Penn State launches national search for athletic director as Joyner retires

Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner announced his retirement Tuesday, ending a turbulent 31-month tenure that the former football player and wrestler himself once described as a "war zone."

Joyner's term, which began a week after the board of trustees on which he served fired Joe Paterno, will end Aug. 1. Penn State said it will conduct a national search for a new athletic director. According to the Chicago Tribune, Penn State has inquired about Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips.

Just go away Joyner. You were never qualified for the position, and you were on the 11-9-11 Board of Trustees that nearly sank the University.

John Bacon from his book Fourth and Long - with Michael Mauti telling it like it is:

“‘We’re ready for you,’ ” Mauti recalled saying. “He didn’t ask me how it went, or anything. He was just all pissed off because he’d been waiting outside for twenty minutes.”

Joyner marched to the front of the room, visibly agitated, and said, “I thought I was coming here to talk to a group of men, but I didn’t realize there was a bunch of children in here, whining about not going to a good bowl game and getting screwed!”

“Before he could finish that sentence,” Farrell recalled, “Devon made a sound, and stood up to stay something. But Gerald [Hodges] stood up first and said, ‘Hold up, hold up, hold up! We’re in here talking like men, to make this decision, and you come in here disrespecting us!’ “

This set Joyner off on another tour of his biography, which they had already heard a few times in his first few weeks on the job. “Everyone was selling him to us,” Mauti said. “All-American wrestler, football player, doctor. Look, honestly, we didn’t care. We’re getting blasted by the media, and Erickson and Joyner were nowhere to be found. Joyner was a former member of the board. The suit was already on him. What we needed was someone to stand up.”

Instead, Joyner made an ill-advised argument that, because the school had to pay the NCAA $60 million, the bowl payout was a good way to get some of that back. This elicited more sounds and comments from the players, and the meeting devolved from there. Players complained that Joyner had gone AWOL while the program was getting ripped by the national media, and Joyner repeated his list of accomplishments before becoming the acting athletic director.

“You better show me some respect!” he demanded.

By this time, Gerald Hodges was standing up and pointing back at Joyner. “No, no, no. My father said, ‘I’m only going to respect someone who respects me.’ “

The two started walking toward each other, creating a commotion loud enough for Coach Larry Johnson Sr., waiting outside, to come into the room, hold Hodges, and literally escort him out.

Finally, Devon Still had his chance to speak. “We already decided,” he told Joyner. “We’re gonna go.” “Oh,” Joyner responded.

“From that point,” Mauti recalled, “Joyner was apologizing to us. ‘We’re sticking up for you guys, and we’re fighting for you guys out there.’”

“And no one said anything,” Zordich said, “because we knew nothing needed to be said. They weren’t doing anything to stick up for us. Not on TV. Not on campus. Anywhere.”

After O’Brien was named the head coach, the entire senior class told him they did not want to see Joyner or Erickson on the field before the games. Joyner must have felt some contrition — or embarrassment, take your pick — because he respected their wishes, not setting foot in front of the team again until the 2012 banquet.

Yeah, I have no doubt about Joyner, or Erickson for that matter, now. No respect left.

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