Bill O'Brien Hired As Penn State's New Head Coach

Finally, after two months of rumors and names flying around, Penn State has a new coach, Bill O'Brien, the current offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots. O'Brien is coming into one of the most unique and challenging coaching situations. The Jerry Sandusky allegations has left a black eye upon the university and the majority of Americans currently have a negative view of the University. Aside from all this, the Penn State Football program will go on, and on the field, might be his biggest challenge. Bill O'Brien is tasked with the tough task of replacing one of the greatest college football coaches ever, the legendary Joe Paterno, and all 409 of his wins. Perhaps most challenging of all is the continuation of the grand experiment, the combination of academics, success, and most importantly honor. 

So far, my overall impression on O'Brien has been positive. He has said all of the right things, but in the long run the performance on the field is what matters. Bill O'Brien was definitely not my first choice to become head coach, that was Tom Bradley. However despite many fans immediately coming out and stating that they did not    like the hire, he will do just fine as coach. These fans like myself, would have preferred someone from Paterno's system, however that era is over. In one of my previous posts I defended Paterno stating his innocence and that he was wrongly fired. Despite Paterno being wrongly fired, Penn State Football must move on, the Paterno era is over. It even appears that Jay Paterno will be on his way out as well. It is a premature end, but it cannot be changed so now we welcome in the O'Brien era.

I believe O'Brien will be a good coach at Penn State. Success will not be immediate, but it will come. The 2012 football season will not be one for Penn States record books, nor will the new recruiting class. 2012 will obviously be a major transition for the Nittany Lions and although they will not contend for a BCS birth it could be one of the most important in the teams history. The team and its new coaching staff needs to put all of this negativity associated with the scandal and move on into the O'Brien era. The Paterno era is prematurely over but the O'Brien era is beginning, let Bill O'Brien's march toward 410 begin. (I don't actually believe he will go on to win that many, in fact I hoe Paterno keeps that record forever .) O'Brien's most important task however is not winning games, it is carrying on the grand experiment and making sure Penn State remains along with BYU as the only schools to win a national championship and never have an NCAA violation.