STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Sporting a Nittany Lions pin on the lapel of his dark gray jacket, Bill O’Brien took the podium, looked straight ahead and introduced himself with two quick, no-nonsense sentences.
“I feel like I’m a mentally tough guy right now. I feel like I’m the right guy,” he said.
And with that, the 42-year-old O’Brien, the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator the past four years, was off and running at his first briefing as Penn State’s new head football coach, the school’s first in nearly a half century. It is his first head-coaching job.
“This is unbelievable,” he said.
Actually, for many Penn State fans and former players all over the country, how this all came to be is exactly that — unbelievable.
Until Nov. 9, the Nittany Lions had been directed by the same person for 46 seasons — Joe Paterno, who was fired that day in the aftermath of a child sex-abuse scandal involving retired assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. The case also forced the school president to resign.
O’Brien will remain with the Patriots for the duration of their playoff run. New England has a bye this weekend.
The new coach said he would pull together his staff during the next two or three days and get the assistants on the recruiting trail immediately while he works with New England. He will retain assistant Larry Johnson from Paterno’s staff to coach the defensive line.
“I’m going to surround myself with good people,” O’Brien said, “and I’m excited to do that.”
