of Major League 3 on ESPN Classic.

Justin Bieber
(eliteprospects.com)

Fun fact: Biebs has a player page on the best site out there for basic hockey player information and stats (it's always my first destination when the Nittany Lion men get a new commit), thanks to the "doubtful" rumor a couple weeks ago that he was offered a contract by the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors. It has more than 29,000 views, compared to 4,355 for NHL draft pick Max Gardiner.

Okay, the NCAA championship trophy looks a little different now...but would
you rather see Bostons College or University or Minnesota-Duluth here?

NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship Trophy
(johnstowntomahawks.com)

Heads up: If you're going to be anywhere near Johnstown on Saturday, the NCAA championship trophy will be on Napoleon Street outside of the Cambria County War Memorial for viewing and photographs as part of the celebration of the Johnstown Tomahawks' first-ever home game.

Take a photo of yourself wearing Penn State gear with the trophy, and you get to be first star in next week's version of this post. I'm completely serious about that.

Psychologist: Some comparing Lindsay case to Sandusky case
(WANE)

I had to close with this, even though it's waaaaay off topic, because the last couple weeks have been a major turning point for my "Matt Lindsay" Google Alert. Much like Joe Battista (also a sanitation worker who committed suicide in New York a couple months back), or Kenny Brooks (also a comedian/YouTube celebrity), Matt Lindsay is a frequent source of false alarms, thanks mostly to a highly-successful high school football coach in Fort Wayne, IN. The synopsis of the news that caused my email to explode is that Lindsay (the football one) was suddenly fired after "large number of inappropriate video clips, none involving nudity" were found on his computer. Since the video clips included high school students, predictably...

...some people drew a natural comparison to the Penn State case and coach Jerry Sandusky. Of course not all of the details are the same, but certainly the role of coaches with their students.

Of course, there were differences beyond the facts of the two cases...

[Psychology professor Justin] Boyce's best advice is to try to withhold judgment until we have all the facts. He said we should give police enough time to investigate it until we form an opinion.

PIA Groundbreaking Coverage Roundup

Here's a quick spin around the best of what was written (and photographed) during Friday's Pegula Ice Arena groundbreaking ceremony.

Breaking away // Pegula Ice Arena Groundbreaking Ceremony
(Centre Daily Times)

The Centre Daily Times wrote the longest recap of anyone, and expertly weaved quotes from the ceremony itself with others from the media availability sessions - they also included a 16-photo gallery.

New Penn State DI hockey program gaining momentum
(Shooting for the Show)

SftS didn't attend the festivities, but offers something much better than a 28th rehashing of the same quotes - analysis of the program's marketing efforts to this point.

Ceremony Officially Breaks Ground on Pegula Ice Arena
(statecollege.com)

Pegula Ice Arena breaks ground, is ahead of schedule for Penn State Division I Hockey
(PennLive)

Greg Pickel wrote two quality recaps with different angles. His PennLive piece played up Guy Gadowsky's comparison of PIA to Hersheypark Arena, while on StateCollege.com he led with the well-known story of Joe Battista's receipt of Terry Pegula's confirmation text message while in Boston.

Penn State breaks ground for hockey arena on 'great day'
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

The big city delegation captured the most...well, maybe second most (see below)...newsworthy thing said at the event.

Pegula, an oil and gas executive who founded East Resources in Warrendale and also own the Buffalo Sabres, pledged $88 million to bring Division I hockey to his alma mater. He since has upped that commitment to $102 million to ensure Penn State hockey "has the resources to be a national leader."

"Let's all visualize Guy Gadowsky and (women's coach) Josh Brandwene handing off national championship trophies to their teams in the future," Pegula told the crowd of about 300, which included donors, members of the men's and women's hockey teams and former Nittany Lions quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno.

Penn State Hockey Celebrates Pegula Ice Arena Groundbreaking // Photo Gallery
(gopsusports.com)

The official release gets the job done and also comes with a photo gallery.

Penn State 'breaks ground' on new ice hockey arena
(York Daily Record)

The AP also gets the job done, sans photo gallery.

Joyner Mum on Sherburne's Departure
(Fight On State)

According to Dave Joyner, "it's an HR issue" is the new "no comment," at least if you go by his reply when repeatedly asked at the event about the sudden dismissal of assistant athletic director Mark Sherburne Friday night.

Mark Brennan wins this slot for FOS over other write-ups on this blast:

Penn State officials were not nearly as adamant about sticking to the school's human resources policies when it came to [Joe] Paterno. The Board of Trustees announced that he had been dismissed from his job on a live telecast.

On multiple later occasions — both individually and as a group — board members gave further explanations on why he was fired. The latest was in early March, more than a month after Paterno died following a short bout with lung cancer, when the board released a statement saying Paterno was released due to a “failure of leadership.”

Yeah, that. Let's also not forget that Joyner was part of the scum patrol before his cronies put him in charge of the athletic department.

PIA Groundbreaking Video: Battista, Pegula, Joyner

Interviews with those in charge of the hockey programs - and the guy who made their creation possible - during Friday's Pegula Ice Arena groundbreaking ceremony.

Associate Athletic Director Joe Battista:



Terry Pegula:



Athletic Director Dave Joyner:

Joyner Named Acting Athletic Director

The Mark Sherburne era as athletic director is over, just as abruptly as it began. According to a university release, Board of Trustees member David M. Joyner will assume the role of acting athletic director, effective immediately. Joyner's role with the Board will be suspended while he fills the athletic director's shoes.

Here's the official rundown of his qualifications.

Joyner is a health care and business consultant as well as an orthopedic physician. He was a member of Penn State Libraries Development Advisory Board, co-chairman of the Paterno Libraries Endowment, chairman of the external advisory board for the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence and the Schreyer Honors College, a member of the Hershey Medical Center Capital Campaign Committee and was active in the Grand Destiny Campaign for Athletics. He is a member of the board of directors of The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Joyner was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of Penn State in 1992.

Outside of his more recent academically-oriented work, Joyner - who received both his bachelor's degree (1972) and his M.D. (1976) from Penn State - is well known as a former PSU football player and wrestler. He was elected to the GTE-CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame as someone with "the highest standards in college academics, athletics and in life beyond athletics."

Joyner is the third individual to serve as AD in the last ten days. Longtime AD Tim Curley, who faces criminal charges related to the Jerry Sandusky scandal, took a leave of absence on November 6th. Sherburne, Curley's second in command, was immediately appointed to replace him. Now the replacer has become the replaced, as Sherburne returns to the bureaucratic anonymity of his previous role.