CARLISLE – We saw it again on Tuesday: Bill O’Brien is a quick study.
He’s had to be — as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots preparing for the Steelers one week and the Jets the next, and now, as the architect of Penn State football’s scholarship-starved Sanction Era.
Same goes for the banquet circuit. Take Pennsylvania this past week. O’Brien certainly did.
Heading 159 miles hither (to a Penn State Shenango campus fundraiser) and 84 miles yon (to a Carlisle Chamber of Commerce breakfast), O’Brien traveled to the geographic edges of the Commonwealth over a six-day period. The appearances were just two of the nearly 40 that he will make in the seven months between Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July.
O’Brien and Penn State football. They were The Show. The over/under on the number of people who were at both events is three — and that includes O’Brien and any Penn State employees.
The night before Valentine’s Day O’Brien flew to Sharon to speak at the Friends of Penn State Shenango Alumni Society Dinner. The following Tuesday O’Brien and his aide de camp Jim Bernhardt arose before the crack of dawn to make the trip from Boalsburg to Carlisle, the drive taking a bit longer than expected because their car was stuck behind a tractor for several miles.
Here’s the quick study part:
When O’Brien was introduced in Sharon on a Wednesday night, the emcee started undoing his tie as he brought O’Brien – who was wearing a suit and tie of his own — to the lectern. “I’ve been at two events with him and he keeps telling me how much he likes my tie,” the host told the audience. “So, Coach O’Brien, my tie has become your tie.”
And with that, the emcee handed the Penn State coach his tie.
The next Tuesday morning, six days and half-a-state later, O’Brien walked on stage in a sport coat and blue-pinstriped open-collar shirt. Sans tie at a chamber function? Seems the coach had taken his tie off and gave it to 1991 Penn State graduate Scott Perry – who just so happens to be a Republican Congressman representing Pennsylvania’s 4th District.
Hmmm. In less than a week, the fourth-down gambler had learned how to play for a tie.
In Carlisle, O’Brien was the keynote speaker at the chamber’s 100th anniversary annual meeting. The theme? “Leading in a Time of Transition.” He was welcomed by a partial WhiteOut crowd of almost 500 people, a 19-piece student orchestra and a string of buffet tables so long it would’ve taken Alex Kenney 4.3 seconds to cover their distance.
The opening paragraphs of his speech were carefully scripted, just like his opening-drive play-calls. Just 166 seconds into his speech at the Carlisle Expo Center, O’Brien had them eating out of his hand – and not the paper plates full of breakfast burritos that came with the $35 admission fee (as a non-member, I paid $50. Ouch!).
First, O’Brien was effacing: He told how he and his wife Colleen were watching an old episode of “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend. “So, she turns to me…and says, ‘You know, you look a lot like John Belushi.’ ”
Then, he sang the praises of the Keystone State: “…the thing that’s neat about Pennsylvania, it’s the people that I really enjoy being around. Whether they’re passionate about Penn State football…they’re tough people, they’re honest people, they’re people of integrity.”
Finally, he hit those chamber folks where they lived: “My dad was the head of the Chamber of Commerce on Cape Cod for many, many years… and is still, at 80 years old, heavily involved with trying to do the best job he can to attract businesses and help the economic growth of Cape Cod. So, I’ve been in rooms like this before in Massachusetts with my dad and it’s really a neat thing to be here this morning with all of you.”
No wonder the guy – or, more accurately, The Guy — was greeted by a 19-second standing ovation. And after a 27-minute speech on the characteristics of a good leader he was sent off with a 24-second standing ovation and a pile of parting gifts, including the biography of Jim Thorpe (who dealt with a few sanctions of his own, if I recall).
O’Brien was a welcome presence, for sure. “He’s done a great job,” said John, a friend of mine who is a Harrisburg-area CPA. He earned a degree from Penn State three decades ago. “And we sure can use some good news from up there these days.”
From up there. That’s part of the reason O’Brien was down here with John, in the hotbed of Nittany Lion season ticket-holders and Penn State diploma holders. The opposite of Matt Damon as the New Englander good will hunting. A significant part of New Englander O’Brien’s job is good will delivering.
There is an anticipated pay-off – resurrecting the good name of Penn State ishigh on the list. And it is part of what he’s being paid to do, as outlined in Section 1G of his contract, accessible via a link in the “Progress” section on www.psu.edu:
“G. Maintaining and cultivating effective relations with governing boards, associations, conferences, committees, institutional alumni, the media, the public, students, faculty, staff and friends of the University with respect to football.”
That’s boilerplate language, of course. And no coach in America has ever had to make the PR rounds with his school, his program, his team in such hot water. It is folly to think that O’Brien went to Shenango or Carlisle because he was told to. Although, for the sake of program and the university and 17 other reasons, he needed to. O’Brien, more than anyone, gets that. What he was talking about, what he represented was about a lot more than “with respect to football.” Rod Erickson may have also drawn a crowd, but they would have thrown the book at him rather than given him one as a gift.
It wasn’t about the money. O’Brien makes $2.3 million a year. And when offered a speaker’s fee by the Carlisle people — allowable, under Section 4f of his contract – O’Brien turned it down. So the chamber donated the fee to Special Olympics.
The second-year Penn State coach closed his speech by noting that he’s been around the country and is also asked to give speeches in places like Dallas and Atlanta and Oklahoma.
“Those ones don’t fire me up,” O’Brien said. “The ones in Pennsylvania really fire me up because these are my kind of people. I just really enjoy meeting everybody and being here this morning. Thank you very much.”
