There’s disarray within the football program at State College again.
The departure of head coach Bill O’Brien to the NFL’s Houston Texans could greatly diminish Penn State’s recruiting class, and a column in Pennsylvania’s Patriot News paints the job as unappealing.
The Texans officially announced hiring O’Brien on Thursday. Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner has formed a search committee and said it will take a matter of days, not weeks, to find a replacement.
Already, O’Brien’s top recruit, All-American defensive tackle Thomas Holley of Brooklyn, has begun to have second thoughts.
His high school coach, Shawn O’Connor of Lincoln, said Holley won’t make a decision until Penn State hires a new coach, and the decision will largely depend on what happens to interim head coach Larry Johnson, Holley’s lead recruiter.
Furthermore, highly regarded defensive tackle Antoine White of Millville, N.J., who had committed to Penn State, told the Philadelphia Inquirer: “I am keeping my options open right now.”
Two-time Big Ten Receiver of the Year Allen Robinson could leave because O’Brien is expected to take receivers coach Stan Hixon with him to the Texans. And then there is the possibility quarterback Christian Hackenberg could transfer as well.
“Until we have all the information, we have to wait,” his father Erick Hackenberg told the Harrisburg Patriot-News. “I’m not saying he will or won’t [return] — and that sounds bad, but it’s neutral.”
The sooner Penn State lands a new coach, the better. National Signing Day is set for Feb. 5, a little more than a month away. The 19th-ranked recruiting class in the nation, according to Rivals.com, could suffer.
O’Brien compiled an impressive 15-9 record in two seasons at Penn State despite heavy sanctions, such as the loss of 40 scholarships and a four-year postseason ban, in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sexual assault scandal.
In the Patriot News story, O’Brien went off on a rant about negative backlash from “Paterno-era loyalists” who were upset about the dismissal (or resignation) of Ron Vanderlinden, an assistant coach who had been on the staff under Joe Paterno. Vanderlinden was one of the last remaining ties to the Joe Pa era, and the pro-Paterno contingent wanted answers as to whose decision it was for Vanderlinden to leave.
“You can print this: You can print that I don’t really give a [expletive] what the ‘Paterno people’ think about what I do with this program,” O’Brien said. “I’ve done everything I can to show respect to Coach Paterno. Everything in my power. So I could really care less about what the Paterno faction of people, or whatever you call them, think about what I do with the program. I’m tired of it.
“For any ‘Paterno person’ to have any objection to what I’m doing, it makes me wanna put my fist through this windshield right now.
“I’m trying to field the most competitive football team I can with near-death penalty [expletive] sanctions. Every time I say something like that and somebody prints it, it’s skewed as an excuse. And I’m not an excuse-maker. I’m trying to do the best I can for the kids in that program. That’s all I care about is the kids in that program. As long as I’m the head football coach here.”
“That’s why, in probably about a month, they’re gonna be [expletive] looking for a new coach.”
O’Brien did in fact leave, and two years after one of college sports’ worst scandals, Penn State again is looking for a new coach and coping with uncertainty around its recruiting class.