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BILL O'BRIEN "There aren't many things in the world better than winning. Next to your family, the best thing as a football coach is being in a winning locker room. " part of a great athletic program that is a part of a very, very special universi- ty," O'Brien said in Philadelphia. "I want them to know that myself and our staff – we are going to work ex- tremely hard to continue the tradition of winning football games and gradu- ating players. "I want them to know that we believe in the same things that they believe in, and that we're going to work extreme- ly hard to make them very proud of this football program." Before the turmoil of last November, those sentiments had never been in question. Of course Penn State's foot- ball program was going to make fans and alumni proud. Of course it was go- ing to serve as an expression of the university's ideals. It had been doing those things for generations. But that once-sterling reputation was badly damaged by the Jerry San- dusky scandal and its fallout. The no- tion that Penn State was suddenly be- ing perceived by many as a tainted, un- clean place was unthinkable, and its descent into the tabloid media swamp was a personal affront to graduates of the university and fans of Joe Pater- no and the program he had led for 46 seasons. With an entire community feeling sucker-punched and short of breath, O'Brien's tour this spring offered a sim- ple reassurance: Penn State football and, by extension, the entire university community, is back and has reason to be proud. Stop by stop – in Philadelphia; Bal- timore; Washington, D.C.; Richmond, Va.; Harrisburg; Scranton; New York; Hartford, Conn.; Altoona; Pittsburgh; Youngstown, Ohio; Cleveland; Buffa- lo and Erie – O'Brien ushered fans and supporters into a new era. 28 J U N E 2 8 , 2 0 1 2 "One of the things that I tell people on all of the stops is that this is about moving forward. I wasn't here then. Our [coaching] staff wasn't here then," O'Brien said. "We do have a tremen- dous amount of respect for the past as far as Coach Paterno and the program that he ran here and the effect that he had on much more than football. "But, at the same time, it's a new era of Penn State football, so it's my job to get out and express that vision to peo- ple and meet the alums, meet the fans and all the people who are so support- ive of Penn State football, and that's what I'm trying to do." On it's face, the introduction wasn't an absolute necessity. Though some skepticism remains in the wake of Penn State's decision to hire an out- sider, and dissatisfaction surrounding Paterno's ouster is likely to linger for the foreseeable future, the deed is done. O'Brien is Paterno's successor and the leader of Penn State's football program. Rather than treating the tour as an extended interview, an opportunity to "sell" a vision for the future, O'Brien simply gave Penn State supporters a glimpse of Bill O'Brien. It seemed like the way to go. After all, his public per- sona is ultimately going to be subor- dinate to his results. The goodwill he's shown by fans will be directly propor- tional to his team's winning percent- age and graduation rate. "I don't feel pressure. I just try to work hard every single day and be myself. I do think it's important, and it's such a vital part of Penn State to have the backing that we have, to have the support that we have," he said. "It's incredible to see the people who have turned out to listen to us speak." TOUR GUIDE A number of Penn State coaches participated in the caravan, but O'Brien was the only coach present at every stop on the three-week, 18-city excursion. O'Brien and his fellow coaches trav- eled on a decked-out tour bus outfit- ted with swiveling armchairs, work space and refreshments. But even so, the three-week journey was anything but glamorous. And within the first three days of the tour's start, it showed. In Richmond, O'Brien was asked by Mark Selders a local reporter about how much time he had taken off since the Super Bowl in February. That morning's breakfast function had gone well, just like the others, but O'Brien had the expression of a man needing some much-deserved rest. The question, a not-so-subtle attempt by a friendly Virginia reporter to tell W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M

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