Good coach, new philosophy and a fresh start.

Looks like Penn State's football program is gonna be in the pink.

This smells like a "We know this job is going to be a meat grinder for at least the next 4-5 seasons, let's just hire a couple of nobody's to get us through and hopefully things settle down a bit" hire.

Penn ST = SMU

Great hire! The Belichek coaching tree has yielded so much success over the years.

/good headline
// Pitt got the better coach

born_yesterday: Good coach, new philosophy and a fresh start.

Looks like Penn State's football program is gonna be in the pink.

So the coaching staff will start farking little girls?

With the reaction he is getting from pass Pedo St players and fans, I'd tell them to fark off if I were him.

Fark Penn St. I wasn't a "nuke'em" guy, but now I could care less. Level the football stadium and turn the rest of it into a satellite campus for Pitt.

born_yesterday: Good coach, new philosophy and a fresh start.

Looks like Penn State's football program is gonna be in the pink.

It's funny on many levels, because Penn State's uniforms in the 19th century were pink and black.

Chupacabra Sandwich: He's going to be fired within a couple years.

If you can't hire a big time coach, at least try and hire a good coach. Why not dip down into a lower division and get someone who's had success. Take a shot at winning.

Penn St will no longer be a big 10 power.

Because anyone who is a good coach is smart enough to avoid PSU like its the plague. If you're a good coach you went to Illinois, Arizona (insert required: fark you RR comment), Arizona State, Texas A&M, Washington State or one of the other BCS schools that was hiring.

If you are almost a good coach, but not quite hot enough, you likely decided to sit on your current job, compile another winning season or two, and wait for a BCS program to come calling.

Note things like the Titans coach (although he's pro, not college) not returning their calls. Also Golden (who is a huge PSU fan) deciding he likes Miami and its booster scandal more than PSU and its kiddie rape scandal.

PSU is likely a death trap. Years of investigation, instability, and likely sanctions lie ahead.

I love how people want an entire football program and school shut down because of the corrupt actions of a couple individuals. It's not happening. Penn State isn't going anywhere. Grow up. Go be butt hurt somewhere else.

colin-: I love how people want an entire football program and school shut down because of the corrupt actions of a couple individuals. It's not happening. Penn State isn't going anywhere. Grow up. Go be butt hurt somewhere else.

Actually Penn St seems the perfect place to be butthurt. Especially if you happen to 10-12 years old.

Chupacabra Sandwich: u don't think they put feelers out there this time around? No one wants that job. How the hell do you recruit kids to pedo st in the middle of farking nowhere. Why the hell would any of those kids go there instead of Madison, Columbus, or Ann Arbor, not to mention the Pac-12 or SEC. Awful job. They're donezo as a top-20 program.

That's why it was the right move to hire someone from with no ties whatsoever to the school. PSU won't be a great program for a while but if O'Brien plays his cards right they could be back within a decade.

The biggest problem for PSU right now is their idiotic alumni. The current students have an excuse - they're young and dumb and were brainwashed into the cult of Paterno. These alumni who are furious over this hiring are monumentally stupid and they need to shut the fark up. PSU has to run a completely different program and had they hired someone with ties to the school there would have been no return from the abyss for years. If the alumni had their way PSU would have been SMU. With O'Brien they might only be post-Osborne Nebraska.

GimpyNip: Geez, what's that say about the Jags when someone would rather work for Penn State than J-Ville?

This guy wasn't really a choice. You pretty much have to talk to him because he is a Patriot.

Jay Gruden will be the next coach. Tucker will stay on as DC and life will be great in Duval.

Hillbilly Jim: colin-: I love how people want an entire football program and school shut down because of the corrupt actions of a couple individuals. It's not happening. Penn State isn't going anywhere. Grow up. Go be butt hurt somewhere else.

Actually Penn St seems the perfect place to be butthurt. Especially if you happen to 10-12 years old.

The quotes are hilarious.

Said former All-American linebacker Brandon Short, "I don't want to be affiliated with the university if they don't choose a Penn State guy because of our standards, our graduation, all the things that have been important... it's no longer Penn State, so we might as well be in the SEC. They are intent on turning it into a booster culture. Ira Lubert went out and purchased a national title with wrestling and he's under the illusion that he can do that in football. Well, ask (Redskins owner) Dan Snyder about that." (Source: Link (new window))

This is his punishment for yelling at Tom Brady earlier this season.

1) You know Penn State isn't going to keep a coach who wasn't "born and breed" at Penn State for long. B o'B is a Brown University alum, that's not going to sit well with the "WE ARE" crowd.

2) Unless Penn State goes undefeated next year, they are going to ride this guy hard over every little mistake. Plus his program will be under a microscope.

3) He likely has few recruitment ties in the area. Again he's a Brown alum from Rhode Island. His other jobs were all ACC jobs (Duke, Maryland, Georgia Tech) which have a different recruiting area than Penn State. I guess you could say the Maryland job was close enough to Penn State to have a few recruiting ties, but it's not the same thing.

I really don't see this working out for him. I'm not sure why he accepted this job other than my tin-foil hat suggestion from above.

degenerate-afro: B o'B is a Brown University alum, that's not going to sit well with the "WE ARE" crowd.

Yeah, because the LAST head coach they hired from Brown turned out to be such a bust.

AdmirableSnackbar: The biggest problem for PSU right now is their idiotic alumni. The current students have an excuse - they're young and dumb and were brainwashed into the cult of Paterno. These alumni who are furious over this hiring are monumentally stupid and they need to shut the fark up. PSU has to run a completely different program and had they hired someone with ties to the school there would have been no return from the abyss for years. If the alumni had their way PSU would have been SMU. With O'Brien they might only be post-Osborne Nebraska.

As one of those idiotic Alumni, I think the football program (and the entire university administration) should be purged. Everyone. Fired unceremoniously. Clean house. I don't want anyone with ties to PSU football to be anywhere near the program, ever. It's one reason that I'm glad they went to someone with no ties to the past. I don't give two shiats what the former players or other alumni think. All of these guys farked up, or were close enough to the guys that did to have their stink all over them, so they all need to go.

Recruiting is going to be in the tank for years, and this team is going to live in the B1G basement for long time, and deservedly so (provided the B1G doesn't boot the university). While I don't think the program will get the death penalty for how they handled Sandusky (not competition related, blah blah blah), what sort of dirt does Sandusky have on the program that would cause PSU to cover for him when he wasn't even an employee of the school anymore? He must know things, and those things may be death penalty-worthy, and if they are, then I won't cry when the penalty is handed down.

I'm embarrassed as an alum. I'm disgusted. And to think these jackasses had the audacity to send me a flyer asking for donations... fark them in the ear with a rusty spork.

/'04
//furious that those kids suffered
///furious that PSU can't seem to handle this properly
////slashies make me feel better

I submitted this with a better headline. Twice.

HaywoodJablonski: I submitted this with a better headline. Twice.

I thought this one was pretty solid, but for the record, if your going to gripe about your headline not being accepted, and you dont actually provide your headline in the comment, no ones going to believe you.

AdmirableSnackbar: That's why it was the right move to hire someone from with no ties whatsoever to the school. PSU won't be a great program for a while but if O'Brien plays his cards right they could be back within a decade.

The biggest problem for PSU right now is their idiotic alumni.

The problem is the alumni and boosters won't put up with more than 4 or 5 years of losing or going 6-6. Even if they did land a big coach, the recruits for a couple of years will be put off by PSU. At that point, their only selling point is play time. And that's never a plan for success. So the 3rd or 4th year into this, O'Brien will finally have some good talent, but they will be undisciplined freshmen. I don't see him lasting any longer than that.

Of course, by that point, PSU might be able to attract a better coach.
/I hope they burn in a pit of mediocrity for this decade.

vinnydoz007: HaywoodJablonski: I submitted this with a better headline. Twice.

I thought this one was pretty solid, but for the record, if your going to gripe about your headline not being accepted, and you dont actually provide your headline in the comment, no ones going to believe you.

I publish all of my failures in my profile.

I basically made rape jokes, which are always funny

Subby, what was done there, I see it.

tom servo bit me: The quotes are hilarious.

Said former All-American linebacker Brandon Short, "I don't want to be affiliated with the university if they don't choose a Penn State guy because of our standards, our graduation, all the things that have been important... it's no longer Penn State, so we might as well be in the SEC. They are intent on turning it into a booster culture. Ira Lubert went out and purchased a national title with wrestling and he's under the illusion that he can do that in football. Well, ask (Redskins owner) Dan Snyder about that." (Source: Link (new window))

FTA: Former Penn State All-American linebacker Brandon Short told ESPN.com senior writer Don Van Natta Jr. that members of the influential Lettermen's Club have a meeting scheduled with Joyner for Friday at 1 p.m. ET.

"It's unfortunate that coach O'Brien ... has not been made aware of the implications of him being in this position," said Short, an investment banker. "I don't envy him at all. He doesn't have support of the vast majority of former Penn State players and the vast majority of the student body and the faculty won't support him. I feel sorry for him."

Short said some members of the group were considering a range of options to express their displeasure, including asking current players to transfer and recruits to de-commit. Short told USA Today they were mulling a lawsuit in an effort to bar Penn State from using their likenesses or images for marketing purposes.

"It appears as if it is Dave Joyner's intent to disassociate himself with everything related Penn State," Short told ESPN.com. "Then a group of former players will now disassociate ourselves from everything related to Penn State."

It sounds like Brandon Short has a stick up his butt because they didn't choose the person he wanted them to choose. I think people like him are a huge part of what's wrong with college athletics/booster clubs.

degenerate-afro: This is his punishment for yelling at Tom Brady earlier this season.

1) You know Penn State isn't going to keep a coach who wasn't "born and breed" at Penn State for long. B o'B is a Brown University alum, that's not going to sit well with the "WE ARE" crowd.

2) Unless Penn State goes undefeated next year, they are going to ride this guy hard over every little mistake. Plus his program will be under a microscope.

3) He likely has few recruitment ties in the area. Again he's a Brown alum from Rhode Island. His other jobs were all ACC jobs (Duke, Maryland, Georgia Tech) which have a different recruiting area than Penn State. I guess you could say the Maryland job was close enough to Penn State to have a few recruiting ties, but it's not the same thing.

I really don't see this working out for him. I'm not sure why he accepted this job other than my tin-foil hat suggestion from above.

1) But money is money. outside of new england no one knows O'brien..they will in a couple of months...and as long as the check clears he'd be stupid not to take a head coaching job...Beucase that's a coaches dream...and even if you fail...it's better than having never tried.

2) See #1...Also, he's going to get a 2 year pass...the school needs to a fresh start, they need to wipe away the memory of paterno/sandusky...and I think an over .500 will be good enough for the first couple years...

3) His biggest asset is: I coached Tom Brady and worked with Bill Belichick....I know what it takes to succeed in the NFL...I can help you get to the NFL...These other coaches who've never been to the NFL are all talk....I've been there, in the meetings, in the trenches, in the playoffs, I know how teams are scouting, what they're looking for in drafts, etc....and I'll give you the tools to not just succeed in college, but make it to the pros.

Linux_Perhaps: As one of those idiotic Alumni, I think the football program (and the entire university administration) should be purged. Everyone. Fired unceremoniously. Clean house. I don't want anyone with ties to PSU football to be anywhere near the program, ever.

That means you're not a part of the idiotic alumni, you're rational and smart (at least about this). I'm talking about the Brandon Shorts and Lavarr Arringtons who are more upset about Paterno's firing and the program bringing in a non-PSU-er than they are about the Sandusky scandal.

skrame: Brandon Short etc etc

Do they really believe that they are one of the premiere sports programs in America after this scandal? This is more delusional than Scientology.

feefifofimmy: degenerate-afro: B o'B is a Brown University alum, that's not going to sit well with the "WE ARE" crowd.

Yeah, because the LAST head coach they hired from Brown turned out to be such a bust.

The Penn St. Alums are already grousing about it from the looks of a couple of posts in this thread.

mrtoadswildride:
1) But money is money. outside of new england no one knows O'brien..they will in a couple of months...and as long as the check clears he'd be stupid not to take a head coaching job...

A little bit of money now could cost you a whole lot of money in the future. He has been setup to fail and unless he succeeds beyond expectations, it's going to follow him and likely cost him future money. Of course this is all speculation right now. Maybe he goes on to be the next Paterno and is there for 30+ years. Who knows.

3) His biggest asset is: I coached Tom Brady and worked with Bill Belichick....I know what it takes to succeed in the NFL...I can help you get to the NFL...These other coaches who've never been to the NFL are all talk....I've been there, in the meetings, in the trenches, in the playoffs, I know how teams are scouting, what they're looking for in drafts, etc....and I'll give you the tools to not just succeed in college, but make it to the pros.

You're in the Big10 recruiting against Urban Meyer. Plus Michigan and Michigan State. There's going to be some competition there.

degenerate-afro: 3) His biggest asset is: I coached Tom Brady and worked with Bill Belichick....I know what it takes to succeed in the NFL...I can help you get to the NFL...These other coaches who've never been to the NFL are all talk....I've been there, in the meetings, in the trenches, in the playoffs, I know how teams are scouting, what they're looking for in drafts, etc....and I'll give you the tools to not just succeed in college, but make it to the pros.

The Michigan homer in me wants to point out that Brady have publicly given Hoke a lot of credit for his success in the NFL. Brady likes to talk about how Hoke recruited him to Michigan, helped him adjust, and mature. All O'Brien can say is "Brady told me to go fark myself on national TV".

degenerate-afro: This is his punishment for yelling at Tom Brady earlier this season.

1) You know Penn State isn't going to keep a coach who wasn't "born and breed" at Penn State for long. B o'B is a Brown University alum, that's not going to sit well with the "WE ARE" crowd.

The last 2 head coaches at Penn State played and graduated from Brown (Paterno and Engle)

2) Unless Penn State goes undefeated next year, they are going to ride this guy hard over every little mistake. Plus his program will be under a microscope.

That has been the case since the 1999 season collapse and the start of the "Joe must go!" chants.

3) He likely has few recruitment ties in the area. Again he's a Brown alum from Rhode Island. His other jobs were all ACC jobs (Duke, Maryland, Georgia Tech) which have a different recruiting area than Penn State. I guess you could say the Maryland job was close enough to Penn State to have a few recruiting ties, but it's not the same thing.

Have you looked at the current and past rosters? Maryland, and Virginia are 2 of the biggest places PSU gets recruits (NY, NJ, and PA rounding them out), mainly cause those 4 states don't have "Major" programs (Syracuse, Maryland, Va, and Rutgers. You can argue Va Tech if you want, I'll give that, but even the Hokies haven't been on the level of PSU for crowds and national exposure, which are big selling points for recruits).

I really don't see this working out for him. I'm not sure why he accepted this job other than my tin-foil hat suggestion from above.

I don't either, but the rumor from former players and staff around town is that the athletic department had 2 contracts drawn up. Option B was Obrien. Option A was to secretly try to throw 5-8 million (with help from Nike, who is losing a ton of money over this) at Nick Saban. Him and Paterno have been friends for a long time (Which lead to the Alabama-PSU home and home series) and the facts that Saban has said in the past that PSU would be his dream job if JoePa ever retired and he has a history of rebuilding programs into powerhouses (MSU, LSU, Alabama). That being said, I believe that this is better choice than Saban. Mainly cause I don't see Saban sticking around. He has a history of jumping ship.

Linux_Perhaps: AdmirableSnackbar: The biggest problem for PSU right now is their idiotic alumni. The current students have an excuse - they're young and dumb and were brainwashed into the cult of Paterno. These alumni who are furious over this hiring are monumentally stupid and they need to shut the fark up. PSU has to run a completely different program and had they hired someone with ties to the school there would have been no return from the abyss for years. If the alumni had their way PSU would have been SMU. With O'Brien they might only be post-Osborne Nebraska.

As one of those idiotic Alumni, I think the football program (and the entire university administration) should be purged. Everyone. Fired unceremoniously. Clean house. I don't want anyone with ties to PSU football to be anywhere near the program, ever. It's one reason that I'm glad they went to someone with no ties to the past. I don't give two shiats what the former players or other alumni think. All of these guys farked up, or were close enough to the guys that did to have their stink all over them, so they all need to go.

Recruiting is going to be in the tank for years, and this team is going to live in the B1G basement for long time, and deservedly so (provided the B1G doesn't boot the university). While I don't think the program will get the death penalty for how they handled Sandusky (not competition related, blah blah blah), what sort of dirt does Sandusky have on the program that would cause PSU to cover for him when he wasn't even an employee of the school anymore? He must know things, and those things may be death penalty-worthy, and if they are, then I won't cry when the penalty is handed down.

I'm embarrassed as an alum. I'm disgusted. And to think these jackasses had the audacity to send me a flyer asking for donations... fark them in the ear with a rusty spork.

/'04
//furious that those kids suffered
///furious that PSU can't seem to handle this properly
////slashies make me feel better

Apparently, Obrien has already got an Offensive co-ordinator that he is going to bring in with him from Tennessee (not sure if that is the Vols or the Titans), which means that Galen Hall is out (Yay!). The fact that he is a QB coach means that JayPa is gone (Yay!). The president of my company golfs with a lot of the PSU staff and he was saying this morning after talking to some of them that it looks like Larry Johnson Sr (D-line coach) and Ron Vanderlin (LB coach) may be the only ones asked to stay. Everyone else is likely to be sent packing.

/PSU IE '05

GimpyNip: Geez, what's that say about the Jags when someone would rather work for Penn State than J-Ville?

Jags wouldnt promise him cabana boys.

"he tapes everything" - including the other team's practising!

colin-: I love how people want an entire football program and school shut down because of the corrupt actions of a couple individuals. It's not happening. Penn State isn't going anywhere. Grow up. Go be butt hurt somewhere else.

Hillbilly Jim: Actually Penn St seems the perfect place to be butthurt. Especially if you happen to 10-12 years old.

/thatwasthejoke.jpg

Just win at least one farking playoff game before you skip town

Reasonable Person: Men, we need to find a coach who will restore the integrity of the program- a wholesome, old-fashioned man of gridiron honor. We need a coach whose unwaivering moral compass will guide our program through these dark times.

Asshat: Let's check out the Patriot's coaching staff.

Ped State's Braintrust: BRILLIANT!

I think that if he improves the passing game, keeps the running game and defense strong, continues to make the kids go to study hall and class, and doesn't dick with the uniforms (for a few years), Penn Staters will warm up to him quickly. Paterno is all we've known for 50 years. It's a natural reaction to think that the PSU way is special and that outsiders won't get it. I'll bet he does fine.

/ the rape jokes are wearing thin, boys, as are the ones about JoePa being a pedophile
// grow up

People are already complaining that he's not a Penn State guy. It also appears that I'm not the only one who thinks he's being setup to fail (not that many people were disagreeing with me on that point).

degenerate-afro: People are already complaining that he's not a Penn State guy. It also appears that I'm not the only one who thinks he's being setup to fail (not that many people were disagreeing with me on that point).

I'm glad he's not a Penn State guy. I can't argue that he isn't being set up to fail either. But frankly, anyone taking this job is being set up to fail, because this team just isn't going to win a lot for a while.

Headline made me lol.

They needed to hire someone outside the Penn State circle, but Penn State is cooked and done for a while either way, because recruiting is going to go to shiat.

abmoraz: Nick Saban. Him and Paterno have been friends for a long time (Which lead to the Alabama-PSU home and home series)

What? The Alabama series was originally scheduled for eight or nine years ago but 'Bama was under sanctions and asked to reschedule it to when they were not so it would be a decent game. Penn State obliged the request. I think the original contract must have been signed around 2000.

On topic - I can see Beaver Stadium from my kitchen window and Sandusky lives about 800 feet from my house, if that. My step-son went to the school that adjoins his property.

Why do I mention these things?

Because as a townie who grew up here, attended Penn State, and stayed - we are all sickened by this situation. Most of us feel the BoT screwed the pooch on this as well and they should all be removed too. We cannot comprehend why, when the allegations were made in 2002, that the university did not come down on the man like a ton of bricks. They would have been seen as heros (or at least as very decent people) but even better it would have been the RIGHT thing to do. There are 43,000 students at University Park (90,000+ system wide) and 19,000 employees who didn't have jack shiat to do with this incident but are paying the price because some spineless administrators couldn't fathom that doing the right thing in 2002 would have been better in all ways.

Chupacabra Sandwich: Penn St will no longer be a big 10 power.

As a big Penn State fan, I must say Penn State has not been a Big Ten power in any serious way since the late 90s. Sure they've won titles in 2005 and 2008 - and I believe they would have had a better shot at the title game this year had this scandal not come out. But other than that they have been middle of the pack and will continue to be unless O'Brien can open up the offense and maintain the quality of the defense.

I'm willing to give the guy a few years. I personally thought the university should have ponied up $20M or so to a big name straight-laced guy - the kind of money you can't refuse - like a Cowher or even a Parcells - to shepherd the program through the next 4-5 years then in year 3 hire a young gun coordinator who will succeed him. IMHO this would have done two things - put some time between hiring a new permanent coach and the scandal and bring in someone with the capability and reputation of doing things the right way to clean house.