Along with Oregon coach Chip Kelly, Penn State’s Bill O’Brien was considered one of the more desirable NFL coaching candidates at the college level. However, both will stay in the college game a little longer.
Following up on a report from last week, O’Brien held a press conference Monday morning to address his decision to stay in Happy Valley. In it, O’Brien stressed that no decision was made based on money and that he did not ask for a raise from the university. On the contrary, O’Brien mentioned that there would be additions to recruiting staff and changes with the academic staff, indicating that there were possible requests for changes within the program.
When asked if he receive a $1.3 million dollar gift from a donor Terry Pegula, which had been reported a few days ago, O’Brien replied “No. No.”
“I didn’t do anything. I had a conversation for the best interest of my family,” O’Brien said. “No job was ever offered to me. It wasn’t a decision to stay.”
O’Brien didn’t necessarily close the door on a return to the NFL, but said he “anticipates” being the coach of Penn State in 2013 and beyond. Whether that’ll continue to be the case remains to be seen, but Penn State fans need to get used to the idea that O’Brien may leave. Good coaches are going to get phone calls and O’Brien’s already shown he’ll listen.
(Quotes courtesy of Ben Jones, StateCollege.com)