Former Senator George Mitchell Of Baseball’s “Mitchell Report” Will Be Penn State’s Integrity Monitor

by Evan Sporer | 5:01 pm, August 1st, 2012

As NCAA president Mark Emmert read off Penn State’s sanctions on national television just over a week ago, one of the conditions he announced was that the school would have to report to an integrity monitor while it served its penalties.

Today, the NCAA announced that former senator George Mitchell—famously known for his “Mitchell Report,” a.k.a. the greatest baseball steroids story ever told —will monitor Penn State’s behavior over the next five year effective immediately, as the school deals with the penalties.

Per the Centre Daily Times:

Mitchell will have “broad access” to Penn State, including records and personnel to make sure the university is complying with penalties and adhering to NCAA rules, the announcement says.

While many debate the impact of the “Mitchell Report,” the former senator appears to be serving in the same capacity for the NCAA as he did for the MLB.

When he investigated steroid usage in baseball in 2007, Mitchell did not have the power to punish any of the players implicated in his report. As the agent overseeing Penn State’s compliance to its sanctions in the next five years, according to the Associated Press, Mitchell will prepare quarterly reports for the NCAA, Big Ten and Penn State trustees. It does not appear as if Mitchell will have the power to levy his own sanctions if he reports malfeasance, as was the case with Major League Baseball. In essence, he’ll be doing pretty much what you see him doing in the photo above: pointing at things and looking concerned.

Follow Evan Sporer