New secondary coach Butler pitching Penn State

JOHN BUTLER feels a bit like a late-filing candidate for public office, on the campaign trail with election day coming up soon. It is an incredibly busy time, filled with long hours of meeting and greeting voters who haven't quite made their minds up about the message he's trying to put out as persuasively as possible.

In this instance, however, the electorate is comprised of a bunch of athletically gifted 18-year-olds. They must decide whether Butler and the other new members of first-year coach Bill O'Brien's Penn State staff have the right stuff to not only retain those recruits who verbally committed to the recently deposed regime, but to lure any fence-sitters.

With the Feb. 1 national signing day less than 2 weeks away, Butler and six fellow newbies - defensive line coach Larry Johnson and linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden are holdovers from Joe Paterno's veteran group - find themselves pitching the virtues of the Nittany Lions' rich history of success as well as the chance to be a part of something fresh and different.

It is a delicate balancing act for Butler, the Nittany Lions' new secondary coach. But then Butler, the La Salle High graduate who is returning to his home state and a university he never attended but loved nonetheless, is up for any and all challenges. He believes in himself, he believes in his new boss and he believes that past, present and future in Happy Valley can mingle in such a way that preserves the finest while adding the excitement that often comes with charting a new course.

And all Butler and O'Brien's other new hires need to do is to pull this off while working under the cloud of the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal and any lingering resentment among Penn State alumni and supporters over the way Paterno and interim coach Tom Bradley were kicked to the curb. Interestingly, O'Brien, for now the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriot, is unable to devote his full attention to his Penn State duties until the Pats are eliminated from playoff contention. That leaves O'Brien's hastily assembled staff to do most of the heavy lifting.