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NCAA champion, 3x AA Penn State wrestler, Dr. Scott Lynch wins lawsuit against Penn State


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A jury Wednesday found in favor of a former Penn State athletics team doctor who claimed that he was removed as team physician in retaliation for complaining about head football coach James Franklin interfering with medical treatment and return-to-play decisions.

A Dauphin County jury in Harrisburg awarded orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Lynch $5.25 million in punitive and compensatory damages. Testimony during the seven-day trial included former Penn State players, doctors, athletic trainers, university system officials and others discussing examples of injuries and medical decisions.

Lynch said in a phone call with ESPN that he hopes the verdict will prompt an investigation by the NCAA, which has had a policy guaranteeing independence of sports medicine staff since 2016. "There's not yet been one school punished for violating medical autonomy issues," he said.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/40242103/penn-state-scott-lynch-doctor-james-franklin-verdict

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1 minute ago, Truzzcat said:

Franklin is a good recruiter and figured head, an absolutely terrible in game coach. I wonder how this affects him moving forward if he's endangering players.

I doubt it has much effect.  Under Franklin Penn State football is stuck in the second tier of the Big 10 and seems like it won't ever move to challenge Ohio State or Michigan.

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If Franklin isn't fired it's because they don't want to eat his outrageously huge contract. 

Glad the jury saw this the right way. Team physicians are obviously more capable in determining injuries, but they are also impartial. Coaches are mostly neither.

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27 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Coulda sworn we had a Non Wrestling Topics forum

True...

but other than sweetpastrybuns inclusion of "wrestling-related" topic title, the rest:

liam-mc-ewan-what.gif

went over his head.

D3

Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.

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58 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

I doubt it has much effect.  Under Franklin Penn State football is stuck in the second tier of the Big 10 and seems like it won't ever move to challenge Ohio State or Michigan.

PSU has always been mid-tier in the B10 in football, and I don't see them rising above that. Pennsylvania may be ripe wrestling ground, but the football up there is pretty "bleh". 

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1 hour ago, NM1965 said:

PSU has always been mid-tier in the B10 in football, and I don't see them rising above that. Pennsylvania may be ripe wrestling ground, but the football up there is pretty "bleh". 

hurtful

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3 hours ago, Elevator said:

now we are talking!   Concrete Charlie was aHOF field player both ways!

Chuck Bednarik...once close-lined Frank Gifford so hard he landed in 1962/was out of football for over a year.  Wasn't he also a big Lehigh wrestling fan as well?

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12 hours ago, gromit said:

Chuck Bednarik...once close-lined Frank Gifford so hard he landed in 1962/was out of football for over a year.  Wasn't he also a big Lehigh wrestling fan as well?

Lived right off campus.

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23 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

A jury Wednesday found in favor of a former Penn State athletics team doctor who claimed that he was removed as team physician in retaliation for complaining about head football coach James Franklin interfering with medical treatment and return-to-play decisions.

A Dauphin County jury in Harrisburg awarded orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Lynch $5.25 million in punitive and compensatory damages. Testimony during the seven-day trial included former Penn State players, doctors, athletic trainers, university system officials and others discussing examples of injuries and medical decisions.

Lynch said in a phone call with ESPN that he hopes the verdict will prompt an investigation by the NCAA, which has had a policy guaranteeing independence of sports medicine staff since 2016. "There's not yet been one school punished for violating medical autonomy issues," he said.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/40242103/penn-state-scott-lynch-doctor-james-franklin-verdict

The fact that Sanderson is so opposite from this is one of the reasons I appreciate and respect him so much.

He already lost one top-tier wrestler (Suriano) for holding him back from wrestling, when the wrestler wanted to compete.  Then he did it AGAIN with Starocci, leading him to rage quit (before reconsidering).

PSU wrestling will always have its detractors, but you're a parent of a top recruit, you're always going to know that in a world (and, apparently, in a university) that too often puts the will to win over the health and well-being of the wrestlers, Sanderson is the dead-eye opposite.

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On 5/30/2024 at 5:03 PM, gromit said:

Chuck Bednarik...once close-lined Frank Gifford so hard he landed in 1962/was out of football for over a year.  Wasn't he also a big Lehigh wrestling fan as well?

Yes - he graduated from Penn when Penn football was a top program and played in bowl games.  He was a big wrestling fan and lived near Lehigh.  When Penn hosted and won Eastern tourney, Bednarik spoke at the tournament dinner. He recalled that he went into the Penn wrestling room in his day, but did not stay with it as the sport was too tough.     

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On 5/30/2024 at 10:01 AM, Pinnacle said:

If Franklin isn't fired it's because they don't want to eat his outrageously huge contract. 

Glad the jury saw this the right way. Team physicians are obviously more capable in determining injuries, but they are also impartial. Coaches are mostly neither.

The way MSU got out of the Tucker deal, it'd seem like they could definitely use this to fire Franklin for cause. 

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