Former PSU Star Defends School's Priorities
By: Mark Hiller
Updated: July 24, 2012
While announcing the sanctions in Indianapolis, Emmert said the sanctions were intended to be more than punitive saying it was vital "to make sure the university establishes an athletic culture and daily mindset in which football will never again be placed ahead of educating." Olsommer says Emmert's assessment of Penn State athletics is dead wrong. "When you go there it is not hey it's all football, it's all football like President Emmert made it sound this morning. It is not. It is actually quite different than that."
Olsommer says Joe Paterno stood out from other Division 1A coaches by putting the emphasis on education. "How many of these coaches demanded that their kids go and meet your professor and sit in the front of the classroom? Yeah, they say that to your parents but how many of them follow through and make sure that you do it? Coach Paterno did those things."
Olsommer earned a degree in secondary education. It paved the way to his position as teacher and varsity football coach at Delaware Valley High School.
"Penn State has one of the top education programs in the nation and when you have an opportunity to go through that system and then you apply in schools in state they know that you've been trained appropriately and you're going to be ready to go," he said.
Olsommer says he knows many non-athletes who became highly successful adults by graduating from P-S-U. "A large reason why they're successful is because of the degree they earned at Penn State," he said.
Olsommer further defended his collegiate education and that of other Penn Staters by saying PSU ranks best in the world in several different degrees. He also noted that of the top 25 ranked college football teams last season, Penn State ranked number one in graduation rate.
