Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/247378
happened last summer at Vanderbilt came up during interview process. Can you enlighten us at all about what was asked of you with the rape case and how you responded to your interviewers? It couldn't have been a more thorough interview process. We discussed everything. It's the most challenging thing that I've ever been through personally, as a father of two daughters, and professionally. But what I think came out through all of this, through their background checks and all the information that they got is that we were honest. We were up front. We made decisions quickly and tried to do everything we possibly could to respect the situation with the utmost class. We also work hard at supporting the young men who we have in our program. But it could not have been a more thorough conversation that we could have had about it. Have you maintained a relationship with Bill O'Brien throughout this time, and did you maybe bounce some things off him and find some things out? Yeah, me and Billy were on the same staff [at Maryland]. We were brought up in this profession under Ralph Friedgen. Billy was with him at Georgia Tech, and I was with him at the University of Maryland, and we were able to get back together at the University of Maryland. Me and Billy lived in the same neighborhood. Colleen [O'Brien] and my wife are good friends. They've spoken this week about the most important thing, which is school districts and houses. I think Billy and Colleen think they're slick. I think they're really just trying to get us to buy their house. But they're a great resource for us, no doubt about it. We know each other very well. He's got a big job to do. I have a big job to do, so I don't want to spend too much time bothering him. But it is a tremendous resource for us. You say you're going to dominate the state in recruiting, and you also mentioned having Pittsburgh roots. There is one other major college program in the state. Could what you're saying right now be interpreted as throwing down the gauntlet at Pitt? Penn State hasn't been as active in western Pennsylvania as it was in the past. Well, I have tremendous respect for the University of Pittsburgh, tremendous respect for their coach, tremendous respect for their university. But when I say Pennsylvania, and when I say Penn State, that is the whole state. We will recruit every corner of this state, every school of this state, every neighborhood of this state. And when I say recruit, not only just the student-athletes, I mean the people of the great state of Pennsylvania. I We will recruit everybody.