Who is the team鈥檚 new head coach?
Bill O鈥橞rien. To the general public, at least, he鈥檚 mostly an unknown. In signing on to lead Penn State in the post-Paterno era, he has assumed his first head coaching job. Ironically, he may be best known as the assistant coach for the New England Patriots who got into a shouting match with quarterback Tom Brady on the team鈥檚 bench last season. Clearly, he showed a lot of backbone and intensity on that occasion, barking at the future Hall of Famer when Brady threw an interception on the goal line. Before his five years with the Patriots, O鈥橞rien, a Boston native, spent 14 years at the collegiate level working as an assistant at Brown University (his alma mater as well as Paterno鈥檚), Georgia Tech, Maryland, and Duke. Dave Joyner, Penn State鈥檚 acting athletic director, has said that O鈥橞rien 鈥渨ill embrace tradition, demand excellence, and pursue success with honor in every phase of our program.鈥� O鈥橞rien originally signed a five-year contract, which, due to a provision that kicked in when NCAA sanctions were announced, was automatically extended four more years. So, with nine years he has plenty of time to dig out of any holes incurred by the penalties, but if it proves not to be a good marriage, that nine years could seem like an eternity.
