130514095213-052013-si-cover-matt-harvey-single-image-cut.jpg

A copy of this week's Sports Illustrated cover with the special Penn State headline: "Do Athletics Still Have Too Much Power at Penn State?" The magazine is due out Wednesday.

(Sports Illustrated website)

This week's Sports Illustrated, scheduled to hit newsstands Wednesday, contains a story on the medical care operation of the Penn State football program.

And the story, a "special report" by David Epstein entitled, "Do athletics still have too much power at Penn State?," evidently casts the medical care operation in a negative light and also involves Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, PSU's former team physician and orthopedic surgeon, and Tim Bream, the current head athletic trainer for football.

Sebastianelli was moved into a new position, director of athletic medicine, in late February. He had been PSU's team physician since 1992. Replacing Sebastianelli as orthopedic surgeon is Dr. Scott Lynch. The new team physician is Dr. Peter Seidenberg.

Penn State athletics released a statement, delivered by assistant athletic director Jeff Nelson, late Tuesday night.

It should be pointed out that PennLive has not read an advance copy of Epstein's story.

Here is Nelson's statement:

Former Penn State football team surgeon Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli (left) is part of the Sports Illustrated investigative piece into PSU football's medical operation. Sebastianelli was moved out of his surgeon's role in late February and is now Penn State's director of athletic medicine. The Sports Illustrated piece hits newstands Wednesday. Joe Hermitt, PennLive.com

"To characterize the medical care Penn State provides our student-athletes as anything other than the highest quality is erroneous. Access to urgent and quality care for our athletes is no less than where it was at any point in the past 20 years.

"We provided Sports Illustrated with facts and data that demonstrate our commitment to our student-athletes and how we compare to other peer institutions. Instead, the article sensationalizes in order to insinuate lower standards and largely ignores statements from the Dean of the College of Medicine (Dr. Harold Paz).''

Penn State became aware of the story around the middle of last week, Nelson said. He confirmed Sebastianelli is part of the Sports Illustrated story.

"The story insinuates that the level of care is not the same in 2013 as it was in 2012, which is incorrect,'' Nelson said, adding, "One of the aspects of the story is related to Dr. Sebastianelli no longer working directly with the football program.''

Nelson would later add: "It's important to note that the team physicians do report directly to Dr. Sebastianelli.''

When Penn State made the medical switch in late February, bumping Sebastianelli into a new role, PSU athletics released a statement, part of which read: "The change in physicians was made after a review of procedures and personnel by (football) coach (Bill) O'Brien and is part of an ongoing reorganization of the football staff.''

Nelson said Penn State conducted some "benchmarking" over the winter to examine how their medical coverage for the football program compared to other major programs.

"We had done some benchmarking during the winter on what other peer institutions were doing with their physician coverage related to football,'' Nelson said.

"We did gather some information from some schools around the country, including Big Ten schools. And I can tell you that the level of coverage provided by physicians at Penn State for football would be on par, if not above the levels provided by schools such as Ohio State, Illinois, Alabama and LSU.''

PSU also released a statement from O'Brien regarding the upcoming Sports Illustrated story.

Here is O'Brien's full statement:

Penn State coach Bill O'Brien, shown here with former PSU defensive back Adam Taliaferro, issued a statement in response to the upcoming Sports Illustrated article about PSU's football medical care, saying, "Nothing about our level or quality of athlete care has changed. These young men mean a great deal to me and our staff.'' Joe Hermitt, PennLive.com

"When I was hired as the head football coach at Penn State, I was asked to observe areas of the football program and then make recommendations. After observing our medical organization in the football program for a full year, I recommended that it would be in the best interests of our program, and most importantly our student-athletes, to make a change in the team physicians.

"Dr. Lynch and Dr. Seidenberg were identified as excellent doctors who could serve in this role. Dr. Seidenberg will attend our practices and Dr. Lynch will be here on game day. The same surgeons as last year are available to players who would need that level of attention. Nothing about our level or quality of athlete care has changed.

"These young men mean a great deal to me and our staff. They give their all to Penn State. I will always recommend what I feel is best for our student-athletes in every area of the football program.''

Bream was brought in by O'Brien to be the head trainer shortly after O'Brien took the PSU job in January 2012. He had been the Chicago Bears' head trainer since 1997 and is a PSU graduate.

There will obviously be much more to this story as the week unfolds. Stay tuned.