PSU to hire Pats OC, Bill O'Brien as HC

[rrlbees]

According to Mort and other twitterers. Announcement Saturday.

 

[MadNY3]

According to Mort and other twitterers. Announcement Saturday.

Penn State is a good job. Better than Miami. You can isolate things to individuals - including Mount Rushmore Paterno - than have been evicted.

 

[cuseincincy]

Bad hire IMO. Charlie Weis, Josh McDaniels now Bill O'Brien (who?). When will these peopel learn that Tom Brady is responsible for the success of the NE offense. He should be a spectacular failure at PSU, so I guess that's good.

 

[Noexcuse]

Interesting hire. No previous connection to PSU from what I can tell. I guess he was next on the list after Shady turned them down. I wonder if he will be as successful as that other Pats OC was at Notre Dame.

 

[Toga]

Wiki says so
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_O'Brien_(American_football)

 

[rrlbees]

Interesting hire. No previous connection to PSU from what I can tell. I guess he was next on the list after Shady turned them down. I wonder if he will be as successful as that other Pats OC was at Notre Dame.

No connection to PSU is the first right move they have made. Every other person they have brought in for anything has ties to PSU. O'Briens name has been rumored out there as the leader for a long time so I figure he was the guy all along and Shady was a back up maybe or nothing.

 

[Marsh01]

No connection to PSU is the first right move they have made. Every other person they have brought in for anything has ties to PSU. O'Briens name has been rumored out there as the leader for a long time so I figure he was the guy all along and Shady was a back up maybe or nothing.

No doubt. There was no way in hell they were going to hire a person with any connections to the university. Good move.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Interesting hire. No previous connection to PSU from what I can tell. I guess he was next on the list after Shady turned them down. I wonder if he will be as successful as that other Pats OC was at Notre Dame.

Only remote connection could possibly be that he played and coached at Brown, which is, of course, the alma mater of Joe Paterno.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Only remote connection could possibly be that he played and coached at Brown, which is, of course, the alma mater of Joe Paterno.

Yes, but didn't they attend Brown in diferent centuries?

 

[cuseincincy]

Another thing odd is that a university coming off a great controversy would hire a coach with recent controversy himself. Tthe highlight clips of him going off on Brady and also apparently arguing with Belichick are already all over ESPN and right wrong or whatever...he comes off looking like a dick. Makes me wonder if someone at PSU is watching this now and saying "That's the guy we hired?!" Having to be physically restrained from going after his QB on national TV is hardly comforting to a recruits parents.

 

[Chip]

He's a bridge to the next coach. Probably the perfect guy to fill that role for now.

 

[cuseincincy]

PSU not responding to reported hire. Classic! If O'Brien let this out and shouldn't have he may have a shorter tenure than O'Leary at ND. PSU looks like schmucks right now. What? Who? We have no comment? :rolling: And the Nittany message boards are not happy. Not happy with the hire or with the blundered announcement/non=announcement. reports are the players are finding out just like us, by watching ESPN.

 

[rrlbees]

He's a bridge to the next coach. Probably the perfect guy to fill that role for now.

I thought that too. I wondered if they hired this guy knowing he will tread water for a couple/few years and then when things have quieted down, they will bring in a PSU guy.

 

[orangenauburn]

I thought that too. I wondered if they hired this guy knowing he will tread water for a couple/few years and then when things have quieted down, they will bring in a PSU guy.

like Schiano

 

[cusestudent]

I think the University is much more crippled then people believe. It seems that the administration was just trying to hire anyone to coach just to keep program going. Bees definitely has the right of this, and this is just a throw away hire. The actual rebuilding process will take place at least three years down the road. Things are looking good for SU to start asserting themselves in Pennsylvania again for recruiting.

 

[Cuseman78]

He's a bridge to the next coach. Probably the perfect guy to fill that role for now.

This. Obrien is simply a placeholder for 3 or 4 years for an elite coach that will swoop in and save the day once the toxicity of the Sandusky trial is cleaned up. No reputable coach was ever going to take that job with the present uncertainties. Penn state had no choice in the matter here. It's going to be a brutal 5 years (at least) in State College.

 

[bnoro]

Another thing odd is that a university coming off a great controversy would hire a coach with recent controversy himself. Tthe highlight clips of him going off on Brady and also apparently arguing with Belichick are already all over ESPN and right wrong or whatever...he comes off looking like a dick. Makes me wonder if someone at PSU is watching this now and saying "That's the guy we hired?!" Having to be physically restrained from going after his QB on national TV is hardly comforting to a recruits parents.

Controversy? Him and Brady hugged in celebration when that game was over. I think you'd want your coach to have some backbone and say something when the quarterback messes up. It wasn't a controversy to Pats fans so why would it matter anywhere else.

Also, don't even know where to start on the fact you're comparing a child rape (not really a "controversy") to a coach yelling at a QB on the sideline.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Not every NFL guy is GROB or even Marrone for that matter, at least let him coach a few games before writing the guy off. He may crush it there, never know. I love the fact that he got in Brady's face. Last time I checked the players are still suppose to listen to coaches regardless of payscale.

I would hire O'Brien for that alone, I doubt he takes much at the college level from kids. Good for him. It's amazing what people have become with regard to even football. A coach yelling at a hall of famer, oh no!!! the nerve

 

[GoSU96]

Not every NFL guy is GROB or even Marrone for that matter, at least let him coach a few games before writing the guy off. He may crush it there, never know. I love the fact that he got in Brady's face. Last time I checked the players are still suppose to listen to coaches regardless of payscale.

I would hire O'Brien for that alone, I doubt he takes much **** at the college level from kids. Good for him. It's amazing what people have come with regard to even football. A coach yelling at a hall of famer, oh no!!! the nerve

I'm pretty sure that the first candidate Marrone had in mind for QB/OC was O'Brien, but he couldn't get him to leave NE.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I'm pretty sure that the first candidate Marrone had in mind for QB/OC was O'Brien, but he couldn't get him to leave NE.

I remember his name popping up for sure a few years back

 

[OttoForLife]

I thought that too. I wondered if they hired this guy knowing he will tread water for a couple/few years and then when things have quieted down, they will bring in a PSU guy.

I'm in this camp, as well. However, we have seen at SU now twice that there can be a steep learning curve for first time head coaches. I'm a little surprised they didn't go with someone who has run a team before.

Guessing PSU has enough support/cache that they won't drop to the depths that SU did, but given how hard it is to recruit against the likes of Urban Meyer, I don't think this is the best hire they could have made.

 

[MadNY3]

Another thing odd is that a university coming off a great controversy would hire a coach with recent controversy himself. Tthe highlight clips of him going off on Brady and also apparently arguing with Belichick are already all over ESPN and right wrong or whatever...he comes off looking like a dick. Makes me wonder if someone at PSU is watching this now and saying "That's the guy we hired?!" Having to be physically restrained from going after his QB on national TV is hardly comforting to a recruits parents.

If anything, that why I like O'Brien.

If he is willing to mix it up with legends Brady and Bill, you can sculpt the story to say he will not be intimidated by anything or any institutional pressure to keep things under wraps.

 

[cuseincincy]

If anything, that why I like O'Brien.

If he is willing to mix it up with legends Brady and Bill, you can sculpt the story to say he will not be intimidated by anything or any institutional pressure to keep things under wraps.

I don't disagree with this. However when it is the only thing the public (eg. recruits and their parents) see is a coach having to be physically restrained from going after one of his players on the sideline...it may not be the ideal face of a new coach.

 

[KaiserUEO]

I don't disagree with this. However when it is the only thing the public (eg. recruits and their parents) see is a coach having to be physically restrained from going after one of his players on the sideline...it may not be the ideal face of a new coach.

hes in the 'running' for head football coach, not for prom king or student council president.

too many milk drinkers on this board.

good lord.

Oh Lord

 

[Symphony Steve]

The obvious question is: Can he be a head coach in the pressure cooker and 24-hour news cycle that is now Penn State?

The obvious answer is: We don't know. His highest rank as a college coach was OC at Duke and at Ga. Tech. Plus one year as an Ass't. HC at Tech.

Advantages: He has the cachet of having been the OC with the Patriots.

Disadvantages: So have others who failed as HC's. Plus, that's all he has going for him.

Seeing as how he never was a real in-demand guy for a college HC job before, this is a real iffy hire. While it might stem the defection of verbals, this certainly looks like 'settling'. Both for Penn State AND for O'Brien.