STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania |
STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Penn State University introduced new football head coach Bill O'Brien on Saturday as the successor to Hall of Famer Joe Paterno, who was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal.
O'Brien, 42, has been offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots since last year after two seasons as quarterbacks coach handling team star Tom Brady.
He will remain in his position until the end of the National Football League season, but will begin assembling his staff at Penn State over the next few days.
"This is unbelievable," O'Brien said at a news conference. "I'm really thrilled to be the head football coach at Penn State."
He also addressed Penn State football fans and former players, reading a letter directly addressing some controversy that has swirled over his appointment.
"You are why we want to be here," he said.
Penn State President Rodney Erickson said O'Brien was selected as the right man to lead the football program after a careful and deliberate search.
"We're confident he (O'Brien) will serve as an inspiring leader to our young men," he said.
Penn State has been rocked by allegations of child sexual abuse involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. He faces 52 charges stemming from accusations by 10 men who say he molested them as juveniles over a 15-year period.
Sandusky, 67, has maintained his innocence. No date has been set for his trial, and he is under house arrest.
Paterno congratulated the new coach on his appointment and said in a statement that although he did not know O'Brien he respected his coaching record.
O'Brien said he looked forward to meeting the legendary coach he grew up watching.
He said he was ready to lead the program the Paterno had been so instrumental in building.
Ryan Anowar, a freshman from Nashville, Tennessee, said Penn State had needed to bring in a new face to head the football program.
"It's going to be really hard to fill the shoes of Joe Paterno and I think that's going to be (O'Brien's) biggest challenge," he said.
"Bill O'Brien has the experience and skills to be a great coach," said alumni Rich Randall, a 1971 graduate who lives in York, Pennsylvania.
"We'll have to see if he has the leadership skills to be a great head coach," he said in an email to Reuters.
O'Brien, he said, is facing a tough situation, where some alumni and former players wanted to see the job go to someone with closer Penn State ties, like the interim head coach.
"This is no time for dissension," Randall said, adding it was time to support the new coach, the team and the school.
FIRINGS
In November, Paterno, 85, and university President Graham Spanier were fired for failing to tell police what they knew about accusations against Sandusky.
Paterno, a member of the College Hall of Fame, was head coach of the Nittany Lions, a football powerhouse, for 46 years.
With 409 victories, he won more games in big-time college football than any other coach in the sport's history.
Tom Bradley, who had been the defensive coordinator under Paterno, was named interim head coach after the firing.
The team finished its 2011 season with a record of nine wins, three losses and a loss to Houston in the TicketyCity Bowl.
Current defensive line coach Larry Johnson has committed to remaining on the staff, O'Brien said.
O'Brien joined the Patriots as a coaching assistant in 2007. He was a wide receivers coach before becoming quarterbacks coach, according to his biography on the team website.
Under his guidance, Brady set NFL passing records and became the first unanimous Associated Press Most Valuable Player. Last season, the Patriots led the NFL in scoring and ranked eighth in total offense, according to the website.
Before coaching in the NFL, O'Brien coached 14 seasons at the college level at Georgia Tech, Maryland and Duke. He has never headed a college football program.
He was a linebacker and defensive end at Brown University, the same Ivy League school where Paterno played football.
O'Brien, who was born and raised in Massachusetts, is married and has two sons.
O'Brien's contract is for five years with base compensation at $950,000 per year.
Unrivaled for the longevity of his success, Paterno promoted the notion that football players could excel on the field and in the classroom.
"Success with Honor" was the motto of his football program, which boasted high graduation rates among players.
Not long after Paterno was fired, his family said he was diagnosed with a treatable form of lung cancer.
(Additional reporting by Lauren Keiper, writing by Ellen Wulfhorst, editing by Ian Simpson)
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