Bill O Brien

Inquirer sports intern Emily Kaplan, a Penn State senior from Montclair, N.J., has been named the Judges Award winner of a national essay competition sponsored by the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation. Approximately 30 universities nominate one senior for the competition based upon academic performance and a commitment to journalism. The foundation is named after the late, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist from the Los Angeles Times. Kaplan's essay on Penn State head football coach Bill O'Brien was judged best among the entries.

The bottom had threatened to fall out of Penn State's highly rated recruiting class in the wake of "Black Monday," when the NCAA punished its football program with a four-year bowl ban, reduced scholarships, and other penalties in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child-abuse scandal. Within two weeks of the July 23 bombshell, five high school players who had orally committed to attend Penn State had backed out. Many others, including top quarterback prospect Christian Hackenberg, were exploring their options while being inundated with calls from rival FBS coaches.

Replacing an iconic head coach isn't the most desired way to start your career. Bill O'Brien, a history buff, is probably already versed in the unpleasant experiences of the men who succeeded Vince Lombardi (Phil Bengston) and Adolph Rupp (Joe B. Hall). But if he needs a more contemporary perspective, he need look no further than across the Beaver Stadium field during his Penn State coaching debut. That's where Frank Solich, Ohio's 67-year-old coach, will be standing. Fourteen years ago, Solich had the unenviable distinction of replacing the face of Nebraska football, Tom Osborne.

When Penn State fans heard Bill O'Brien say he would complete his duties with the New England Patriots before he moved full-time into the head coach's office, they thought this would put the Nittany Lions at a disadvantage with undecided high school recruits. But what they found out was that television loves a good story, and the CBS announcers made frequent mentions of O'Brien, the Patriots' offensive coordinator, and his new job at Penn State during Saturday night's telecast of the AFC divisional playoff between New England and Denver.

Nittany Nation could finally exhale Friday after receiving word that Penn State coach Bill O'Brien had ended his brief flirtation with returning to the NFL as a head coach and announced he would be back on the Beaver Stadium sideline in 2013. Neither O'Brien nor his agent, Joe Linta, responded to requests for comment. In an interview Friday with Steve Jones, the radio voice of Penn State football, O'Brien, a former offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots, said NFL teams, which he did not identify, "reached out" to his representative.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Because he is a coach, and the NFL is the "highest level of coaching," Bill O'Brien said he felt a need to check out some of the opportunities he had to return to the pros as a head coach before deciding he would remain at Penn State. However, in explaining his reasons why he stayed, O'Brien emphatically denied Monday that influential university donor Terry Pegula pledged $1.3 million to add to his contract or that he imposed any demands on acting athletic director Dave Joyner to gain more influence within the athletic department.

WHAT FOLLOWS is based not upon somebody whispering in my ear. It is more about body language, and tone of voice, and reading between the lines, and understanding the history. It falls somewhere between an educated guess and a gut instinct. This: that Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie likely wants either Chip Kelly or Bill O'Brien to be his next head coach. To understand why, it is best to begin with a statistic. It is a rather arcane number, to be honest. It isn't in the box score and people do not quote it very often.

Funny how nobody talks much anymore about Joe Paterno's statue. Much like that 900-pound likeness the university removed last summer from outside Beaver Stadium, the late Penn State coach's legacy once seemed destined to endure forever. Now, almost a year after Paterno's death, it is melting away rapidly, like the last vestiges of a snowfall in spring. The tumult provoked by the Jerry Sandusky scandal, the red-hot debate over Paterno's response, and the fears about Penn State football's future all have eased somewhat, even if the torment of Sandusky's child victims has not. Sandusky is in prison.

It was a brief flirtation, but Bill O'Brien has told Penn State that he is staying after he interviewed with the Eagles and Browns, a source close to the situation said Thursday night.   O'Brien met with the Eagles on Thursday, a team spokesman confirmed. He met with the Browns earlier this week, an NFL source said.   Whether he seriously considered leaving State College or not, O'Brien was likely able to gain leverage at Penn State. There is a buyout clause in O'Brien's contract worth $9.2 million - some reports have said the figure is twice as high - if O'Brien were to leave.

Since the NCAA imposed severe sanctions against the Penn State football program on Monday morning, Bill O'Brien has been reminding his players about the bond they have built since he took over as head coach in January, and how he hopes they will carry that into the 2012 season. However, there are no guarantees this will happen with a full squad. The NCAA has relaxed its transfer rules for Penn State players, including allowing them to change schools without having to sit out a year, and coaches across the country are lining up to lure the better Nittany Lions away from central Pennsylvania.