He Said / He Said - Bill O'Brien and Penn State

Seven head coaches in the NFL were fired on "Black Monday" after week 17. Of course, that meant that names would start popping up as possibilities to take over these head coaching positions.

That also of course meant that Bill O'Brien's name would pop up as a possible candidate. But, what wasn't as expected was the reports of O'Brien seemingly wanting so badly to leave the Penn State program.

So how do the 3SN Nittany Lions feel about this whole situation? Dot and Dellav sound off on the state of Happy Valley.

Dellav:

Last year, I was one of the few people who thought the Bill O' Brien hire was a great move. Alumni such as LaVar Arrington said they were giving all their Penn State memorabilia away because they didn't hire a "Penn State guy". I thought Penn State should have kept Tom Bradley on staff but I understood why they didn't. The reason I liked the Bill O' Brien hire was because he came from the Top NFL franchise New England Patriots and knew how to handle and run a great offense. I also knew his NFL resume would help attract recruits. So far, everything is going as planned. Penn State finished with an 8-4 record, brought in a good recruiting class, and O' Brien was ESPN coach of the year.

A couple a months ago there were rumors that O' Brien wanted to return back to the NFL. That's understandable because that's where he came from and who wouldn't want to be an NFL head coach? It's just more prestigious than being an NCAA coach, unless its like the Jacksonville Jaguars or something....

Anyway the point is that O' Brien was brought in to be the savior of the program, and now that Chris Mortensen and Jason LaCanfora are reporting that O' Brien wants out of Happy Valley, it just rubs me the wrong way. According to Lacanfora, Arizona, San Diego, Philadelphia, and Cleveland are all interested O' Brien. Also, Peter King from Sports Illustrated is reporting that O' Brien is heavily considering interviewing for one of those jobs. Ugh...

The fact that O' Brien wants out of Happy Valley THIS SOON is what upsets me. If this was 5 or 6 years after the sanctions were over then I wouldn't really care, but O' Brien knows he is the glue that is keeping this program together. He preached family and Penn State pride and now he wants out the first chance he guess. So much for being there for your kids and saving a program. Now I'm a Pitt student and known for being a "Pitt guy", but I did get my undergrad at Penn State-Shenango campus so I feel have some entitlement to say  that "we don't want someone that doesn't want us." I'm afraid there is only one man who does want us, and I'm even more afraid that he won't be given that chance to come home. I'm talking about Tom "Scrap" Bradley.



Dot:

First of all let me say this: The Chris Mortensen report that says that Bill O'Brien wants to leave because Penn State "lied" to him about the possibility of NCAA sanctions is absolutely ridiculous. According to that report, PSU told O'Brien that there would only be criminal actions, no chance of NCAA sanctions. If that were the case, and O'Brien didn't know about sanction possibilities, then why does his contract have a stipulation for four extra years due to the four years of NCAA sanctions. So don't tell me that he wasn't told about sanctions and that's why he wants out. Even his statement after the sanctions came out tell you he was committed: "Today we receive a very harsh penalty from the NCAA and as head coach of the Nittany Lions football program, I will do everything in my power to not only comply, but help guide the University forward to become a national leader in ethics, compliance and operational excellence. I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead. But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes."

So if his reason for leaving is that he didn't know about the sanctions, then he's just looking for an excuse to leave. And if that's truly his mindset, then honestly I don't want him as a coach.

Here's what I have to say about Penn State: it's about family. They are a family. I was very skeptical at first when Penn State went out of staff to hire Bill O'Brien, somebody who had no affiliation with the University. My fear was (as now might be coming up) that someone might come into the program with the intention of using it as a stepping stone for something else, or that he might not have the respect and understanding for the program that it deserves. 

But then I was proven wrong. Bill O'Brien kept that program together. On and off of the field, family was there at Happy Valley. We saw the speech by Michael Mauti and Michael Zordich. We saw a majority of the players stick it out. We saw #OneTeam trend nationally week in and week out. The family of Penn State was not extinguished...they simply added a new member.

About a month ago, a report came out that O'Brien told his agent to put out some feelers, just to see what the NFL may have in store for him. Understandable...like Dellav said, it's the NFL, of course you'll listen. It's the latest reports that say WHY he supposedly wants out that really bothers me.

So if this does happen - if Bill O'Brien does ship off to Cleveland or Philadelphia or whatever - then what's next for Penn State? As we've seen time and time again, loyalty in sports (especially college sports) is dead. Only five coaches (Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech, Mack Brown at Texas, Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, Kirk Ferentz at Iowa, and Larry Blakeney at Troy) have been head coach at their current school since prior to 2000. That's embarrassing. Football fans want their teams to have a great coach (and they use names like Bear Bryant, Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden). What's similar with all of those coaches? They coached at the same school for DECADES.

Now more than ever, loyalty doesn't matter. Wins do. I hate it. And wins aren't going to matter much for Penn State. Any new coach coming in from the outside at this point will more than likely do exactly what Bill O'Brien is supposedly about to do. It's not worth it. The only answer: Tom Bradley.