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A former Penn State team doctor testified in court Tuesday that head football coach James Franklin tried to interfere with medical decisions involving players.
According to John Luciew of the Philadelphia Inquirer, former Penn State physician Dr. Pete Seidenberg described “numerous meetings in which he said Franklin pressured him, [Dr. Scott] Lynch, and the chief athletic trainer to alter their medical decisions and the treatment advice and options given to players.”
Lynch had been Penn State’s director of athletic medicine and orthopedic consultant to the football team before being fired in March 2019. Lynch claims he was fired because he “refused to allow a coach to interfere with his medical treatment and return-to-play decisions.”
Seidenberg’s testimony is part of the trial related to Lynch’s lawsuit against the institution. In one example of Franklin’s alleged meddling, Seidenberg claimed the coach and athletic director Sandy Barbour wanted a player who had attempted suicide to be medically disqualified from the program.
By doing so, the player would lose his scholarship, and Franklin would be able to offer it to another player during the offseason. Seidenberg said he and Lynch refused to accommodate that request.
Additionally, Seidenberg testified that Franklin pressured the team medical staff to clear an injured starter to play the night before a game and was “angry” when he and Lynch refused.
He also mentioned two alleged instances when Franklin wanted a player to undergo surgery to fix a medical issue, only to have the doctors side with the players, who in both cases opted for more “conservative” treatments that would take longer.
Franklin, 52, has been Penn State’s head coach since 2014. Seidenberg served as the Nittany Lions’ team doctor during the early part of Franklin’s tenure.