Now that Bill O’Brien has left Penn State for the Houston Texans, some leaks are coming about about his time at Penn State. One of the biggest things to drop is that he went on a rant while he still had the job about the “Paterno people” after longtime assistant coach Ron Vanderlinden was let go. Fans questioning him after that move and demanding answers prompted this rant:
“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. 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.”
It’s interesting that this comes out now after he left. This probably never sees the light of day had he signed a 10 year deal instead of bolting for a better opportunity. This does illustrate a problem with the Penn State job. Now matter how Joe Paterno’s time ended there, there is a large and vocal group that wants to keep ties to him.
It will be interesting to see what caliber of coach they can get now.