Can you think of a more secure job in this economy than being the man that calls the plays for Tom Brady? Of course not! So when you hear the man that has this job is leaving it, you must be thinking that he somehow found greener pastures. As far as the NFL goes, the only jobs that might fit that description would be calling the plays for Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees, but even that is debatable. So upon hearing that Patriots offensive coordinator, Bill O'Brien was leaving his "cush" job to go be the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions, I was left scratching my head, wondering.............WHY?
I can't think of a bigger punishment than going to be the Penn State head coach right now, for obvious reasons. The first being, it's never easy to follow a legend. If you play the word association game and say "Penn State", the first thing someone will think of is Joepa. Joepa was and in many ways still is Penn State. There will be many fans that never accept O'Brien for the simple fact he isn't Joepa, no matter how successful he might be there, people will say "Joepa would have done it better."
The second reason, maybe being the even more obvious, Penn State is a disaster right now. Penn State was rocked to its core when the reports came out about their former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky and the criminal acts he was committing against underage youth. It led to the firing of their legendary head coach and many others. People blaming and pointing fingers at everyone else, and no one accepting responsibility.
So why would a man want to take on this responsibility? Why would he want to leave the Patriots? Did he really not like Brady?(remember their little scuffle December 11th during the Redskins game) Does he just like challenges?
I would like the answers to all of this questions, as I know most of the sports world would as well, but this is what I do take from the situation: O'Brien sees an opportunity. To take on a responsibility like the Penn State job right now, takes a man that is a visionary. You have to be able to look into the future, have a plan and realize it's going to take time to develop the good you can envision amidst all the apparent darkness. O'Brien sees something. What it is, I'm not sure, but he sees an opportunity to bring back hope to Penn State, something that university desperately needs right now.
I admire men like O'Brien who are willing to take a chance to try to fulfill the vision that they see. Reality is that the odds are against O'Brien. He is going to have a tough time recruiting and getting the boosters behind him. People are distraught, angry, felt betrayed and don't think O'Brien is the man to lead them back to the promise land. Several former Nittany Lion legends have openly expressed their disapproval on the O'Brien hire, including Todd Blackledge, who said:
"I understand Bill O’Brien probably understands football very well. But I think understanding Penn State and what Penn State is all about and what Penn State needs to go forward from here is equally important as what he knows about football so that leaves me with a little bit of a question mark. I’ve never met him, I don’t know anything about him, I don’t know about his personality. I certainly hope it’s a good decision but I have questions at this point.”
Many fans echo this. Several fans have said on national television that they expect Penn State to be in "dumps" under O'Brien. So to sum it up: O'Brien is leaving job security, entering a landmine that will be under extreme scrutiny for years, has little to no support of fellow colleagues and fans and will be trying to convince parents to let their sons come play at a school where one of the biggest sexual scandals in sports history occurred. What about that doesn't inspire you to pull for Bill O'Brien?
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