NCAA releases emails, testimony in response to shared Penn State info

The NCAA released emails and testimony Friday that it said "provide important context in understanding the events that led to the consent decree between the Association and Penn State University."

Pennsylvania Senator Jake Corman is suing the NCAA because of the penalties handed down in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal. As part of the lawsuit, internal NCAA emails were released last week that showed the NCAA 'bluffed' Penn State into accepting the sanctions.

Earlier this week, ESPN's Outside the Lines reported that emails showed the NCAA worked with Louis Freeh's firm through its investigation of Penn State. Freeh was hired by the university to do an independent investigation. 11 days after Freeh's report was issued in July of 2012, Penn State was fined $60 million and given a bowl ban and scholarship reductions, penalties that were later reduced.

Thursday, the AP reported an email showed that Penn State just missed the "death penalty."

“When taken out of context, some of this material creates a misleading impression of the important issues related to the consent decree between the NCAA and Penn State,” NCAA spokesperson Erik Christianson said in a statement. “The NCAA believes the full story will emerge at the trial scheduled for January 2015.”

In the emails it released, the NCAA said that Penn State voluntarily agreed to the consent decree instead of going through a traditional NCAA enforcement process, which would have likely been much lengthier.

From the deposition of NCAA vice president of Division I governance David Berst.

“As to whether this was successful, you know, I see the -- what I hope is a minority view from plaintiffs’ attorneys and other very vocal individuals around Penn State who simply are defending the previous culture and saying, NCAA, you shouldn’t have ever done anything.  You should not attack our program which is supported unconditionally.  I think that’s just wrong footed, and I believe -- I hope there’s actually a majority of the people in the valley who are thinking this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen, and everybody ought to be moving forward, and what Erickson did was give everybody a chance to do that in moving forward.  And there have been what I hope is a minority group that simply won’t accept that which, in my mind, is proof of the problem with the culture in the first place ... But the failure is in the failure to act appropriately when the time came for that to occur.  So that had to change in some fashion.  I believe Mark Emmert did the right thing to try.  Even though I disagreed with the process in the beginning, I would testify and am that it had full -- he had full authority to try to start enforcement process [and] the Executive Committee had full authority to act under matters that are fundamental to the association.  And that brings us to here today, unfortunately.”

According to the emails released last week, former NCAA vice president of enforcement Julie Roe wrote that “I characterized our approach to PSU as a bluff when talking to Mark [Emmert] yesterday afternoon after the call. He basically agreed b/c if we make this an enforcement issue, we may win the immediate battle but lose the war when the COI [Committee on Infractions] has to rule.”

You can view the emails and testimony released by the NCAA here. The trial is for the lawsuit is scheduled for January.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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