In the wake of a brief scare caused by news of Penn State head football coach Bill O’Brien interviewing with the NFL Cleveland Browns, the Maxwell Coach of the Year says he’s not going to bolt. Leaving Happy Valley for the Dog Pound would be a big mistake, no matter how much money was involved.
Other NFL organizations expressed interest in O’Brien’s services, namely the Philadelphia Eagles, the Arizona Cardinals, and the San Diego Chargers, all of whom fired their head coaches this year. ??? ????
Why would O’Brien want to hang up the cleats after one turbid year at Penn State? Answer: he wouldn’t. He’s not that kind of guy. In his words:
“I’m not a one-and-done guy. I made a commitment to these players at Penn State and that’s what I am going to do. ???? 21 I’m not gonna cut and run after one year. ???? ?????? ???? ?????? That’s for sure.”
After two, all bets are off. For now, though, he’s committed and we can lay the rumors to rest.
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Joe says
Lot’s or rumor and innuendo surrounding what transpired over the last several days and I suppose we may never hear what really happened unless O’Brien get’s in front of a microphone or grants an interview (I think the Turkey should make that request today!).
It appears from several sources that O’Brien never interviewed directly with either the Eagles or Browns but rather his agent had some preliminary discussions to see what either team was potentially offering. BoB either used this as leverage to clean up his contract, get some more $$ (according to one article Terry Pegula kicked in an additional $1.3M for his annual salary) or according to the notes from the call that David Jones from the Patriot News had with BoB last night, get some personnel and structural changes made; whatever the hell that means.
I for one did not think he was going anywhere-the NFL teams with open HC positions were essentially the dregs of the league and I don’t know if anyone (including Lombardi) could get them to a Super Bowl in a reasonable period of time. Now if the Pats, Giants or Cowboys had come a knockin’, that may have been a different story.
In today’s college football environment this will be the norm and we’d better get used to it, especially if he has a modicum of success during the sanction period (abbreviated or full term). Look at Schianno, Graham, Bielma, Jones and a whole raft of others who bolted for bigger bucks and “greener pastures” recently. Look at the coaches who used “NFL interest” to get big buck contract extensions (Shaw, Franklin and Miles)-this is the current world we live in. And I can’t blame these guys since schools will can their ass if they don’t produce in as little as 2 years.
For BoB, this was probably the opportune time to renegotiate his deal but I don’t think he realized the anxiety this was going to cause.
I think he’s got some PR work to do among the fan base, players and recruits but this too will pass until the end of next season when it will probably start up again.
I also think some of the frenzy behind this was driven by the local hacks (Jones, Rudel, Poorman and Geiger) simply because they “ain’t a lot going on right now” and the national guys who thought this was another way to stick it to PS.
So I’m glad he’s back (at least for another year), but I really think he’ll be here for at least the duration of his original contract after this bout.
Oh and riddle me this Batman, with all the frenzy of teams looking at replacing coaches, what the hell happened to the Rooney Rule?
The Nittany Turkey says
All good points, but your last sentence got me going. I hadn’t thought about that until you brought it up.
I think some noise is going to be heard about it, especially if da Bearss hire Cowher. It’ll be another Mariucci scandal in the making. Perhaps these NFL organizations have gotten cocky about $200,000 fines, in view of what they’re paying head coaches these days. To them, that’s chump change to get lost in the first year compensation package.
I’m happy that O’Brien is staying, but after another season, which probably won’t be such a fairy tale season, he might be more prone to calling it quits. In any case, eventually he’ll leave. Then what?
I hear Lovie Smith is available.
Will expectations be higher for O’Brien’s eventual successor than they were for Paterno’s?
It is good that the rumor has been quashed, if only because it shuts up Stewart Mandel. But, as you say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. O’Brien and his legal team would be foolish not to clean up his contract at this point, given what he knows now that he didn’t know then. In those high-flying circles, renegotiation is expected, anyway. There ain’t no more Paternos. And extortion, by any other name…
I’m not knocking O’Brien. Just sayin’.
—TNT
Joe says
So are you going to request that BoB interview?
The Nittany Turkey says
Alas, with no valid media credentials, I have not even a snowball’s chance in hell of getting an interview with BoB!
But it would be amusing as hell.
—TNT