Mike Poorman, who has covered Penn State football since 1979, wrote a somewhat historical, somewhat watered-down opinion piece for StateCollege.com that compares Bill O’Brien in his second year to the career of Joe Paterno. Given this odd premise, he does a good job of chronicling Paterno’s flirtation with NFL coaching jobs through the years, and moves he made to entrench his power at Penn State. I suppose Poorman’s implication is that O’Brien is headed down the same road, and that O’Brien’s denial of pecuniary motive was a smokescreen — a bunch of malarkey. ???????
The allegations that O’Brien is a master manipulator who will leverage his premier season’s success proceed apace, unabated by BoB’s denials at the Monday press conference. Obviously, there is at least a shred of truth in these machinations, but unless O’Brien holds a gun to Erickson’s head, takes a few hostages, and holes up in Old Main there’s no real news here. ????????? Penn State beat writers just need some fruit to pick in the off-season. bet365 arab
Read “O’Brien and Paterno: The NFL, Power and the Face of Penn State” and discuss, already!
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lawrence says
You speak the truth NT. Your observations are usually right on the money. Only time will tell what kind of man PSU has in BOB. On the surface he seems like a good one. Let’s hope he respects the legacy here and doesn’t end up like a Bobby Petrino or Lane Kiffin. God knows we don’t need that.
The Nittany Turkey says
Thanks, Lawrence.
We’re going to continue reading about O’Brien’s motives and motivations as long as he remains at Penn State, but only he knows the straight scoop.
David Jones merely thinks he knows.
—TNT
BigAl says
So, if you use Poorman’s logic, then we should really get worried if Ted Roof decides to start a charity for underprivileged youth.
The Nittany Turkey says
Not particularly, because Roof will be doing so in Atlanta.
—TNT
Joe says
The big difference between Paterno’s flirtations and O’Brien’s is that we only recently found out about the contacts Joe had with NFL teams (other than the Pats) and other colleges like Michigan and Yale and who knows who else in the past because you could keep this stuff under the radar back in his day.
O’Brien (and the rest of us unfortunately) live in a 24 hour news/sports cycle, blogs, twitter, smart phones, and web sites out the wahzoo dedicated to getting a story out before anyone else (got to maximize those page clicks) on only the faintest bit of information (speculation).
Back in Paterno’s day when you could meet with someone without having someone use flight tracker software to follow your every movement and the world revolved around newspapers, copper pairs and not fiber, cell phones or ESPN. Joe could get away with these meetings and no one was the wiser.
On the other hand, everyone knows what day BoB goes to which Dunkin’ Donuts shop in State College to get his cup of coffee.
Fact is today everyone wants to be the first to report the latest rumor, speculation or innuendo regardless of whether there is any “fact” behind it. Throw the spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks-hell writers don’t use a spellchecker or review grammar anymore, why should they check facts. Hell they also realize there is a fan base at every university that eats this shit up by the bowl full!
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still follow this stuff (being the 5 star PS football junkie that I am), but as I said in my comments to one of your other posts, I’ll consider most of this rumor, opinion or speculation until I hear it from BoB or the school directly.
If BoB stays for one more year or ten or an 18 year old decides he’d rather play for someone else, this program will survive. I like BoB and what he did last year and what I think he will do in the future and I’m going to enjoy his stay at PS for how long or short it turns out to be.
I also think everyone has to stop seeing BoB and thinking we have another Joe. They are not the same man and never will be.
As Bob Dylan so famously sang, “And the times they are a changin'”. We just need to come to grips with that.
The Nittany Turkey says
He also sang, “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”
Tracking O’Brien’s every move will never get old for the media wonks and bloggers. It’s the non-news that’s news, the elephant that’s not in the room.
When Paterno was running the University, the only uncertainty was with regard to when he would retire. Sometimes, an assistant coach would leave for greener pastures. That was the big news.
Now, we have multidimensional uncertainty, which has, of course, led to a media free-for-all. Sandusky’s legacy. (May he rot in prison fondling his autographed picture of Justin Bieber.)
Will O’Brien eventually leave? The answer from this turkey is an unequivocal, resounding, pontificatorial “YES”, and we all know it. We just don’t know WHEN. On Monday, reading between the lines answered the “When?” question with an implicit “sooner, rather than later.” We have his commitment for 2013. Beyond that, it’s all up in the air.
Next year might not be as favorable for jumping into a head coaching job in the NFL because there won’t be as many vacancies. But O’Brien is always in the catbird seat. He has a secure job at Penn State, NFL teams want him, and the field broadens out even more if one considers OC openings in the NFL. Not that he’d necessarily want to take a step backward to OC, but I’m just sayin’ — this guy doesn’t ever have to worry about having a well paying job in the NFL. And there are Division I college teams that would snap him up in an instant. O’Brien has the cards to win the hand, and the chips are stacked high in front of him. Commanding position, I would say.
So, expect more of the same. More breakfasts on Martha’s Vineyard, more midnight concalls with the Browns. I doubt that his contract puts any restrictions on him talking to anyone.
If O’Brien isn’t coaching at Penn State, big whoop! We’ll get another coach. Paternos don’t exist anymore, much as some of us would like that to be the case. We should not fear change. Embrace it, kiddies!
If you don’t, you’ll get the Subterranean Homesick Blues, alright!
—TNT