Bill O'Brien (NCAA vs NFL)
 

Had an interesting conversation with a coworker last week regarding Bill O'Brien at Penn State. ESPN just announced that Bill O's contract buyout was just reduced in half and so as it goes the proverbial writing is on the wall.

O'Brien has the opportunity to lift the Penn State football program from the depths of hell if Hackenberg progresses into what some assume to be a first round NFL prospect. He has the potential to be a legendary head coach for a prestigious NCAA program for decades and would be hailed as a savior.

That being said would you leave the NCAA for the NFL if you were Bill?

He has guaranteed he can easily come back to the ncaa whenever he wants to. And he is in a great situation where he can actually leave and people will THANK him. It's win win. Do the Nfl for a few years and go back to college.

From a personal selfish standpoint of course I would.

What else are you going to accomplish at PSU other than moral victories?

I guess it takes a certain kind of person to work as hard as he probably does, and then not being able to have anything to show for it, and to continue to work just as hard knowing nothing is going to come out of it the way you want to. Football is a game, it's competition at a really high level at a prestigious football program (or what used to be as far as we all know). Not only does a HC need something to show for it, but so do asst coaches, players, boosters etc.

He's kept the program competitive and would be bowl bound if they were elig, but I guess at some point you have to jump ship before the whole mother****er sinks. And it will. The way the game is now and how much TV/money and everything thrown into the picture, all the cards in the world are stacked up against him and the program.

From what I've heard this guy is purely a stand up dude. PSU should be proud that this guy was their HC while being under so much scrutiny. He could have easily said no and chose some other job considering he knew what he was going into, but he didn't. He rolled up his sleeves and said lets go to work. And I think him, his coaches and players will become better people for it in terms of character...but that only goes so far IMO.

Personally I think he'd be perfect for the Texas job.

These UT players coming in there as freshman are already told their the best players in the nation...the whole Texas HS bullshit blah blah. Combine that with a HC that was grossly complacent with his job in Mack Brown, eventually it all started to show on the field. If Art Briles (which really should be their next HC considering his recruiting background...talk about a self made man in the coaching world), isn't available...then O'Brien would be my option 1B. I think people would look up to him for what he did at PSU...and would set a tone that hard work pays off, combine that with the god given talent many players from Texas have...and you start to have a pretty dominant football team.

Following a legend, even a tainted one, often turns out poorly.