Penn State acting AD David Joyner brings “more outside experience and acumen to the job than most of his peers in the Big Ten,” according to Donald Gilliland of the Harrisburg PATRIOT-NEWS. Joyner said, “I didn’t need this job. … I wanted this job because I felt an obligation to help my university through perhaps the most difficult time in its history.” He said of the program, "We're becoming 31 units working together for the betterment of everyone.” Joyner: “We have our individual goals, but this is about Penn State’s intercollegiate athletics and how can we be the most successful program that’s ever existed.” When asked about his critics, Joyner said, “I think they associate me with what happened to coach Paterno, so therefore I must be a bad guy. … We may never change those people” (Harrisburg PATRIOT-NEWS, 5/10). Meanwhile, Joyner said that football season-ticket sales are "slightly off.” However, four months remain "until the season opener, and the athletic department is still actively promoting the availability of tickets.” He suspected that the slow sales “could in part be due to fans’ feelings about the scandal, along with changes implemented last season to the season-ticket policy that angered some fans.” The AP's Genaro Armas noted 64,500 season tickets “have been sold for the upcoming season, including 2,500 new season-ticket holders.” About 69,000 season tickets were sold for all of last season. Joyner said sales “are accelerating and moving in the right direction, but we haven’t caught up pace yet.” However, donations to the athletic booster club are “ahead of last year’s pace.” A Penn State spokesperson said that “contributions to the Nittany Lion Club’s annual fund already amount to $17 million in a fiscal year that ends in June.” That amount matches the total for the entire ’10-11 fiscal year (AP, 5/9).
