Bill O'Brien Getting Thrown Under A Bus

[upstater1]

watching BOB's press conference. His first impression seems like a strong one.

But he looks like Homer Simpson

 

[RobertWeathers]

The top guys are on record saying that football is going to take a step down in terms of the school's emphasis. And any losses from that $50 million can be easily offset from the school's entire AD budget which is in the $100 million range. Couple that with increased TV revs from the BigTenNetwork which are kicking in this year, and I don't think they have financial concerns. This is not a school that charges students fees or gives direct financial support to athletics, like 100 or more other football schools in D1. The mentality there is that the academic side has a lot more to lose from being tarred with the stigma of the scandal than the football side has to lose by not winning football games. We're talking about a school with a $4 billion budget and lots of alumni contributions, lots of research money, very little state support (4% of the budget). They are very concerned about losses to the $4 billion, much less about losses of the $50 million. Consider, a wing of the library at PSU is named the Paterno Library, and one of their most well known professors is the Joseph and Susan Paterno Chair.

The big problem PSU has right now is with its faculty which has lost faith in its administration and the board of trustees. They are calling for wholesale changes. They don't even have a permanent president or AD. There is going to be a lot of turmoil, but I'm telling you that O'Brien's performance is going to be one of the least concerns for the next several years.

Remember, Paterno had 4 losings seasons in 5 in the last decade and they kept making money.

Good points but I do believe that winning a ton of football games is great for the university's morale and a key, but yet indirect component to raise money for some of the programs you mention, bring in students, etc. The football program has a budget of about $24m and seeing that football revenues were around $72m and that doesn't even include the revenue from apparel and other items it is a highly profitable cash cow. With that said, PSU has gone to 6 straight bowl games with 2 being the BCS variety.

Quite frankly, I think the admins are underplaying the importance of football there for the reason that they want to world to know that there is more to PSU than football- for good reason obviously.

I think it's naive to think that BOB won't be canned or on a major hot seat does not win in year 2 or year 3 of his tenure.

 

[sevengables_2207]

It is appalling for sure, but it makes sense if one understands the dynamics of what had transpired in Happy Valley during Paterno's reign.

Make no mistake about it, Paterno is a bad man (disagree? peruse the grand jury testimony from beginning to end) who has taken these outspoken Penn State alumni from an early age... a fair share of whom from poor/disadvantaged backgrounds (hmm... sounds a bit like the m.o. of that guy who used to run the Second Mile) and instilled a very warped set of ethics and morality within them. I do not mean all of the alumni of course, merely the ones who have publicly come to their disgraced coach's defense as well as the university (e.g. the petitioners of the letter).

I would venture to suggest that Paterno has cultivated a cult-like atmosphere over there during his stint as coach, and all of this backlash against BOB is merely a reaction from his cult members who are... at the least... uncomfortable with an outsider being brought in. I say it is like a cult, because of the delusions and denail the Paterno/PSU disciples have manifested in response to this entire miasma of depravity that went on there. In spite of evidence to the contrary, these people have never wavered in their support for their cult leader, even though evidence has portrayed him to be flat out... well... a bad person, to put it nicely.

Apologies if I went off on a tangent, and if there are any PSU fans or alumni here who are indignant over what I have wrote, I can only say... go read the grand jury testimony as I have, and take of those "JoePa" blinders/obscuring lenses whilst doing so.

 

[borg]

BOB should appeal to some blue chip QBs that normally wouldn't give Penn St a sniff. In his presser, he emphasized situational football....which, to me, screams that Penn St football will be moving into the 21st century. Grinding football may bring back the nostalgia of glory years, but take a look at Big Ten bowl results....embarrassingly horrible. If Penn St has national ambitions, a leader in BOB's mold is the right move. Hopefully BOB gets the chance to make the transition.

 

[patsfaninpa]

Kim Jones from YES Network tweeted Bill O'Brien will be making 2.3m per with salary, radio and nike contracts.

 

[TheComeback]

I'm not a BOB fan. I try to not watch ESPN, as promoting controversies like this is part of their MO. I do think this will turn out to be a bad hire by PSU. I've been critical of his play calling all season. While he does have some college OC experience, going to PSU is a big jump in my opinion. Time will tell.

Are you kidding me? Last time I checked, there's a lot more to being an HC than playcalling, which O'Brien is very good at, by the way. But of course, spoiled Pats fans can never have enough... maybe you should watch Mike Martz or Kevin Gilbride if you want to see a playcaller who's actually worthy of criticism.

I think O'Brien's actually a much better fit as a college HC. He's knowledgeable, emotional, gets guys fired up, and by all accounts the players have a ton of respect for him. He definitely strikes me a strong leader, regardless of his playcalling ablities.

As for experience, give me a break. O'Brien has been a football coach for almost 20 years. If he's not ready now, he never will be.

 

[vyrago]

I can't get over how ridiculous some of the comments from these idiots are. Like this classic:

Former Penn State players upset with coaching hire, process



After all that's gone on at Penn State over the years, the criminal acts as well as the cover-ups, it's absolutely unbelievable that someone is going to talk about standards. Sorry PSU people, you lost the right to talk about standards when you chose football over abusing little boys.

I'm glad they're not bringing in someone familiar with the program who would only seek to cover up the atrocities committed in the background. Keep your tangible standards to yourselves, PSU.

Do you suppose their next president will get half the scrutiny and criticism as BOB has gotten and will continue to get? Nah. After all, that's only academics. This is the really important stuff; this is football.

 

[neuronet]

"There is a tangible standard at Penn State that this poor (O'Brien) guy knows nothing about,'' Short said.

Yes, tangible as in touch. As in boys. As in not saying anything. A culture of incestuous silence that nobody wants an outsider to break into.

About time someone from outside the incest family comes in and rattles the cage, screw those pedophile-protecting jackoffs they don't deserve him.

 

[scout]

Yes, tangible as in touch. As in boys. As in not saying anything. A culture of incestuous silence that nobody wants an outsider to break into.

About time someone from outside the incest family comes in and rattles the cage, screw those pedophile-protecting jackoffs they don't deserve him.

Who are "they". The university has cleared house and O'Brien will jettison the remaining staff. Thus, "they" must be the student body, professors, current players, etc. "They" are the people who are livid that this happened in the first place. Yea, F' them, right?

 

[cstjohn17]

Strong statement from BB

Belichick statement on O'Brien - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

""Over the course of his long coaching career, Bill O’Brien has met every personal and professional challenge head on with great passion and competitiveness. I expect Bill to draw on his deep background in college football and the NFL to continue attracting and developing top players. For five years, Bill’s outstanding work with our quarterbacks and entire offense has led to record-setting performances. His presence and command before our team has grown into that of a inspirational leader. This is a great match between a storied program and a old-school football coach. Bill will be up to the task and I couldn’t be happier for him, Colleen and the O’Brien family.""

 

[TheComeback]

As an aside, I don't get all the people criticizing BOB for taking this job.

Your dream is to be a football HC, and you get offered Penn State? Only an idiot would turn that down. I don't care how difficult the job is going to be... being a college HC is difficult no matter where you are.

And if he does fail, what does he have to lose? His coaching career will go on no matter what Penn State's record is over the next few years. The football world will forgive him if he's unable to recruit after a major pedophilia scandal.

It would be stupid to overlook this chance. Do you really think he'd ever get a job offer like this again? The guys who would turn this job down are scared of failing. BOB sees it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which is exactly what it is.

 

[TheComeback]

Who are "they". The university has cleared house and O'Brien will jettison the remaining staff. Thus, "they" must be the student body, professors, current players, etc. "They" are the people who are livid that this happened in the first place. Yea, F' them, right?

"They" weren't "livid" about it at all. In fact, they came out and rallied and hooted and hollered in support of Paterno immediately after all this stuff came to light. "Livid" is the last word I'd use to describe Penn State fans' reaction to the scandal.

And Short is an idiot. O'Brien doesn't know anything about "Penn State's standards"? Oh, I'm sorry, does Penn State play some kind of special football? Bill O'Brien just spent the last few years coaching the New England f***in' Patriots. I'm pretty sure he has higher standards than Penn State ever has, judging by the character of this organization and that of "Penn Staters" like Short.

I'm betting that smug, pretentious sense of entitlement had a lot to do with the situation Penn State's in right now.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Maybe but depending on how antsy hes gets for a promotion, Nick Caserio has the inside track on that position as he has coaching and FO experience. In addition, I think Bob Kraft would want final say on who heads up his billion dollar business.

That is exactly why Bob Kraft might select him and/or acquiesce if Bill Belichick recommended his lifelong friend. Bob has said he wants a tradition of continual winning seasons, and not gambling for a one time shot. He also believes his football team needs more then just a highly competent Head Coach and proven winning coach with experience in both college and pro football. It needs an executive manager as well, to bring the pieces together and keep them there.

Surely no one has the Front Office experience, as much as a big time college Head Coach, who runs the program in all respects. Saban has demonstrated he can restore an old winning tradition in one place LSU, and modify and yet maintain a tradition in another prominent program, dominated by a fabled HOF predecessor, at Alabama.

Don't you think having the experience to successfully replace the legend of Paul Bear Bryant was just as much a challenge as would face the successor to the great Bill Belichick?

Anyone taking over for Bill Belichick would have to have that ability if he is to survive, something Bill O'Brian will now learn, as he atempts to replace Joe Pa.

 

[patsfaninpa]

As an aside, I don't get all the people criticizing BOB for taking this job.

Your dream is to be a football HC, and you get offered Penn State? Only an idiot would turn that down. I don't care how difficult the job is going to be... being a college HC is difficult no matter where you are.

And if he does fail, what does he have to lose? His coaching career will go on no matter what Penn State's record is over the next few years. The football world will forgive him if he's unable to recruit after a major pedophilia scandal.

It would be stupid to overlook this chance. Do you really think he'd ever get a job offer like this again? The guys who would turn this job down are scared of failing. BOB sees it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which is exactly what it is.

That's the way I look at it. I hope he succeeds. I'm a PSU alum and a Pats fan. I've been hoping Joepa would retire for 10 years. I knew he wasn't going to get fired for losing. This has been an under achieving program since 1999. They have great facilities, wide recruiting base, storied history, former players who love their school. Joepa hasn't had the energy to put it together. If O'Brien doesn't succeed, it won't ruin his career. He can always say that nobody could have stepped into that mess and won. If he does well, he could be here 15-20 years.

There has been a lot of speculation Urban Meyer was interested in the job pre-scandal. That shows the opportunity that is there for Bill O'Brien. It won't be easy. Top recruits want to make it to the NFL. If Bill O'Brien can help them do that. It will make recruiting much easier.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I would not be so sure about this. While the big prizes like Munchak were never available, they said they had a certain number of head coach applicants. But just because the Goldens and Schianos were available, it doesn't mean they are good choices. I read that Ron Jaworski is good friends with Ira Lubert, a key search committee member, and that Jaworski steered the committee toward O'Brien after Munchak was a no go.

I don't know. The New York media is pretty clear that none of the high profile folks with NFL or major College coaching experience were interested in the job, whereas six months ago they would have been tripping over themselves to be Joe Pa's successor.

 

[MaineMan]

Strong statement from BB

Belichick statement on O'Brien - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

""Over the course of his long coaching career, Bill O’Brien has met every personal and professional challenge head on with great passion and competitiveness. I expect Bill to draw on his deep background in college football and the NFL to continue attracting and developing top players. For five years, Bill’s outstanding work with our quarterbacks and entire offense has led to record-setting performances. His presence and command before our team has grown into that of an inspirational leader. This is a great match between a storied program and an old-school football coach. Bill will be up to the task and I couldn’t be happier for him, Colleen and the O’Brien family.""

Such unequivocal praise and support from one of the football coaching "Gods" should accomplish a couple things: encourage many more potential high-end recruits to sign up, and get some of the more critical alums (at least, the smarter ones) to STFU.

 

[upstater1]

Good points but I do believe that winning a ton of football games is great for the university's morale and a key, but yet indirect component to raise money for some of the programs you mention, bring in students, etc. The football program has a budget of about $24m and seeing that football revenues were around $72m and that doesn't even include the revenue from apparel and other items it is a highly profitable cash cow. With that said, PSU has gone to 6 straight bowl games with 2 being the BCS variety.

Quite frankly, I think the admins are underplaying the importance of football there for the reason that they want to world to know that there is more to PSU than football- for good reason obviously.

I think it's naive to think that BOB won't be canned or on a major hot seat does not win in year 2 or year 3 of his tenure.

I don't disagree with what you're saying but, all donations are counted on the ADs loine. That money doesn't go to the school. Do does 100% of royalties from apparel. That's all athletics revenue. It shouldn't be but it is. Why? Because even schools like Cal-San Diego sell a certain number of shirts without bigtime sports. Say they sell 20% of what PSU does. That likely means this is the amount PSU would also sell that many without bigtime sports. As for students, no doubt sports helps. But, even non-bigtime sports schools are experiencing the same rise in applicants and quality of student that PSU is. It's going on everywhere. If it's going on at the Cal. schools and at the SUNY's (two systems where the majority of state schools do not have bigtime sports) then it would probably happen anyway. PSU may be different though because it is one of the top sports schools in the country, sports is in the DNA, so you're right in that regard. But one could easily argue that the scandal (which is part of the sports atmosphere) is now impacting the perception of the school at large.

Andrew Zimbalist points out that some schools who maintain sports for marketing the school to students don't realize that all their losing rubs off and gives the school a loser's stigma in the eyes of prospective students. He mentioned Rutgers and a few others in this regard. He thinks an argument could be made these schools would be MORE popular without sports.

 

[scout]

"They" weren't "livid" about it at all. In fact, they came out and rallied and hooted and hollered in support of Paterno immediately after all this stuff came to light. "Livid" is the last word I'd use to describe Penn State fans' reaction to the scandal.

And Short is an idiot. O'Brien doesn't know anything about "Penn State's standards"? Oh, I'm sorry, does Penn State play some kind of special football? Bill O'Brien just spent the last few years coaching the New England f***in' Patriots. I'm pretty sure he has higher standards than Penn State ever has, judging by the character of this organization and that of "Penn Staters" like Short.

I'm betting that smug, pretentious sense of entitlement had a lot to do with the situation Penn State's in right now.

Did you miss the game right after Paterno was fired. "They" must not have been in the stands. As I mentioned, I followed the story closely, and read the national media reports of the student body protesting Paterno's firing. Here's the clincher. Do you think the media would write a story about the majority of students accepting Paterno's firing or the minority protesting? Do you think the current media will interview former players accepting Penn State's decision to hire O'Brien or the former players who do not accept it because he is not alumni? Go back to cameragate, do you believe what was stated in the national media or were you better informed because you closely followed the team?

Let me reiterate, I stated that the Penn State fans were livid over the situation of the last decade.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Who are "they". The university has cleared house and O'Brien will jettison the remaining staff. Thus, "they" must be the student body, professors, current players, etc. "They" are the people who are livid that this happened in the first place. Yea, F' them, right?

The university cleared house? The university was FORCED to clear house, and even then, dragged their feet reluctantly every step of the way.

The cover-up was not just a football team issue, but went up to the athletic director and the senior vice president, both charged with perjury and failure to report suspected child abuse. The president issued a statement of "unconditional" support for both of them. He would later be forced to resign, over 3 years after the investigation was initiated.

Meanwhile, their head coach was forced to resign and an estimated 10,000 PSU students gathered in support of their coach and to protest, tipping over a news truck. A trustee involved in the matter told the media that the board actually considered letting Paterno finish the year, though ultimately deciding against it.

None of the above was about taking responsibility. It was all reactive, defiant at times.

Were there some PSU students, fans, and alumni who were absolutely disgusted by the entire cover-up. Absolutely. But not as many as you'd like to think considering the circumstances.

 

[upstater1]

"They" weren't "livid" about it at all. In fact, they came out and rallied and hooted and hollered in support of Paterno immediately after all this stuff came to light. "Livid" is the last word I'd use to describe Penn State fans' reaction to the scandal.

And Short is an idiot. O'Brien doesn't know anything about "Penn State's standards"? Oh, I'm sorry, does Penn State play some kind of special football? Bill O'Brien just spent the last few years coaching the New England f***in' Patriots. I'm pretty sure he has higher standards than Penn State ever has, judging by the character of this organization and that of "Penn Staters" like Short.

I'm betting that smug, pretentious sense of entitlement had a lot to do with the situation Penn State's in right now.

Uh, you do realize there are 50,000 students at PSU right? The number of people at the riot were 2,000. Look up Penn State riots and you'll find maybe 10 of them in the two or three years. They rioted when Osama was killed. These blithering drunken idiots riot at the drop of a hat.

But no one reports the 15,000 students who turned out the next day for a silent candlelight vigil where you could hear a pin drop.

Penn State' standards are pretty simple. They have the highest academic ranking in div. 1 right now, and are one of two schools (with Stanford) to never be on probation. That's what he's referring to.