Penn State Head Coach Bill O’Brien is coming off a really rough week. Losing at home to Central Florida is an experience that is new to Nittany Nation. Home pre-conference losses don’t happen often in Happy Valley. And they certainly don’t happen to mid-majors.
However, this could be an unfortunate sign of things to come for Bill O’Brien and Penn State football; this is life under sanctions. So when BOB took to the Big Ten coaches conference call today, it wasn’t under the greatest of circumstances. O’Brien had a pretty good joke to lighten the mood.
“I don’t tweet, I don’t Spacebook. I don’t blog or whatever. I just read the articles,” Bill O’Brien said.
Pretty humorous; and a good way to ease tensions. BOB also says he’ll read five or six articles in a day. That said, I’m guessing he’s seen this very popular Bill O’Brien meme:
It’s refreshing to hear a big name coach at a big name school say that he reads what’s written about him. Because 99% of the time you hear the “we don’t pay attention to that” b.s. Or “we tune out the noise” cliche from football coaches and players.
Yeah, right. We don’t believe that for a second. Bill O’Brien by contrast, told it like it is.
And that’s pretty much what O’Brien has done since he’s been in Happy Valley. BOB has been a stabilizing voice of reason. He’s stayed above the fray of the competing factions with clashing ideals in Nittany Nation.
He said long ago:
“I’m not the unity coach. I’m a football coach.”
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An analyst for 95.7 The Fan and 1620 The Zone, he also writes for Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and Facebook