National Football League

O'Brien juggles very different roles

Published Feb. 2, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Bill O’Brien, the coach caught between two very different football worlds, appeared suddenly Thursday morning at the circular table with a nametag bearing his name.

“Hey, guys,” he said, sitting down to face more questions. “Good morning.”

Perhaps so. But for Bill O’Brien, the day was something of a mixed bag.

On the one hand, he’s still the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots, a team playing for its fourth Super Bowl victory since 2001. On the other hand, come Monday morning, O’Brien will shift to his new job as Penn State’s head football coach — a role clouded by the Jerry Sandusky scandal and its fallout, including Wednesday’s news that the Nittany Lions pulled in what is widely considered a very mediocre recruiting class.

The recruiting class’ ranking, judged 49th in the nation by Scout.com and somewhere from 42nd to 50th elsewhere, was an expected development that nonetheless underscored O’Brien’s bizarre role this week. He’s stuck somewhere between the pinnacle of the NFL and the challenging and difficult post as the steward of a badly damaged college football program.

“The true judge of a class is two years forward,” O’Brien said. “But, as we sit here today, we feel really good about what we’ve done.”

Asked if perhaps he felt better about that recruiting class, given the drama that surely made the effort exceedingly difficult, O’Brien opted not to allow the scandal, Joe Paterno’s subsequent dismissal and all that’s followed to serve as an excuse.

“Again, we weren’t there then, we’re here now,” he said. “We hit the ground running.”

Only, O’Brien isn’t there now. Not really. He’s here, at a hotel in downtown Indianapolis, both preparing for a Super Bowl and getting ready for Monday, when he assumes the most difficult coaching challenge anyone has faced in any sport in a very long time.

Perhaps this football middle ground will serve as a good training opportunity for O’Brien. Balancing his Patriots duties with those of Penn State, he’ll need to utilize football acumen, performance under pressure, time management, media relations and several masters all at once — and all on a grand scale.

That’s good training for Monday, when he’ll have to start restoring confidence in Happy Valley, dealing with the very real fallout of the scandal. He will attempt, brick by brick, to rebuild a once renowned and respected program while appeasing a university, fan base and skeptical national public all looking for and expecting different things.

So far, by all accounts, O’Brien has balanced his role with the Patriots and that with Penn State well.

“I think the credit has to go to those people,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said this week. “Bill O’Brien has done everything he normally does, and everything he can possibly do. I’m sure he’s spent some extra hours early in the morning and late at night doing things for Penn State. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do here, and he has been very diligent in his responsibilities.”

Belichick has helped, too. He brought in former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels who, when O’Brien leaves, will again be the offensive coordinator. He has offered up some administrative support to deal with O’Brien’s emails and phone calls. And he’s saying nice things about a guy who, try as he might, is still trying to build a college football team while preparing an NFL one for its most important game of the season.

Not exactly the Patriots way, but, hey, it will have to do.

“I’m thrilled to be the head coach at Penn State, but I’m really focused on the Patriots and trying to do the best we can to put together a great game plan on Sunday,” O’Brien said.

Yes and no. He’s surely focused on the Patriots, but Wednesday was still college football’s National Signing Day. Surely, O’Brien was also focused on the lackluster class, on hoping Joe Paterno was right when he used to say analysts’ views of Penn State recruiting classes were basically hogwash, on shifting in just a few days into a role that is part football coach, part bridge builder, part reputation restorer.

Last week, O’Brien was in Happy Valley for Paterno’s funeral. This week, he’s facing Belichick in meetings that serve as an intense, be-prepared-or-else lead-in to the Super Bowl. Next week he’s back in Happy Valley and fully at the helm of that mess — and that opportunity.

And on Thursday, the day after bringing in his first class of 19 recruits, he looked the part of the guy stuck between two very different places.

On the one hand, he answered as many Penn State questions as he did those about the Patriots. On the other, he looked very much like a Patriots man, steeped in the Patriots way — blue cap, worn-down blue Pats sweater, hoodie and all.

There are a lot of good storylines brewing in Indy. There’s Tom Brady vs. Eli Manning, Tom Coughlin going for No. 2, Belichick going for No. 4 — there’s the rise of the tight end, Brady’s quest to be the greatest ever, even the future of Peyton Manning.

But in Bill O’Brien alone, there is a bridge between two of the most important sports stories of the past 10 years. He is the man who connects the Patriots dynasty and potential dominance and Penn State’s horrific fall from grace and, now, attempt to get back up again.

Those two plots converged Wednesday, when Signing Day and Super Bowl week made O’Brien one of the more interesting people here.

“We feel really strong,” he said. “We have a very strong belief in the guys that we brought in, that they’re the right guys for Penn State, for Penn State football. A good combination of, obviously, football skill and academics. And all the credit goes to the assistant coaches. They did a great job hitting the ground running and putting together a great class.”

Spoken like a true college head coach — who, still in the NFL, couldn’t entirely hit the ground running himself.

You can follow Bill Reiter on Twitter or email him at foxsportsreiter@gmail.com.