Penn State

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USC, on the verge of possibly being shut out from the first men's volleyball Final Four that it would play host to, breathed a sigh of relief Sunday when the NCAA selection committee awarded the Trojans an at-large berth. UC Irvine is seeded first and will play fourth-seeded Penn State on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Galen Center. Second-seeded USC plays third-seeded Lewis University at 8 p.m. Irvine (24-5) earned the top seeding by winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament championship with a five-set victory over Stanford on Saturday night.

A small wooden cabinet went up for auction on EBay. Inside were two locks of hair, one granite slab, one dried rosebud, one goblet, two wheat pennies, one candlestick and, allegedly, one "dibbuk," a kind of spirit popular in Yiddish folklore. The seller, a Missouri college student named Iosif Nietzke, described the container as a "haunted Jewish wine cabinet box" that had plagued several owners with rotten luck and a spate of bizarre paranormal stunts.

Mark Sherburne, who briefly served as athletics director at Penn State after the disclosure of a child sexual abuse scandal connected to the university, no longer works at the school, officials said Friday. The university would not disclose why Sherburne was no longer a Penn State employee, saying in an email that officials could not discuss personnel matters. The Centre Daily Times, which first reported Sherburne's departure, said he was fired Wednesday. Sherburne was a senior athletics official who stepped in for 10 days to head the department after the sexual abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky broke.

I grew up in central Pennsylvania, steeped in the myth of Penn State football. I was 4 when I learned the alma mater. By the time I was 10, I knew every player's number and name. Every Saturday that there was a home game, we'd drive an hour from our tiny town "over the mountain," as my father called it, and sit high in the stands, in rain, snow or autumn sunshine. We'd do this cheer: "We are! Penn State!" The stadium would thunder. My parents had not even gone to college, but they'd yell it until their throats ached.

Penn State supporters and students rioted this week, angry that the university's Board of Trustees fired legendary football coach Joe Paterno late Wednesday over his handling of a former assistant coach accused of molesting boys on campus. Surely, those fans and students have a right to be angry, but not about losing their beloved coach. Rather, their ire should be focused on the university and those who did too little to protect endangered children. Jerry Sandusky, the former coach, faces criminal charges of sexually abusing at least eight boys over more than a decade.

So, Joe Paterno enjoys the all-time college football coaching win record. My question to JoePa: Was it worth it? Konrad Moore Bakersfield :: Joe Paterno said, "With the benefit of hindsight, I would have done more. " Joe, with the benefit of hindsight, I would be a gazillionaire. This is about doing the right thing, the moral thing in the moment. Paterno passed. See no evil, speak no evil. Pass the buck down the road and let someone else deal with it. Joe Paterno is a silent partner to Jerry Sandusky's horror.

Unbuckling the mailbag: Question: Who are you to decide whether or not Penn State should be allowed to play in the postseason? Report the news and keep your opinions to yourself. Boyd R. Zumwalt III Answer: It is not my decision to decide on Penn State's bowl fate. I have merely stated my opinion after talking with bowl representatives who indicated they would be uncomfortable having to host Penn State. And what about potential opposition from corporate sponsors?

Tom Bradley always dreamed of replacing Joe Paterno as coach at Penn State, but never this way. The occasion was supposed to be marked with balloons and bells, not a cellphone ring at 9:45 on a Wednesday night from interim Penn State President Rodney Erickson in the midst of a full-blown crisis. The conversation was as blunt and short: Erickson offered Bradley the job and he accepted. DOCUMENT: Read the grand jury report "Coach Paterno has meant more to me than anybody except my father," said Bradley, a Penn State graduate in his 33rd year as an assistant coach.

There was plenty of irony in the way Penn State lost its football game, 17-14, to Nebraska on Saturday at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa. What the No. 12-ranked Nittany Lions had to offer during the game came too little, too late. Trailing 17-0 midway through the third quarter, Penn State rallied to pull within a field goal with more than five minutes left but No. 19 Nebraska held on. FULL COVERAGE: Penn State scandal The Nittany Lions had the ball twice in the last 3 minutes 52 seconds, but couldn't score.

A balanced offense and a stingy defense carried Geno Auriemma and his Connecticut Huskies to another regional final. Bria Hartley scored 20 points, Kelly Faris had 15 and No. 1-seeded Connecticut advanced to the NCAA tournament's regional finals for the seventh straight year with a 77-59 win over Penn State on Sunday at Kingston, R.I. "We wanted to make sure that this was a team thing more than looking around for someone to have a big...

Four months after firing Joe Paterno  -- and more than a month after Paterno's death -- the Penn State trustees attempted again to explain their actions Monday, saying in a statement that the legendary football coach was released for a "failure of leadership" after receiving information about the alleged sexual assault of a child by former assistant Jerry Sandusky. "While Coach Paterno did his legal duty by reporting that information the next day, Sunday, March 3, to his immediate superior, the then Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley, the Board reasonably inferred that he did not call police," the statement said.

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier were dismissed last year because of a failure of leadership in handling reports of child-sex abuse by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, the school's board of trustees said Monday. In what the trustees called a report to students, faculty and alumni, the board gave a chronology of its actions and justified the firing of the top officials because of what it described as the men's failure to deal with charges involving Sandusky.

Federal authorities are seeking information about Jerry Sandusky , the former Penn State assistant football coach facing state charges of sexually abusing children, as well as others involved in the scandal that has shaken the college sports powerhouse. Penn State on Friday acknowledged receiving a federal subpoena from the U.S. attorney's office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania seeking information on Sandusky and others. The school is complying with the request, said Lisa Powers, director of the department of public information, in an email.

Jerry Sandusky 's lawyer said neighbors' fears were unfounded that the former Penn State football coach would pose a danger to schoolchildren if he was allowed to leave his house. In court papers filed Wednesday, attorney Joseph Amendola opposed a request by state prosecutors to keep Sandusky inside his State College, Pa., home, where he has been under house arrest awaiting trial on child sexual abuse charges. Amendola said Sandusky had obeyed the conditions of his bail and always obtained approval of a Centre County probation official to leave his house.

Prosecutors in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse case asked Tuesday to have jurors brought in from another Pennsylvania county, a day after disclosing in court records they would tell the former Penn State assistant coach the names of his 10 alleged victims. The attorney general's office argued in a court motion that pretrial publicity and Penn State's prominent role in its local community mean Sandusky's criminal trial warrant the use of jurors from outside the State College area.

Mark Sherburne, who briefly served as athletics director at Penn State after the disclosure of a child sexual abuse scandal connected to the university, no longer works at the school, officials said Friday. The university would not disclose why Sherburne was no longer a Penn State employee, saying in an email that officials could not discuss personnel matters. The Centre Daily Times, which first reported Sherburne's departure, said he was fired Wednesday. Sherburne was a senior athletics official who stepped in for 10 days to head the department after the sexual abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky broke.

Crediting him with building not just better athletes but better men, former Penn State football stars and others paid tribute to Joe Paterno in a huge campus memorial service Thursday that exposed a strong undercurrent of anger over his firing. In a 21/2-hour gathering that capped three days of mourning on campus, Nike Chairman and Chief Executive Phil Knight instantly brought the near-capacity crowd of 12,000 to its feet in thunderous applause when he defended the coach's handling of child sex abuse allegations leveled against former assistant Jerry Sandusky . Paterno was fired over the episode on Nov. 9. "This much is clear to me: If there is a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation and not in Joe Paterno's response," Knight said.

They stood outside for hours on a winter afternoon in State College, Pa., waiting to pay their respects to the late Joe Paterno . The line snaked down a long block on the Penn State campus. Inside a campus spiritual center, the coach's body lay in a closed hardwood casket topped by a spray of white roses. About six feet away sat a stylized black-and-white picture of the man who became lovingly known on campus as "JoePa," smiling and peering out through his trademark thick-rimmed glasses.