Pats OC O'Brien set to take Penn State Job?

• Writerbuckeye

  

  No prior ties to Penn State, which is probably a good thing for them...
  
  http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2012/01/patriots-assistant-bill-obrien-interview-penn-state-job/1
• carmen

  Penn State will be like Minnesota in the coming seasons. No one will want to play there or for that coach. Kinda an odd hire.
• jordo212000

  

  Terrible hire IMO. Teams need to stop going to the Bellichick tree. You'd think they would learn their lesson by now
• LJ

  

  So they hired Charlie Weis....
  
  
  Oh wait? O'Brien?
• SportsAndLady

  

  Penn State letterman need to STFU
  
  "Wahhh they didn't ask us if he was okay to hire"
  
  Dear Penn State, we didn't hire someone in Paterno's coaching tree because of the fucking obvious. That is all. Signed, logic.
• Falcons53

  carmen;1040845 wrote:Penn State will be like Minnesota in the coming seasons. No one will want to play there or for that coach. Kinda an odd hire.

  Penn State will never be as bad as Minnesota. I thought it was an odd hire, but in reality, he may be the bridge hire. Follow Paterno, deal with the craptastic situation there, but probably won't win enough games to keep people happy. In 3-5 years when the school has rebounded, they will still have a great fan base, facilities to match anyone and the money will still be there. Then they will get a big fish that everyone had hoped for now. No big fish were going to take this career killer right now. O'brien will be back in the NFL as an OC after that, but not a HC.
• Falcons53

  Where do the outstanding defensive coaches go from here? The offensive guys were not very good, so the OC will retire, Jay will get a smaller school offer to coach something, but not HC.
  
  Where does one of the best DCs in the country end up, Tom Bradley?
  
  Larry Johnson had several offers as a DC around the country in the last few years. He stayed at PSU hoping Bradley would get the HC and he would be DC. He also interviewed for the HC spot (mainly for interview process experience). Where will he land?
  
  Ron Vanderlinden has done a great job with the Penn State Linebackers. He was HC at Maryland previously and was the DC at Northwestern during their Big 10 Championship run. He should be highly sought as well.
  
  Kermit Buggs is the least known of the defensive staff, but has done a nice job with the secondary (until the Houston game). He will land somewhere.
  
  Any of these guys retained? I don't believe they will stay, especially Bradley and Johnson. They make try to keep Johnson as DC, but no way Bradley stays. This isn't like Fickell who was thrust into the Interim spot and then retained.
  
  Thoughts?
• LJ

  

  Rumors are that LJsr and Vanderlinden will be going to Maryland
• vball10set

  SportsAndLady;1040866 wrote:Penn State letterman need to STFU
  
  "Wahhh they didn't ask us if he was okay to hire"
  
  Dear Penn State, we didn't hire someone in Paterno's coaching tree because of the ****ing obvious. That is all. Signed, logic.

  I agree with this, since some (a lot?) of these former players' 'silence' may have contributed to the length of time this was allowed to continue.
  
  As far as the hire? two words...plausible deniability
• jpake1

  

  Good hire IMO, even if all of PSU are pissed-- which doesn't mean much in the end. Get an unknown guy that can stay under the radar and let this thing begin to heal for a few years. You aren't going to get conference championship type recruits-- other coaches will make damn sure when speaking to 17 year olds and their parents. Let this guy coach for 3 years and be .500-.600 win %. Then when it seems like things have cooled a bit you can check the temperature of some higher proven college coaches that would jumped at the chance to coach PSU this year if the firestorm never happened.
  
  I like this guy more than Bradley (he NEVER seemed like a HC to me... more like a life long NFL cord that's content being in the background for 20+ years).
• Little Danny

  

  Falcons53;1040998 wrote:Where do the outstanding defensive coaches go from here? The offensive guys were not very good, so the OC will retire, Jay will get a smaller school offer to coach something, but not HC.
  
  Where does one of the best DCs in the country end up, Tom Bradley?
  
  Larry Johnson had several offers as a DC around the country in the last few years. He stayed at PSU hoping Bradley would get the HC and he would be DC. He also interviewed for the HC spot (mainly for interview process experience). Where will he land?
  
  Ron Vanderlinden has done a great job with the Penn State Linebackers. He was HC at Maryland previously and was the DC at Northwestern during their Big 10 Championship run. He should be highly sought as well.
  
  Kermit Buggs is the least known of the defensive staff, but has done a nice job with the secondary (until the Houston game). He will land somewhere.
  
  Any of these guys retained? I don't believe they will stay, especially Bradley and Johnson. They make try to keep Johnson as DC, but no way Bradley stays. This isn't like Fickell who was thrust into the Interim spot and then retained.
  
  Thoughts?

  They will all land good gigs--- if not for the 2012 season they will in time for 2013. The timing of this is probably the only thing holding them back.
• Tiernan

  State College is becoming harder and harder to recruit today's athletes to. Combined with overcoming the stigma that now faces this team, O'Brien will only be the first in a series of 3 - 4 yr & outs who will have the Penn State job over the next 15 years. Penn State will become a Syracuse, Pitt, Maryland type of program. Nice while it lasted huh Nittany Lion fans?
• ts1227

  

  SportsAndLady;1040866 wrote:Penn State letterman need to STFU
  
  "Wahhh they didn't ask us if he was okay to hire"
  
  Dear Penn State, we didn't hire someone in Paterno's coaching tree because of the fucking obvious. That is all. Signed, logic.

  
  Then you've got people (alumni) citing "tradition" regarding how they should have stayed within, which makes zero sense.
  
  When you have a coach there 50 years, and a clusterfuck like they do, it's fucking IMPOSSIBLE to stay within and wash your hands of this.
  
  The word tradition should be banned from the vocabulary of college football fans. It's just something people say without meaning when all other arguments have failed.
• Skyhook79

  

  SportsAndLady;1040866 wrote:Penn State letterman need to STFU
  
  "Wahhh they didn't ask us if he was okay to hire"
  
  Dear Penn State, we didn't hire someone in Paterno's coaching tree because of the fucking obvious. That is all. Signed, logic.

  I doubt they care what you think about it since you are not an Penn State letterman.
• Falcons53

  Tiernan;1041129 wrote:State College is becoming harder and harder to recruit today's athletes to. Combined with overcoming the stigma that now faces this team, O'Brien will only be the first in a series of 3 - 4 yr & outs who will have the Penn State job over the next 15 years. Penn State will become a Syracuse, Pitt, Maryland type of program. Nice while it lasted huh Nittany Lion fans?

  I respect your opinion, but disgaree that there is anything about State College that makes it hard to recruit to. I believe if Paterno retired a year or two ago, every name in college football would have lined up for this job. It was as good a job as was out there. Now, not so much.
• SportsAndLady

  

  Skyhook79;1041194 wrote:I doubt they care what you think about it since you are not an Penn State letterman.

  I'm not an Penn State letterman?
• ytownfootball

  

  Falcons53;1041209 wrote:I respect your opinion, but disgaree that there is anything about State College that makes it hard to recruit to. I believe if Paterno retired a year or two ago, every name in college football would have lined up for this job. It was as good a job as was out there. Now, not so much.

  I'd also agree with the sentiment that State College/Happy Valley isn't exactly a huge draw for the recruits most consider blue chippers. If for no other reason than location, prior to the shit hitting the fan. Now it is even worse. Penn State could see a huge spiral in the next decade. I've seen some of their boards and there are a ton of people who are completely delusional in regards to their standing in the hierarchy of college football. I really don't get it personally.
• Glassy

  

  Penn State is doomed for the next 4-5 years.
  
  This is an impulse hire IMO. He has no track history of success in an important position. The Patriots offense was already good when he got there.
  
  -Ga Tech
  -Maryland
  -Duke
  
  Seriously? Like these names even help your resume in football. Hell I would be hoping nobody found out I even coached at these places if they didnt ask!
  
  Penn State, even with the scandal surrounding the program, could have landed a much bigger fish than this nobody.
• LJ

  

  ytownfootball;1041223 wrote:I'd also agree with the sentiment that State College/Happy Valley isn't exactly a huge draw for the recruits most consider blue chippers. If for no other reason than location, prior to the shit hitting the fan. Now it is even worse. Penn State could see a huge spiral in the next decade. I've seen some of their boards and there are a ton of people who are completely delusional in regards to their standing in the hierarchy of college football. I really don't get it personally.

  They are up there. Just 1 step down from the elites, but them being the #1 money making program in the country puts them right on that border if they get a coach that can constantly produce. They have great facilities.
• Glassy

  

  ytownfootball;1041223 wrote:I'd also agree with the sentiment that State College/Happy Valley isn't exactly a huge draw for the recruits most consider blue chippers. If for no other reason than location, prior to the **** hitting the fan. Now it is even worse. Penn State could see a huge spiral in the next decade. I've seen some of their boards and there are a ton of people who are completely delusional in regards to their standing in the hierarchy of college football. I really don't get it personally.

  Even more reason that Penn State should have went after a major player in the college world instead of this guy that they hired. I am a die hard tOSU fan, but I want to see the better B10 programs do well.
  
  Look what Urban has done for OSU recruiting in just one month! It will be a long time before Penn State has any relevancy in college football again.
• SportsAndLady

  

  O'Brien was probably the only person who would accept the position, hence the multiple interviews with other candidates.
• ytownfootball

  

  I don't disagree by and large, they do have the facilities and as you mentioned make a lot of money (though we could argue accounting practices that go into those results).
• ytownfootball

  

  SportsAndLady;1041237 wrote:O'Brien was probably the only person who would accept the position, hence the multiple interviews with other candidates.

  Well that's a hell of a sell that needs made given the circumstances. Some of their fans were talking Saban, and Les Miles and I'm like WTF? Put down the crack pipe! and this was AFTER all the penor touching.
• georgemc80

  This guy is there to guide the ship through the rough seas ahead. His job is to keep the program clean, graduate his players, rebuild trust in the community, be a great PR mouthpiece and win a 4-7 games a year.
• Pick6

  

  I dont think this is a bad hire. I mean are Penn State fans really expecting to get Nick Saban or something? They got a guy who is the OC of one of the best teams and offenses in the league.