Nothing Personal but ...I hope O'Brien Fails in NFL

It's not the same because you didn't make a promise to a bunch of kids that you would be there, and I doubt anybody made you any such promises, either. It is a completely different situation.

 

And players have a much easier time coping with change than fans and alumni and sportswriters do.

Harbaugh left, and Stanford has been to three straight BCS games.

Butch Davis left, and Miami won 24 games in a row.

Nick Saban left, and LSU won nine, 11, 11 and 12 games.

The kids get it. They get it when they're being recruited, and they get it when they're there. It's only the towel-wavers on the outside who don't get it.

 

Lying and breaking commitments is ok as long as it's common in a person's situation. Got it.

 

To be clear, the kids do get it. At least most of them realize the coach is full of shit and they never expected him to stick by his word.

That doesn't mean it isn't fair game to criticize a coach when he does it, especially one who recruited kids to a situation as toxic as Penn State was when O'Brien took over.

 

Anytime a coach makes a speech to his team about commitment, teamwork and loyalty, they should be laughed out of the room.

 

100 percent this. O'Brien deserves whatever opportunity he gets. He did a tremendous job keeping that program afloat, and I can't fault him for wanting to move on after the program was put through the wringer. And any player who has verbally committed can look elsewhere, like Teddy Bridgewater did when Miami fired Randy Shannon. But all these kids have to know that O'Brien is going to be a candidate for any NFL jobs that come up. It's up to them if they want to take the risk.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sbnation/penn_state/SBNation_20131227_Stay__or_Go__For_Penn_State_and_Bill_O_Brien__Should_It_Matter__.html

 

Fail? Sure, he wasn't as good as Marino or Elway, but fail is a little harsh.

 

I'm glad we have so many posters here who sat in on all these recruiting meetings and heard O'Brien tell these players he would be there forever and ever. This is first-class inside info, guys. Thanks for the scoops!

 

Funny, I thought the same thing. Couldn't decide who the O'Brien in question was for a second.

 

HE SAID HE WAS IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL, DAMMIT! WHAT ABOUT MY NFL DREAMS?!!!

 

First, it's ok because so many other coaches lie to the recruits. Now, apparently, the kids are all lying. Some of y'all really are desperate to support O'Brien on this one.

 

They're all a buncha damn liars! Seriously, coaches will say they expect to still be there when a kid graduates, but they can't foresee what opportunities are going to arise down the road. So they aren't really lying. They just get a better opportunity and take it if it is a better spot than the one they're in. As any of us would do. And the kids should be well aware of this. You think kids going to Alabama or USC or UCLA or whatever don't wonder whether the coach will be there two years from now? Come on. Now, I can get on board with the argument that the kids should have the same freedom to move if it suits them, but recruiting is a complicated game and giving athletes free reign without having to sit out is quite the can of worms to open.