Bill O'Brien makes his most important moves at Penn State

Bill O'Brien has assembled his crucial first coaching staff; will it be able to work cohesively and chart a successful new course for Penn State?

As a 42-year-old, first-time head coach, Bill O'Brien's inaugural coaching staff at Penn State is especially critical.

It's vital, it's essential and it's every other word meaning really, really freakin' important.

His coaches will spread his vision and represent Penn State football. They will help direct O'Brien as he negotiates his way into this most daunting job, his maiden head coaching voyage. They will establish the culture. They will recruit the next generation of players. They will work on game plans. They will tirelessly watch and evaluate game tape, and evaluate practice tape, and evaluate recruiting tape. They will push and prod, and motivate and inspire, the players and the team. And they must all work cohesively together.

Did we mention they will recruit the players who will win games ... or lose them? The players who will represent the university well and graduate .. or not?

O'Brien and his staff now are Penn State football, in what is essentially the first major overhaul of the Penn State coaching staff in ... forever.

The coaching staff is the foundation on which O'Brien will build his program, and there will be no time to rebuild the staff later. Tweak, yes. Rebuild, no.

Basically, O'Brien is living Eminem's Lose Yourself:

Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity 

To seize everything you ever wanted 
One moment 
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

O'Brien still only is moonlighting as the PSU coach, as he's finishing the NFL season as the New England Patriots' offensive coordinator. He's been on the job for less than two weeks. He's functioning within the white-hot crucible of January college football recruiting.

Against that backdrop, O'Brien did perhaps the most important thing he will do at Penn State: He pulled together his coaching staff.

How did he do?

The truth, and the real issue, about Joe Paterno now

Joe Paterno finally speaks, inflaming the Sandusky scandal again (at least for a day or two), yet most people still can't properly assess what Paterno did, and we're no closer to answering the biggest unknowns about what Paterno didn't do


So, Joe Paterno met with a reporter from the Washington Post last week (Sally Jenkins) and basically told the same story he told the grand jury about the infamous March 2002 Sandusky/boy/shower/fondling/sexual in nature/Mike McQueary-witnessed incident, only with some more details and while suffering through cancer treatments.

(Washington Post story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/joe-paternos-first-interview-since-the-penn-state-sandusky-scandal/2012/01/13/gIQA08e4yP_story.html)

And instantly it was like November all over again, only on a slightly smaller scale, as Sandusky/Paterno fatigue has begun to set in a little bit. (Then again, everything for the remainder of human history will be on a smaller scale compared to PSU in November 2011.) Mayhem took hold for a little while on the internet and in the media:

• The media cropped the least flattering snippets of Paterno's Washington Post commentary and made it into headlines: "Paterno says, 'I didn't know exactly how to handle it'" or "Paterno says, 'I didn't know which way to go'" or "Paterno says, 'I felt inadequate'" ... as long as it makes Paterno look bad and grabs attention, it's headline material, apparently.
• Other media contorted Paterno's words to make him sound grossly ignorant, or disingenuous, or a manipulative liar, such as one ESPN reporter asking if Paterno really could have believed there was no such thing as child sexual abuse, which is of course not what Paterno said or implied. This reporter of course isn't the first at ESPN to distort Paterno's words and meaning to try to make JoePa look like the Fuzzy Zoeller of child abuse enablers (see Rome, Jim)

(To those who think respected national media outlets wouldn't be so egregiously misleading, check out this headline from CNN after Jay Paterno announced last week he would not be joining new PSU head coach Bill O'Brien's staff: "Paterno's son quitting Penn State amid scandal." Um, what? O'Brien allows JayPa to announce his departure as a mutual decision, and CNN slaps him with a "quitting amid scandal" headline. Pathetic.)

• Internet commentators, bloggers, etc. shredded Paterno for his alleged moral failure, continuing their refrains from November.
• Meanwhile, those who have supported Paterno continue to support him, citing his strong desire to speak on the matter as an indication of his relatively clean conscience, and his story consistency an indication of his honesty.

Paterno finally has spoken, but little has changed, right?

Wrong.

Bill O'Brien is not Rich Rodriguez. Or Charlie Weis. Or ...

And Penn State is not Michigan. And Jerry Sandusky did not abuse children in Ann Arbor. And Bill O'Brien is not Josh McDaniels ... there are many fundamental reasons why Bill O'Brien's situation at PSU cannot be compared to any other, but that's not stopping prominent columnists from doing it and continuing to pile on Penn State


This may be a no-duh observation, but some notable journalists are struggling with the distinction:


Bill O'Brien isn't Rich Rodriguez. And Penn State in 2012 isn't Michigan in 2008. Different coaches, different styles, different backgrounds, different schools, different situations, etc., right?

Bill O'Brien also is not Josh McDaniels. Nor is he Charlie Weis. They are all different people.

No-duh, eh?


Well, respected national columnists nonetheless can't resist making dumb comments such as the following by ESPN's renowned Rick Reilly on Twitter:

Bill O'Brien's adventure of a lifetime begins

Following a legend is always exceedingly difficult, but that's only part of O'Brien's challenge


What did he say? How did he sound? How did he look?

Did he emphasize academics? Did he show reverence for JoePa? How did he acknowledge the dissension surrounding his selection? Did he mention that eight-letter word that begins with S?

Did he seem ... like the man for the job? (a.k.a. the "Job of the Century")

Perhaps no new coach in college football history has had his press conference scrutinized quite like Bill O'Brien did today.

How did he do?

LaVar, Brandon Short are much too smart to be this stupid

The former PSU greats have decided if they can't get their way, then they'll try to ruin it for everybody else

LaVar Arrington and Brandon Short are Nittany legends in every sense.

Superstars on the field at Penn State, defining Linebacker U. in the late 1990s, then starring in the NFL, and then distinguishing themselves in their post-football lives.

JoePa's "Success With Honor" personified.

Short lived the college sports fairy tale, overcoming an impoverished childhood to become a highly successful adult.

Arrington is one of the best raw athletes in human history, an awe-inspiring speed/strength/explosiveness combination also blessed with eloquence and perspective.

In November, Arrington added an extraordinary layer to his spectacular Penn State legacy with a passionate, goosebump-inducing monologue at the epic post-Sandusky Old Main candlelight vigil, uniting Penn State as much as anything since the scandal broke.

Now, however, Arrington and Short are harming Penn State as much as anything since the scandal broke.

The search committee works, and works, and works ... and Penn State waits

The longer this drags on, the worse things probably are for the Nittany Lions


It was the last week in November, nearly three weeks after Joe Paterno was fired, that the Penn State football search committee was formed.

We're now in the first week of the New Year. The season is over. Underclassmen need to declare by Jan. 15 if they are entering the draft. Signing Day for high school prospects is a month away. Assistant coaches' lives linger in limbo. Some players surely might be transferring rather than continue waiting to know who their coach will be.

Tick, tick, tick ...

Yes, of course, getting the right coach for Penn State is the No. 1 priority, and should not be rushed.

But should it take six weeks (or more), when virtually everyone else does it in three or less?

There are exceptional circumstances here, for sure. A guy named Sandusky, you might have heard. That should add a week, maybe two. Vetting is of the utmost importance.

Sandusky is everywhere for Penn Staters

Penn State fans have been deeply wounded by Sandusky - and then by having to talk about it with everyone, and having it hover over their lives in perpetuity


The bowl loss to Houston was sadly predictable, and the coaching search is looking more and more like a never-ending mess.

If you are a Penn Stater, and especially if you are an overt Penn State supporter, what Jerry Sandusky allegedly did to children has only been part of your suffering.

Dealing with your colleagues/friends/neighbors/associates, etc., has been a daily kick in the gut.

Whether at work, or over a beer with friends, or at holiday gatherings, you've come to dread those aggravating, awkward occasions when the Sandusky scandal is brought up. Heck, even when it's not brought up, it can be the elephant in the room.

Having to listen to someone discussing the scandal who is either misinformed, misguided, factually erroneous, gleefully condescending, Mr. (or Mrs.) Moral Courage, all-knowing, uncomfortable, misplacing sympathy, relieved/gloating, etc., has become your burden. Even listening to someone who knows what they're talking about can get weary.

What can you do in these situations? You can't go into detailed explanation of the facts, or launch a lively discussion, because no one wants to hear it from you, you woebegone Penn Stater - they all just assume you are presenting some crooked version of the facts, because you are biased and wounded and exposed, of course.

And heck, you probably should have stopped Sandusky, too, you enabler!