I never thought Penn St. was going to suck. Ok, so after losing to Ohio and Virginia I thought it started to look that way, but I did wonder why everyone felt like they would be terrible.. with plenty of 4 star guys and some 5 star guys still on the roster and their biggest losses coming at running back and kicker why wouldn't they still win with more talent than everyone they played minus 2-3 teams? Because of the scandal? They beat us at home in the middle of it last year with many of the same players coming back. Mr. Bill is getting crazy love from the media for beating the same bad big 10 teams people use to discredit the Bucks and Urban's undefeated run. The time to be impressed with Bill-O is if he can keep winning after the loss of scholarships and lower level recruits show up. Maybe he will end up being what the media thinks he is now, but I really think his record matched the talent he had to work with this year. His stock is way up and he should jump now if the NFL really is looking at him, because even if he is that good he won't be able to show it at Penn St over the next year or 2 and his stock will drop big time. Yes, I think he's good (maybe very good), but if you read the articles mentioning him as a coach of the year candidate, I think for now, he's overrated. I'm a homer but with Urban going undefeated with mostly the same team that was 6-7 and Bill losing 4 games, I really think Urban did a more impressive job. So Bill may win the NCAA coach of the year or the BIG Ten coach of the year but I'm not, and more importantly, McKayla is not impressed.
when this scandal broke and the punishments were handed down, I said to myself, and my coworkers/friends, that I felt PSU would be very competitive this year, but that would be it. I predicted a slide after this year that would last the better part of a decade, even slightly more, but I think next year, like I thought when this stuff was handed down, will be the year that PSU begins its downhill descent. IMO of course.
I actualyl think he did a great job and that under most other coaches Penn State would implode. I think this was a tougher situation than you give him credit for.
I do agree. Rallied the team, minimized attritiion, and did pretty well. But look at Urban's turnaround to 12-0 from 6-7 with essentially the same team AND a defense decimated by injuries. Again, not intending to take away credit from O'Brien, but it's ridiculous that Urban didn't win it. What WOULD he have to do to win it if 12-0 with a team that ultimately has players that aren't "his" isn't good enough. One better: this team had LOTS of holes and problems all season, and he STILL got them to be 12-0. The motivational aspect of Urban with this team that had no postseason to hope for cannot be overlooked. They refused to lose....just for the sake of losing is no bueno!
I think everyone here would agree we underacheived last year. We had way more talent than a 6-7 team. However, with all the scrutiny we imploded. I dont think we were a 12-0 team and thats why What Urban did this year was so impressive. But you have to give O'Brien credit for keeping his team at the level of talent available. We showed just last year that is not such an easy thing to do with so much scrutiny
Eh, they can have their fun giving Bill O'Brien all the awards this year, because PSU is going downhill quickly once the loss of scholarships really starts to kick in. Their recruiting class for this year is OK, but lack of depth is going to be their downfall.
Penn State did exceed my expectations this year. I was expecting something of a 6-6 or 7-5 season at best. Had they lost to Wisconsin, I would have had a real problem with BOB even being in the COY discussion, but 8-4 is pretty good considering the circumstances I guess.
I think he can take credit for McGloin's development as a passer. That offense lost most of its running game (although it found some in Zwinak), and was able to move the ball better than it had in a decade. Everyone loves to mock Moxie, but he was the best passer in the league this year (not saying much but still, a huge leap forward for him).
Bill O'Brien succeeded in making matt mcgloin look better than he really is. That's no small feat considering he's matt mcgloin. And as far as comparing him to urban...its not really the same thing. As much as I hated hearing the ohio state name being drug through the mud, it was the football program that took the brunt of the beating. and they stuck together and bought in to what the new staff was selling them. O'brien walked into a shitstorm, the repercussions of which were far worse than what we were facing. It wasn't just their football program, it was the reputation of penn state as a university that was at stake. And then the ncaa crushed them. He had to hold together a group of kids, many of whom will never get to experience a bowl game period while at penn state. That's a far harder task than keeping guys engaged for one year without a postseason. That's why what he did will trump what meyer did. Not saying I agree with it, because urban definitely changed the culture of our program. And took a group of kids who hit the wall last year and made them believe they could do something great. But walking into a recruits living room and trying to sell them on playing somewehere that no matter how hard they work they will never be champions is pretty tough. And keeping guys together who came there to play for big ten titles who were told that would no longer be possible is pretty tough as well. They overacheived considerably. I wouldn't say we overacheived. Id say our boys tapped into that deeper well of desire to be great. And to prove that you can't and won't keep ohio state down. I think ramzy said it best...this is what rebulding looks like. Suck it.
Bill O'Brien said about the team "They all are fuckers". He knows more about the team's ablility than we do.
I thought he did a nice job holding things together this year. We know Urban is not going to get COY. O'Brien is probably as deserving as anyone not named Urban Meyer.
I think he's going to be a great coach. As a Brown's fan, I would be happy if he were to coach in Cleveland. Not that I see it happening.
I get the whole 'we don't give anyone credit for anything round here' mentality cause we're talking about Penn Sate and we hate them and all, but I don't see how you can say BOB is overrated. I thought after they lost the players they did and how they played in their first 2 games that they would be lucky to finish with a .500 record. The guy deserves credit for keeping the ship afloat there and for having a decent year.
Now having said all that, I believe this was the best team he's gonna have there for several years.
I give him a lot of credit and I think he's a good coach...I simply feel he's probably not as good as he's being hyped. I think Penn St was vastly underrated with all the 4 star and above guys still on that team. People were saying they may not win more than a game or 2. Expectations set so very very low made 8-4 look like perfection.
D. Anthony
I think BOB has done a great job. IMO what he will lack in recruiting he will make up some of the difference in coaching. He really does an excellent job. I guess I just cant see PSU being a sub .500 team every year.
Dustin Fox was our leading tackler as a corner.... because his guy always caught the ball.
12-0
No.
I would give the award to Pat Fitzgerald though. I guess the team that overcame so much got it. O well!
You tell the SEC when they can learn to read and write, then they can figure out what we're doing. - Gordon Gee
Just named COY. BOB.
I think O'brien did a great job keeping PSU focused and ready to play every game. I always thought McGloin was a below average qb, but he actually has improved quite a bit under O'brien. As far as O'brien staying at PSU, I believe he'll stay for only three years and leave for an NFL head coach position...PSU has nothing to play for, and the reduced scholarships will really hurt his program!
After their first game, I posted here that I thought PSU might win 2 games. Their second loss was pretty demoralizing too. And in the slow hemorrhage of veteran players.
So I'm not at all reluctant to give O'Brien credit for a job well done. It's idiotic that he won Coach of the Year over someone who went 12-0 though, much less someone who took a losing team to 12-0.
Jealousy. It's really a corrosive emotion, people.
The most "loud mouth, disrespect" poster on 11W.
After everything PSU went through I agree he deserved to be coach of the year. He did run awa from the situation like most coaches would of, he didn't make any excuses throughout the process but what he did do was coach his ass off. Cut the guy some slack. Go Bucks!
His agent just out and said he staying at PsU.
Please people! If you want to continue to give it to mediocre teams because of what you expected of them at the beginning of the year then you lose your right to complain in the future when another coach like Ferentz or Brett B takes their crappy 2 loss team to a decent bowl and Urban gets passed up every single year like Tressel did. Let's reward a coach who lost to 2 very bad teams and lost to Ohio State and Urban when they were favored at home... Penn St. had way better talent than Ohio and Virginia and lost.
D. Anthony
I wouldnt say overrated at all. When the scandal broke I dont think there was many people on this board who would even give penn. st. 4 wins this season. Now all of a sudden BOB is overrated? Nope. Not gonna buy into that one. Dude coached pretty well this season and handled himself very well with the media all season long. I think he did a great job out there and I hope that he stays there and continues to do a great job especially with how low the BIG is currently.
I think that both Urban and O'Brien are deserving of the award. As a Buckeye fan, I'd want to see Urban win it, but I have no issue with O'Brien winning it. I don't think O'Brien is overrated. He did a hell of a job getting 8 wins out of the total shitstorm that that program was going through. That's a lot more games than I thought they'd win. I thought they'd win 5 or 6 games preseason, then maybe 2 games after the first couple of games. True, the real descent won't start until they start feeling the scholarship reductions in the coming years, but it would've been really easy for that team to just mail it in and win maybe 2 games. Not enough can be said about the job he did, rallying that team through perhaps the darkest time any program has ever had to go through, and getting them to have a pretty good year.
Not enough can be said about how well Urban did here, either - taking largely the same team that went 6-7 last year and getting them to 12-0. Our shitstorm wasn't quite the shitstorm PSU had to go through. And do recall that last season, our 7 losses were by 50 total points. There was talent on this team and they weren't as far away from success as we might have thought. It's still amazing that he was able to lead this team to 12-0 - I didn't realistically expect that.
Class of 2010.
Don't worry, this will be the best season PSU has for a long time. All that talent graduating and and hardly any talent coming in to replace. Next year PSU will start a downturn and will be lucky to finish 6-6. I see 4-8 or 5-7 for PSU next year. Possibly even 3-9 if they get real bad.
How does a coach that gets his team to 12-0 in his first year with the school not win COY?
O'Brien did Ok and Meyer did great - therefore O'Brien wins COY?!? Whatever!
Go Bucs - Go Urban!
DEB II
Year 1: Team A beats Team B at Team B. Team A finishes 9-4, Team B finishes 6-7.
-coaching change-
Year 2: Team B beats Team A at Team A. Team A loses to a MAC team. Team A finishes 8-4, Team B finishes 12-0.
Not one sane person would say that the coach of Team A did a better job than the coach of Team B.
the kids are playing their tail off, and the coaches are screwing it up! - JLS