Penn State President Graham Spanier got a chance to tout his athletic department in front of a national TV audience Monday night, appearing on ABC's Nightline.

After an in-depth piece about the Colorado recruiting scandal and Miami's recruitment of Willie Williams, a Florida high school linebacker who has been arrested 11 times, Spanier appeared on a panel with two other university presidents.

Along with Spanier, anchor Ted Koppel interviewed Stanford University President John L. Hennessy and Tulane University President Scott S. Cowen about the connection between athletic departments and the universities.

On the show, Spanier talked about the high academic standards of Penn State's athletic program and attacked some of the recruiting practices of other major football and basketball schools and the type of players they recruit.

"You'll see problems developing with those players after they're on campus," he said. "And if they come on to campus and you're flying them around on private jets and staying in fancy hotels, what do you think they're going to expect once they come in here and they have to live in the dormitories? We don't do that here, and it shouldn't be happening the way it is."

Spanier said that although the Penn State football team has struggled of late with three losing seasons in the last four years and a 3-9 campaign last year, the alumni have continued to support the program because of the high graduation rates in the athletic department.