With the firing of Joe Paterno and the arrest of athletic director Tim Curley on perjury and failure to report charges, associate athletic director Mark Sherburne had taken over control of Penn State’s athletic department on an interim basis.
As of Wednesday morning, any leadership vacuum that existed in that department, PSU hopes, is officially no more.
The school announced in a press release that David Joyner has been named acting athletic director. With the naming of Joyner, Sherburne will now will resume his old position of associate AD.
Joyner, a Penn State graduate and former football player for Paterno, has been a member of the university’s Board of Trustees since 2000. He will suspend that membership, the release states, as he takes over the athletic department, presumably until either Curley returns or a full-time replacement is found.
“Dave Joyner has served the board with integrity, and he is internationally known for his work with the U.S. Olympic Committee. I am confident that he will bring that same integrity to his new role,” said Penn State President Rodney Erickson in a statement.
Joyner, an orthopedic surgeon, played for the Nittany Lions in the early seventies and is a member of the All-Time Nittany Lion Football Team.
Curley has been placed on administrative leave as he prepares to face charges stemming from his appearance in front of a grand jury in the Jerry Sandusky child-sex abuse case. A decision on Curley’s long-term future at the school likely won’t be made until his legal situation is resolved.