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Bill O’Brien walked head-on into one of the most difficult situations any college football coach could take on when he accepted the job at Penn State in 2012.
In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal and Joe Paterno’s unceremonious exit from Happy Valley, O’Brien found a way to to win eight games in his first season with the Nittany Lions before going 7-5 in Year 2.
During a recent interview with ESPN’s “College GameDay” crew, O’Brien reflected on that period in time saying it’s something he’ll never forget.
Penn State meant a lot to me. When we went to Penn State, it was a terrible time. We don’t need to revisit that. But, we were probably the first team that really had to experience ‘the portal.’ Because when the sanctions came out, the guys at Penn State, they could go and go anywhere they wanted. That team that was taking them could go above 85 just to make room for them. So we had to recruit our own team. And I’ll never forget that.
The ex-Patriots coordinator likened it a bit to his new situation at Boston College and said it should serve as a good foundation as he attempts to turn the Eagles around.
And I think, at the end of the day, what I learned about that place was how important the team was. Some guys left, but the guys that stayed were very much into the team aspect of things, they were good kids, they loved to practice and they were proud to play for their institution. And that’s the same thing relative to what we have here at Boston College. And what I learned was we had great kids there, very similar to what we have here right now. Love football, love their school.
O’Brien chose BC over an offensive coordinator position at Ohio State after briefly returning to the NFL. The last time the Eagles won over 10 games was Matt Ryan’s senior year.