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January 2012, CSBN Columnists
At Second Glance, Fiery O’Brien Makes Sense for Penn State
By now we’ve all seen the video footage of new Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien going bonkers on New England Patriots’ franchise quarterback, Tom Brady, during the Pats’ game with the Washington Redskins last month. An apoplectic O’Brien was none too happy about an interception Brady gave up in the Redskins’ end zone and let him know about it. Two Irish guys getting their Irish up. The only things missing were the shillelaghs.
Based on what little knowledge I had of O’Brien – other than his Brian Kelly-esque display of sideline aggression – my first thought upon hearing about his hiring was: “Are they (the search committee) nuts?”
It seemed to me the last thing the program needed after the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal and alleged cover-up was to bring in a hot-headed head coach capable of scaring away the four- and five-star recruits he’s going to need to get the program back on the right track – especially when he has no prior connections to Penn State and the Joe Paterno regime.
But after reading about the angry reaction to O’Brien’s hiring by some former Penn State players and other alumni and donors, it strikes me that a guy like O’Brien may be exactly the kind of guy the Nittany Lions need to move forward and begin the next chapter of Penn State football. If you’re going to go outside the fold, as the committee chose to do, it makes sense not to pick a milquetoast without any fight in him. The little evidence we have seems to indicate that O’Brien isn’t the kind of guy who’s going to back down easily to the slings and arrows fired his way by a disgruntled band of Paterno apologists.
Which makes one wonder what the reaction would have been had an established coach like Boise State’s Chris Petersen or some other successful D-I or NFL coach accepted the job? If connections to Penn State are what mattered most to the former Lions, it suggests that some people have yet to come to grips with the gravity of the offenses committed against children that occurred on Paterno’s watch. That’s a gigantic black eye, and it likely wouldn’t have healed any time soon had a Paterno understudy been chosen and had to answer the same questions over and over at every press conference: “How well did you know Coach Sandusky?”; “Did you ever hear any rumors about Coach Sandusky’s behavior?”; “How often did you see kids around the program with Coach Sandusky?”
Make no mistake: the road ahead for O’Brien will be a minefield of epic proportions should the program not show signs of progress in his first two years. At the very least the Nittany Lions’ quarterback play should improve – unless O’Brien continues to channel his inner Kelly – and that in itself will be a step in the right direction.
As a creative director, Rich has over two decades of experience in developing and helping implement strategic programs in branding and marketing communications. He has developed brand identities and helped create and recommend successful brand strategies for international, national, regional and local marketers. He has worked on behalf of clients such as Panasonic, Saab, Exxon, American Express, Ansell, Public Service Enterprise Group, Delta Dental, NJ Travel and Tourism, Coldwell Banker, WebMD, Lonza, The CIT Group and Citibank, as well as many non-profit organizations and sports marketers.
His professional work experience includes conceptualizing and supervising copy, design and production on regional and national print, radio, TV, video, and digital and social media campaigns. A winner of many industry awards, the several he is most proud of include a Direct Marketing Association "International Echo Award", and a "Best in the World" Pro Award from PROMO Magazine. He is a graduate of Montclair State University with extended coursework at the School of Visual Arts, in New York City. Rich is a partner in the O'Brien Sports Group. He can be reached at rlehmann@collegesportsbusinessnews.com