BALTIMORE — It’s not unknown Bill O’Brien is taking a couple cues from Bill Belichick as he embarks on his first head coaching job.
But it does not end with organizational structure and on-field strategy and philosophy.
O’Brien said he will bring in 10-12 guest speakers to address the football team throughout the summer and during the season. The reason? One voice repeating the same message can sometimes get stale or fall on deaf ears.
“It’s important for different voices to be heard and not just my voice every single day in front of the team,” O’Brien said during the Coaches Caravan stop here. “This spring, it was always my voice because I had to make sure that these guys understood certain things as far as setting the tone for the program. But I think as we move forward, we’d like to bring in lettermen and military people and other people that I think have a good message for our football team.”
One already is booked.
O’Brien recently met Adam Taliaferro during a private gathering at the Drexel Hill stop on the Coaches Caravan last Monday. Taliaferro, elected to a three-year term on the university’s Board of Trustees on Friday, gave O’Brien a copy of his book, “Miracle in the Making: The Adam Taliaferro Story” with a hand-written inscription for the new coach. O’Brien, who reads about five-to-six books at a time, actually already had the book and started reading it.
O’Brien has invited Taliaferro, a former defensive back whose story of triumph over a career-ending spine injury is well-documented in Penn State circles, to speak to the team during preseason practice.
The genesis for the motivational speakers comes from Belichick, the head coach of the New England Patriots who O’Brien worked under since 2007.
Some of the names Belichick brought in to address the squad:
- Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers
- Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala
- Trinity squash coach Paul Assaiante, whose team’s record-winning streak of 252 consecutive matches ended 12 days after O’Brien was hired at Penn State.
‘They all have similar messages, but it’s kind of how they relate to teamwork, to put the team first,’ O’Brien said. ‘[Assaiante] came in and spoke to our team about winning and putting a team together. So, over the five years that I was there, there were many speakers and they all had great messages.”
Added O’Brien: “You see a psyche thing but you also see it pay off on the field when you have trust and you’re talking about playing next to this guy and you’re trusting that he’s going to do the right thing. Communication, all these guys would talk about communication and how important that was on the field.
“So, I saw a definite payoff on the field, and it was also good for the team to hear other peoples’ perspective on things.’
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