The news of the sex scandal that rocked Penn State’s football program and destroyed the football confidence of many athletes astounded not only the sports community, but rather the entire nation.  It is a tragedy to the flaws of man, and destroyed the image of a program designed to build character, integrity, and hard work in its players. Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions were once feared by opponents, and worshiped by fans.

 The NCAA punished Penn State for many infractions involved in the cover-up of Jerry Sandusky’s child sexual abuse convictions.  While the sanctions are stiff, Bill O’Brien, hired to replace Paterno in January of 2012 must focus on the next season and uplifting his current players.  The daunting task of “leaving the past in the past”, is probably unachievable.  O’Brien must adjust his player’s focus to reside on the positive components of the program from the past, the team successes, and the achievements earned by many hard working, mentally tough athletes, and not the failures and transgressions made previously by men in authority.

The current football players, incoming freshman and coaches must learn to focus on aspects of the game within their control.  The development of football minds and mental toughness involves concentrating with a positive mindset to improve abilities and stay focus.  No one can affect any transgression from the past, nor erase the hurt caused by the scandal, however, with a strong understanding of football psychology, these players can learn to spend their energy on improving their football mind, football confidence and ability.

It is important to learn to eliminate the volume from any negative source, and amplify those that offer encouragement and hope.  To build mental toughness again and regain football confidence the focus must be on supportive and encouraging coaching, working hard in the weight room, watching film, surrounding yourself with positive people and perhaps a mental game coach. Do not focus on the news, newspaper, ESPN or SportsCenter too much. This is a tragedy, however with hard work and good support the team can be successful.

Coach O’Brien and his staff must utilize football psychology to continue to build upon the traditions of high expectations of character, integrity, hard work and academics.  Paterno’s philosophy is not tarnished; it is simply weakened by those that did not live up to his standards and philosophy, including him.  The mentality is strong and solid; it was the mortal men who weren’t.  Penn State graduated 87% of its football athletes in 2011, which is among the top in the nation.  It is imperative for the scandal to not affect the academic excellence and pride of Penn State.  Rebuilding that strong sense of pride and community will be a major goal for Coach O’Brien and his team this year.

The NCAA sanctions are in place, and will not be changed.  Any energy spent focusing on what “should” have happened, or was “unfair” is wasted energy.  All the focus now needs to be on strengthening football confidence,  building and restoring football minds, sustaining a “team” mentality, and winning games.  There is no doubt the negative naysayers will appear at every opportunity throughout the media and at the games.  Learning to eliminate the power of the irrelevant cues while strengthening mental toughness, focus and concentration is critical to the future of Penn State football.

Every football player at Penn State owned a choice to play somewhere else.  For the success of the football program to once again become synonymous with the words excellence, integrity, character, and winning, it must first convince its current players that the coaching staff is committed 100%. Coach Bill O’Brian had this to say on the day of the sanction:

Today we receive a very harsh penalty from the NCAA and as Head Coach of the Nittany Lions football program, I will do everything in my power to not only comply, but help guide the University forward to become a national leader in ethics, compliance and operational excellence.
I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead. But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes.
I was then and I remain convinced that our student athletes are the best in the country.
I could not be more proud to lead this team and these courageous and humble young men into the upcoming 2012 season.
Together we are committed to building a better athletic program and university.

It is important that the coaching system incorporate methods to strengthen the football minds and the football confidence of the players, and develop a mental toughness that blocks out the negativity of the naysayers.

The Nittany Lions are a class act football team full of incredible student athletes possessing dominating skills on the field.  Utilizing sports psychology in football is critical for the next generation of Nittany Lion’s to earn their success, leaving the scandal far in the past.