O'Brien doffs one of two caps to recruits
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Bill O'Brien, the New England Patriots offensive coordinator, does an interview Wednesday in Indianapolis. As the incoming Penn State coach, O'Brien was landing his first collegiate recruiting class.
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INDIANAPOLIS -- As letters of intent poured into college football offices via fax across the country, Penn State's new head coach sat at a table on the campus of another university in Indianapolis and looked at his cell phone.
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis does not field a football team, but it does play host to one this week as the New England Patriots are using the school's facilities to prepare for the Sunday Super Bowl.
That is why Bill O'Brien could be found there Wednesday, fulfilling media duties as the Patriots offensive coordinator and answering questions about his other job as Joe Paterno's successor.
The cell phone? Just one, not like Charlie Weis, a predecessor in New England who carried two with him to Super Bowl XXXIX after he was named Notre Dame head coach -- one phone for the Patriots, one for the Irish. All too soon for Weis, it was one for the road from Notre Dame.
O'Brien, who is Irish, only has one cell phone, and he was not keeping tabs every second on his first Nittany Lions' recruiting class as their official, binding letters of intent rolled into State College Wednesday. He was awaiting another call from his wife.
"My son was playing pickup hoops in the driveway waiting for the school bus and hit his head on the driveway," O'Brien explained.
A scrape, nothing serious.
As for those letters, O'Brien expected to receive the official list around noon Wednesday from his staff headed by holdover Paterno assistant Larry Johnson. But some recruits would have to wait for the congratulatory phone call from their new coach. There is another matter O'Brien must attend to this week, and he left little doubt as to where his energy and concentration will go through Sunday, even down to the outfit he wore Wednesday morning that included Patriots ballcap and blue Patriots hoodie.
First Published February 2, 2012 12:00 am
