Penn State Football: 6 Common Commencement Themes by Paterno and O’Brien, 40 Years Apart

Bill O’Brien made a commencement address on Friday, speaking to the graduating seniors of Walt Whitman High School (Md.) in DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

Nearly four decades earlier, on June 16, 1973, Joe Paterno took the stage in Beaver Stadium to address the graduating seniors of The Pennsylvania State University.

Both men graduated from Brown. Both served as Penn State head football coaches. Both will be forever inexorably linked by the Sandusky scandal – its before, its during and its never-ending aftermath.

Rather than print both speeches, we’ve chosen a half-dozen topics and provided direct quotations about each. If you do want to read both commencement addresses in their entirety, you can find Paterno’s here and O’Brien’s here.

1. COACH AS COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER

Paterno: “…I assure that in stepping outside of my role as a football coach, I do it with great trepidation and humility. Who knows, I may be the only commencement speaker this year who doesn’t give his opinion on Watergate … although I do want to make one comment on President Nixon’s role in the affair. I’d like to know how could the president know so little about Watergate in 1973 and so much about college football in 1969?”

O’Brien: “I’m just a football coach, but I believe that we need more leaders in this world. We need more people who think about what is right and stand up for what they believe in.”

2. DOING THE RIGHT THING

Paterno: “One of the tragedies of Watergate is to see so many bright young men, barely over 30, who have so quickly prostituted their honor and decency to get ahead, to be admired, to stay on the ‘team.’ … I warn you: Don’t underestimate the world. It can corrupt quickly and completely.”

O’Brien: “Know the difference between right and wrong. Don’t be afraid to speak up if you think something is wrong. Don’t be afraid. Have the courage to tell people what you believe in. Find out what you believe in early. Don’t wait until later on in life to find out what you believe in. Start to form what you believe in now.”

3. MAKING AN IMPACT

Paterno: “W.H. Auden said it beautifully when he wrote on the death of Sigmund Freud: ‘Everyday there die among us those who were doing us some good and knew it was never enough, but hoped to improve a little by living.’ Live your life so that by some little thing, you will improve our world just by living.”

O’Brien: “Continue to give back to your community. Pick a charity or an organization that is near and dear to your heart. Whether it is a church, an elementary school near where you go to college, special needs children — reach out to these people and give back. A lot of people out there are obviously less fortunate than us. It’s important for you to give back.”

4. BEING A TEAMMATE

Paterno: “We work hard to achieve our goals and when Saturday comes and we walk on the grass in this stadium, we stand as a team. We tighten up our belts. We look across at our opponents. We say, ‘Come on, let’s go, let’s see how good you are, let’s play. We are ready.’”

O’Brien: “To be a great leader, you have to love being around people and learning about each individual — who you’re on the same team with, who you’re on the same club with and the same organization. Learn about these people. One of the things we do at Penn State is when we go into preseason training camp, we have a few of our guys each night stand up and talk about things for five minutes that are important to them. It’s our way of learning about each other, whether it is a coach or a player.”

5. HANDLING ADVERSITY

Paterno: “We must always act, but when we are wrong, we must be mature enough to realize it and act accordingly. This is where greatness lies and national frustrations end. …We shall act, and we shall act with good intentions. Hopefully, we will be right. But at times, we will be wrong. When we are, let us admit it and immediately try to right the situation.”

O’Brien: “People ask us all the time about the adversity we shared in as a team this year at Penn State. What happened at Penn State was very unique. Something horrible had happened at Penn State and when we came there, we had other struggles — the NCAA sanctions and things like that. And the group of people that we were left with was just a fantastic group of people who were mentally tough, who took the risk of being at Penn State and then were able to bounce back when things didn’t go their way early on in the season, in practice, in the classroom, whatever it was. It’s important to be mentally tough to be able to overcome adversity.”

6. A SIGNATURE LINE

Paterno: “Success without honor is an unseasoned dish. It will satisfy your hunger but it won’t taste good.”

O’Brien: “Be mentally tough. Be an educated risk taker. If you think about it, if you think it’s worth doing, then take that risk. But be mentally tough to bounce back if it doesn’t work out.”