Penn State Football: Bill O’Brien Meets the Media at Super Bowl XLVI

Bill O’Brien’s focus is in Indianapolis preparing the Patriots for Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Giants.

But that didn’t keep O’Brien from having to address a variety of topics Tuesday in Indy at Super Bowl Media Day about his next job — head football coach at Penn State.

Among the topics O’Brien briefed reporters on:

• He said he will get a fax Wednesday night of the recruits who sign letters of intent. Wednesday is the first day high school seniors can sign their letter of intent.

• O’Brien said Joe Paterno’s viewing was an emotional experience for him because of Paterno’s impact on the coaching profession. “It was about his memory and what he meant to Penn State and to college football,” he said. “So it was an emotional time for me, being in the coaching profession. There’s a guy that has been the head football coach there for 46 years. It was a very emotional time for that team because he recruited those guys and he was their head coach.”

• He said it was easy to construct his staff at Penn State because he worked with most of the coaches in the past.

• O’Brien said he will take some offensive schemes from New England to Penn State but stayed mum on details.

• He said he accepted the Penn State job because it’s an opportunity that doesn’t present itself often. “I felt like I could go in there and have an effect with our staff there and have an effect on some 17-year-old guys and watch them grow into 22-year-old men and graduate with a great degree,” he said.

Related coverage

• StateCollege.com’s Penn State football page