He had to both interview and to stay.
That’s the way to interpret Bill O’Brien’s choosing to remain at Penn State after a single season that wildly exceeded expectations, despite the first-year head coach interviewing with the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday.
Yes, you can point to the substantial raise that O’Brien will receive — to $3.6 million this season; and the inability for teams to swallow the poison pill of an $18.6 million buyout to get O’Brien out of his contract at Penn State as reasons that he stayed. The money is a factor here and that cannot be discounted. But truthfully, money wasn’t the factor that kept O’Brien in Happy (again) Valley.
There likely isn’t a better prospect for any of the seven NFL coaching openings this season than O’Brien. His leadership cannot be questioned after pledging himself to PSU in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky case, the subsequent NCAA sanctions against the Nittany Lions and getting his players to do the same. Not to mention, his NFL pedigree as the New England Patriots QBs coach, mentoring Tom Brady under the watch of legendary head coach Bill Belichick.
However, O’Brien pledged to return to Penn State at the end of the regular season and has stuck by that promise by not bolting when it ended.
“I’m not a one-and-done guy,” O’Brien told David Jones of the Patriot News late Thursday night. “I made a commitment to these players at Penn State and that’s what I am going to do. I’m not gonna cut and run after one year, that’s for sure.”
Earlier in the day, Jones told 97.5 FM The Fanatic that if Philadelphia Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie made O’Brien an offer, he would be ‘gone’.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter,Penn State was so concerned that O’Brien would walk away from his deal with the school, that the athletic department had already reached out to potential coaching candidates following the season.
The 43-year old signed an extension keeping him at Penn State through 2020. It remains to be seen if he in fact honors that deal as sanctions limiting scholarships continue to tighten and become more stringent over the next three years, restricting the program he’s trying to build.
One thing is for sure. Leaving now would have certainly tarnished his reputation because of past coaches such as Bobby Petrino (Western Kentucky University) and Nick Saban (University of Alabama) jumping ship multiple times from various schools. It would likely limit O’Brien’s ability to return to the college game later in his career if he went to the NFL now.
However, by interviewing, O’Brien kept his options open and probably eased any doubts he may encounter later in his career by exploring the options behind door number two. One thing to remember: even Joe Paterno accepted the New England Patriots job in 1973 and then returned to Penn State the next morning.
Additionally, O’Brien gained unspecified control over the football program at PSU after his Thursday interviews.
Making the leap to the professional ranks at this point would have been terrible timing for O’Brien and he couldn’t have made a better decision; for both for the short and long term. He has set himself up to be a viable candidate for his next job — in the NFL — by remaining at Penn State for now.
Matt Lombardo is the Lead Writer and Eagles Beat Reporter for Taking It To The House and a Contributor for SportsJourney Broadcast Network. To Contact or interview Matt, email him at mdlombardo@yahoo.com . Follow Matt on Twitter @MattLombardo975