In more ways than one, Penn State coach Bill O’Brien and Penn State football legend Matt Millen are kindred spirits.
They’re both imposing guys, about a quarter thousand pounds each, and are given to speaking their minds in a big way — Millen as an analyst with ESPN and NFL Network, and O’Brien on the practice field and in private meetings with players, trustees and university presidents alike.
In addition to their Nittany Lion bloodlines, the two spent formative parts of their careers in professional football. Millen, 55, played a dozen years in the NFL, winning four Super Bowl rings with three teams before suffering through eight unsuccessful seasons as CEO of the Detroit Lions.
O’Brien, for his part, rose through the NFL ranks as an assistant coach with the England Patriots, losing two Super Bowls in five seasons, the second in 2012, when the Pats fell to the Giants, 21-17, just weeks after O’Brien, 43, was named Penn State’s 15th head coach.
Joe Paterno is also a dominant connecting point for the pair. Millen was famous for his battles with (and imitations of) the late head coach in the 1970s, getting thrown out of practice and being stripped of the team captaincy. Later, the two made up and had a close relationship, although they still frequently disagreed.
Millen’s personal and professional worlds eventually collided. When the Sandusky scandal hit in early November 2011, Millen became emotional while live on-air with ESPN and shed some national news-making tears. His Penn State allegiances have become even closer, and more public, since.
O’Brien has given Paterno his due in some regards, acknowledging many of his predecessor’s accomplishments. But just like Millen hints below, the lack of final scandal pronouncements and conclusions by others both public and judicial have put O’Brien in an awkward position. Both are somewhat circumspect.
In that sense, the two have found solace in Nittany Lion football. Millen, somewhat of the Dutch uncle, will on occasion visit O’Brien at his home in Boalsburg and on campus, and the two dissect not Freeh, but free safeties. Not judges, but referees. (If they ever televise the sessions on pay-per-view, sign me up.)
It’s not an odd couple, since both seem much more Oscar than Felix. But it’s a pairing that really works, as the two have something in common that to them is sometimes uncommon these days: A deep and pure love of Penn State football.
On Thursday, while O’Brien was in Chicago for the Big Ten media days, Millen was in Durham, in Pennsylvania’s rural northern Bucks County, at the meticulously remodeled Colonial-style home he shares with his wife, former Penn State gymnast Patti Spisak. The house and its surrounding 10,000-plus plants and flowers serve as the epicenter of a large and bustling family that includes four grandchildren and four adult children: Matt Jr., a Princeton graduate; Marcus, who played football at West Point; Michalyn, a 2010 Penn State grad who lives in Nashville with her husband Collin Mooney, a former West Point football player now with the Tennessee Titans; and Marianne, a 2012 Penn State grad studying for her masters in theology.
With the grandkids chattering in the background, Millen (who graduated from Penn State in 1980 with a business degree) took 20 minutes by telephone to talk about his alma mater, O’Brien, Paterno and the scandal.
Q: As of this week it has been a year since the NCAA sanctions on Penn State were announced. What’s the past year been like for you personally as a Penn State alum and also professionally?
MILLEN: “I thought the sanctions were excessive. I thought the NCAA piled on. I thought they kicked Penn State down while they could. My perspective is probably a little slanted having been around the Penn State program and knowing the people involved. The juxtapositioning was way too stark, because one month the NCAA is holding up Penn State as the example of what a university should be. They’re praising Penn State, saying Penn State does all these things right. Then the Sandusky thing happens and two months later they’re saying this place has so many things wrong with it we don’t even know where to begin. I mean, how fast is that? You can’t do that. So from a personal standpoint it was too inconsistent.
“Just watching from the outside, I couldn’t have been more proud of how Penn State handled the whole thing. They tried to correct things as fast as they knew things. Sometimes they reacted instead of trying to be proactive — but then on other things they were proactive. So I thought, all in all, I thought they handled it pretty well. I think my source of pride in the whole thing was Bill O Brien and the way the team played.”
Q: You have a pretty good relationship with O’Brien, don’t you?
MILLEN: “Yeah, I do. The thing I love about Bill is he genuinely cares about the kids. They mean something to him. And he loves the game of football. For me, that’s so refreshing, because having been around it for so long now, I’m around a lot of coaches and they don’t love it. They like it, but it’s their job.
“Bill will call me sometimes and say, ‘Hey, I got a free weekend, you wanna come up and go through quarter coverage or do you wanna talk some football or do this?’ It’s always something about football. He always wants to learn. He’s excited about it. He loves it. To me, that’s refreshing.
“I’ll be up this week. He just called me up today from the Big Ten meetings. He’s like, ‘Millen, c’mon, we have to get you up here.’ So I think (next) Thursday I’m going up. ”
Q: Did you know O’Brien before he took the Penn State job?
MILLEN: “Yes. I knew Bill by reputation. I knew him by sight, I’d wave to him. I didn’t really know him that well, but I knew him well enough to say, ‘That’s who we need to hire.’ ”
Q: Given your pro background, with creating and managing a smaller roster, what’s your take on O’Brien using his NFL experience and somehow making the 65 scholarships work?
MILLEN: “The numbers are important, but maybe not for the reason that people understand. First of all, a large part of that roster is kids who you are developing. You may need a kid as soon as he shows up, but most kids are 18 when they show up (and) they’re not ready. There are some, but very few. So you’re physically developing them, you’re developing their understanding and knowledge of the game and how the game’s played. You’re teaching that part. They’re also away on their own for the first time, so they’re developing as a person and developing socially. You’re monitoring all that stuff, but there’s a huge growth period and most kids aren’t ready for it.
“Then there’s the practice side of it. You know you don’t have a lot of time to teach. You got 20 hours (of practice time) and you have to pack it in. You do that mostly with repetition. But you don’t have the requisite amount of kids to be able to do certain things and that makes it even more difficult. There are a lot of levels where not having the numbers of players is going to hurt you.
“Now, having said that, if you recruit 20 kids who are studs you’re going to win, you just have to stay healthy. But you know nobody really can do that. The team that gets closest to that year-in and year-out now is Nick (Saban) down in Alabama. You know Nick will each year probably get 12 legitimate players and you know his studs are leaving in three years. But over the course of those three years, you know he’s going to have 40 kids who are NFL-caliber guys on his roster. Penn State right now might have 15 of those guys. So that’s a big difference.”
Q: With so few of those studs, don’t you have to be even more precise in how you coach?
MILLEN: “Well, just for the record, I think Bill is an excellent teacher — and coaching is all teaching. I said a year ago when ESPN asked me how many games I thought Penn State would win I said eight and that Bill will be responsible for six of them. And you know what, I think I was right.”
Q: Those coaching skills mean more now than ever.
MILLEN: “(With Detroit), that’s what I would say to my staff, every year. Whenever I would hear a coach say, ‘I went over that thing 10 times and he still doesn’t get it,’ that right there, you just indicted yourself. That’s all I need to know. I look at him like, ‘You are an awful freaking teacher.’
“It’s always been like that, though. The No. 1 thing that you do as the coach — this is what I told (the Detroit coaches) – is that when those kids walk through the door the first time and you meet them is learn how they learn. That’s the most important piece of information you can get. Bill and I have had this conversation and he shared the exact same thing.
“You have to learn how they learn. Coaches are different. Some guys are good on the board, some guys are good verbally, and some guys are good by showing you things. Some guys aren’t good teachers, but they’re good tactically and some guys are better theoretically and some guys can see the big picture.
“In Detroit, I told them I have to learn your eyes. Once I know your eyes, and once I know what you’re looking at, then I can get on the same page. I have to learn your verbiage and that’s why you try to homogenize everything to make sure we’re saying the same thing. I’ve tried to help Bill and (Penn State director of player personnel) Bill Kavanaugh. I’ve talked to (Kavanaugh) a bunch of times.”
Q: What about your coach at Penn State? Where is your head at regarding Joe Paterno these days?
MILLEN: “Oh, it’s never changed. I’m a big Joe Paterno fan and I always will be, but I’m also realistic. So I know there are a lot of things that go on when you sit in that seat. Having sat in a similar seat, it’s not an easy job.
“Here’s the other part: Joe’s strength was that he was able to evolve. Joe evolved through the ‘60s; heck from the ‘50s through the ‘60s through the ‘70s and all the way. That is not easy to do. And he was successful all the way through it. Now certainly he wasn’t the same at the end as he was like when I had him; he was a shell of himself. But having said that, he still evolved and he still had a modicum of success that even moreso was the players. So he was still developing quality players.”
Q: You’ve been very visible in terms of speaking out about Penn State over the past two years or so. Do you see yourself as a lightning rod for people telling you what they think and wanting to know what you think?
MILLEN: “Sometimes. I mean, if people want to say something on the positive side of things about it, they do. The thing is I think I’m approachable. If they want to throw some anti-Penn State thing out or if they want to talk to me about my lack of success in Detroit, well, they usually just throw it out from a crowd. And they’re just people.”
Q: Last question: Starting quarterback – (Christian) Hackenberg or (Tyler) Ferguson?
MILLEN: “I’m for the guy whoever’s going do the best job for Bill. I’m excited to see Hackenberg. I haven’t seen him yet. I hear a lot of good things about him, but I’ll watch the tape.
“Here’s what I want: I want Bill to have success. I think Bill is a really good person. I think he’s unique in a special way — and I’ve told him this, I’ve said: ‘Bill, one of your strengths, don’t ever forget it, is your oldest son (Jack). He will give you the perspective you need to be able to handle the rest of this crap. There’s all kinds of stuff that goes on when you’re sitting in that seat – and I know what it is — but when you come home and you see that boy, then you know what’s important and that will put your feet on the ground.’
“So I want Bill to have success. I think he’s doing it right and I like him. I personally like the guy; I want him to do very well.”
