Bill O Brien

Penn State football coach Bill O'Brien formally announced Thursday the hiring of Anthony Midget as an assistant coach in charge of safeties. Midget, 34, a former all-American cornerback at Virginia Tech, coached the last five seasons at Georgia State, his last year as defensive coordinator. He replaces John Butler, who was promoted to defensive coordinator of the Nittany Lions after Ted Roof left to take the same job at Georgia Tech. "Anthony will be a great addition to our staff," O'Brien said in a statement.

STATE COLLEGE - There was a nationally covered trial, the Freeh Report, the removal of Joe Paterno's statue, the NCAA's sanctions, controversy, transfers - and that was all before Bill O'Brien coached a game at Penn State. So what was it about the guy from Boston that made him able to lead the Penn State football team so successfully through it all? "Every little thing he does is so great for this team. Everything he says he just leads us. You know, like, 'Man, coach O'Brien said that?

PENN STATE football coach Bill O'Brien will participate in a coaches caravan tour starting April 30, when there will be an evening reception in Philadelphia. O'Brien and other PSU coaches will make stops in 12 locations over 2 weeks. "We had a great turnout of Penn State alumni and fans during the coaches caravan last year and I enjoyed meeting so many people who have great pride and passion for Penn State," O'Brien said in a statement. "It's important for me to get around Pennsylvania and other areas where we have a lot of alumni and give them a chance to get to know me and to hear from them.

Bill O'Brien counted on Penn State's seniors in so many ways when he took over the football program in January. He depended on them again and again during a chaotic year that included NCAA penalties, player transfers, and a discouraging start to the season. So it's likely that O'Brien will be as emotional as his seniors when they are brought out before Saturday's game against Wisconsin to be introduced to the crowd at Beaver Stadium. "These are young guys that have been through a lot," O'Brien said during his teleconference on Tuesday.

With at least seven NFL coaching vacancies needing to be filled after Monday's rash of firings, the name of Penn State coach Bill O'Brien has come up for most, if not all, of them. O'Brien, the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator, could have his choice of any job after earning national honors for leading the Nittany Lions to an 8-4 mark in his first season. As for whether he has been contacted, O'Brien's agent, Joe Linta, has not responded to a request for comment.

IN 1941, Father Marcial Maciel founded a lucrative, seductive order of priests and their pupils called the Legion of Christ in Mexico City. It raised outrageous amounts of money and spawned the careers of hundreds of brilliant priests, even as the Catholic Church shriveled globally. As early as the 1950s, accusations of sexual abuse of young boys surfaced against Maciel. A charming leader, Maciel weathered decades of such accusations. The Vatican, alerted of Maciel's actions, allowed him to use his position of immense power to herd victims to himself.

Matt McGloin opened the floodgates to a national discussion of whether the Big Ten conspires against Penn State with his comments that the Nittany Lions would never get the call on tight end Matt Lehman's fumble into the end zone, a play that upon review appeared to be a touchdown. Penn State coach Bill O'Brien did not appear eager to return to the subject Tuesday during his teleconference, going back to his weekly "moving forward" mantra, this time to Saturday's game against Indiana at Beaver Stadium.

There's a lot of things you can call Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin. But if you're on Bill O'Brien's practice field there's one name you shouldn't use - former "walk-on. " That's because O'Brien has erased that word from his team's vocabulary. They're called "run-ons" now. "These guys don't walk, they run on the field. They sprint on the field. They bust their butt on the field," O'Brien said as a smile stretched across his face at Tuesday's news conference. "I know that goes against everybody's term for non-scholarship players for the last 100 years of college football, but that's just our term for them.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Maybe it's the 20 years he's spent in coaching, or the five years he worked on Bill Belichick's staff with the New England Patriots, but Bill O'Brien won't allow anything to disturb his steely focus on the next game. Penn State's first-year coach has been dealing with distractions ever since he was introduced to Nittany Nation on Jan. 7. The Jerry Sandusky scandal, the death of Joe Paterno, the Freeh report, NCAA sanctions, players transferring from and leaving the program - he's been through a lot. Yet he has led the Nittany Lions to a 6-4 record and found himself Friday on the 18-man watch list for the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award for coach of the year.

STATE COLLEGE - Bill O'Brien said it wasn't about the money. After speaking with several NFL teams, including the Eagles, about their coaching vacancies, O'Brien last week said he would remain at Penn State. Monday, exactly a year after being introduced as the new head coach, O'Brien held his first news conference since guiding the Nittany Lions to a surprising 8-4 season. O'Brien said he remains committed to Penn State, saying that though the NFL is the pinnacle of coaching and he had conversations with a few NFL teams, he is "very, very proud" to lead the Nittany Lions.

PRIZED INCOMING freshman Christian Hackenberg is officially in the Penn State quarterback derby before ever taking a snap. The post-spring depth chart released yesterday listed Hackenberg and junior college transfer Tyler Ferguson, a sophomore, as the top two candidates to take over the starting job left vacated following the graduation of Matt McGloin. Coach Bill O'Brien had given every indication in spring practice that Hackenberg would get a chance to compete for the job when preseason camp opens in August.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Prized incoming freshman Christian Hackenberg is officially in the Penn State quarterback derby before ever taking a snap. The post-spring depth chart released Thursday listed Hackenberg and junior college transfer Tyler Ferguson, a sophomore, as the top two candidates to take over the starting job left vacated by the graduation of Matt McGloin. Coach Bill O'Brien had given every indication in spring practice that Hackenberg would get a chance to compete for the job when preseason camp opens in August.

Penn State defensive tackle Nate Cadogan has left the team for personal reasons and will forego his fifth year of eligibility, coach Bill O'Brien announced Friday on Twitter. The 6-foot-5, 298-pound Cadogan played tackle last season and split time between there and tight end his first two years, even catching a touchdown pass in 2010 against Northwestern. He was shifted to defensive tackle during the offseason to provide depth at the position following the graduation of Jordan Hill and James Terry.

THE FLYERS have a familiar face returning to scout the goaltending crop in Europe. Former Flyers goaltender Antero Niittymaki, who recently retired after a season in the Finnish Elite League, was hired by the team on Wednesday to not only identify European goaltending prospects but skaters as well. "You don't need to spend much time with Antero to get a feel for his knowledge of all aspects of the game, and what it takes to play at the highest level," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said.

If a substitution is made by the offense, the offense shall not be permitted to snap the ball until the defense has been permitted to respond with its substitutions. While in the process of a substitution . . . the offense is prohibited from rushing quickly to the line of scrimmage and snapping the ball in an obvious attempt to cause a defensive foul (i.e., too many men on the field). If, in the judgment of the officials, this occurs, the following procedure will apply: (a)

STATE COLLEGE - Penn State coach Bill O'Brien is fervently disputing suggestions raised in a report that player medical care has been compromised after the team doctor was replaced. Speaking in an angry tone that might be otherwise reserved for an argument with an official, O'Brien told reporters that the health and safety of his players were his top priorities. The athletic department has been responding to a story in the latest edition of Sports Illustrated that questioned the quality of care and the motivations behind the removal of longtime team doctor Wayne Sebastianelli earlier this year.

Bill O'Brien was angry. His voice rose often Wednesday on a conference call with reporters. Some folks swore they could feel the spittle through the phone. The Penn State coach spent much of a 20-minute call blasting a Sports Illustrated report implying that medical care for Nittany Lions football players had diminished because of recent changes that included the removal of Wayne Sebastianelli as head physician of the program, a post he held for 21 years. The story, which appears in SI's May 20 issue, also portrayed a rivalry between Sebastianelli and current athletic director Dave Joyner, an orthopedic surgeon who lost out to Sebastianelli in 1992 when the university created the position of head physician of the football program at the urging of Joe Paterno.

Gerald Hodges' football career has been about adapting, persevering, and producing. And now it will be about adjusting - to the NFL. The Penn State linebacker and former all-South Jersey performer from Paulsboro was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round, the 120th player chosen. "It's a blessing when my name was called, and now I get a chance to put a franchise on my helmet," Hodges said by phone. The 6-foot-1, 243-pounder began his college career as a safety but moved to linebacker.

Penn State picked up its eighth verbal commitment to the freshman Class of 2014 on Friday when Marcus Allen, a safety from Wise High School in Upper Marlboro, Md., accepted the Nittany Lions' scholarship offer, several recruiting websites reported. With Allen's commitment, the Nittany Lions are now more than halfway to their 2014 scholarship limit of 15 as mandated by last July's NCAA sanctions. The 6-foot-2, 188-pound Allen, who is ranked four stars by Scout and 247 Sports and three stars by Rivals, is the first safety to accept an offer for next year from coach Bill O'Brien.