For a little over a year now, Penn State University has been under heavy scrutiny after the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal. People were withholding information, most notably, legendary head coach, Joe Paterno, who passed away in early 2012.
Somebody had to take the reins after Paterno was at the helm for 46 seasons. That somebody was Bill O’Brien who just got a pay raise of close to $1 million.
O’Brien’s deal could be worth $3.2 million dollars after compensation from all the radio and television appearances and the deal Penn State has with Nike. From 2013 to 2016, O’Brien will receive up to $12,789,314. If he were to leave the school, he would only have to pay the base salary times the years remaining on the contract, not including the media money.
Some will question whether or not this is justified due to the circumstances. Going by all that has happened and how he stepped in, it will be hard not to see how this is justifiable.
After all the scrutiny and bad publicity for Penn State, O’Brien stepped up to the plate with all the odds against him. Before the season started, the players who were on the roster could transfer without having to sit out a year. Some players left to find greener grass in hopes to pursue a National Championship, while most of the players stayed with O’Brien and Penn State.
O’Brien received calls from other Big 10 schools letting them know they had interest in some of his players. He never once got mad, instead appreciated the honesty and the call informing him of what could potentially happen.
There were a plethora of sanctions brought against Penn State including a four-year bowl ban, a $60 million fine, and the loss of 20 scholarships starting in 2014 and ending in the academic year of 2017-2018.
With all that happened and all the things that went wrong for “Linebacker U” O’Brien was able to guide the Nittany Lions to an 8-4 record. Not the greatest of records, but certainly not the worst. They would have qualified for a bowl game, but due to the four-year ban, they were not allowed.
O’Brien could have walked away from Penn State after last season to pursue greener grass of his own. He had received offers from the NFL, but declined and decided to come back to Penn State, something a lot of coaches would not have done. He wants to be the one to turn around the Penn State program after all it’s been through.
At the end of the day, O’Brien did a remarkable job in his first year as the Penn State Head Coach. The man got a raise for his performance, just like most other people get at their respective jobs. After all the dilemmas and scrutiny, the Penn State football program looks to be heading in the right direction under O’Brien.
