Paterno and Schembechler Criticize NCAA Rule on Complimentary Tickets

In separate interviews Wednesday, football coaches Joe Paterno of Penn State and Bo Schembechler of Michigan termed as “ridiculous” the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rule on how players may dispose of their complimentary game tickets.

Violation of the rule, which allows players to give free tickets only to family members or students, led to punishment of 10 Tennessee players and 60 Nebraska players.

The Tennessee players sat out one game, and the Nebraska players were stripped of their game-pass privileges this season.

“I don’t have a better rule, but I think if a kid can’t give a ticket to his fiancee it’s tough,” Paterno said. “It’s pretty tough to deny your fiancee a ticket. I mean how much integrity do you have? Just put yourself in the kid’s position.”

At the Big Ten coaches’ weekly news conference, Schembechler said he and other coaches were not even aware of the rule.

“It’s a ridiculous rule,” Schembechler said. “You can’t dictate who is using your tickets. It was amazing to me. The abuses in tickets are when the players are selling them to alumni at inflated prices. I didn’t know you had a regulation that selects the people players can give tickets to.”