Outside of his family, nothing makes Bill O’Brien happier than when he is coaching.
Couple that with a win and a solid performance by a talented freshman quarterback and Penn State’s head coach is as chipper as he can be.
For all of stern looks and yelling at the referees you might see during a game, O’Brien on a personal level is the sarcastic kid in every classroom ready to bust your chops over anything he can get his hands on. If you catch him in an environment conducive to this kind of conversation O’Brien can be as entertaining as his predecessor often was.
This humor and wit was on full display at O’Brien’s weekly press conference. Here are some of the best quotes.
On Twitter:
- “I don’t know, I just — you go on there and – “I brushed my teeth today!” Who cares? This is ridiculous!”
Letting Christian Hackenberg Talk to The Media:
- I felt like after a game like that and just, “why wait?” He’s going to talk to you guys eventually anyway so it’s good to get ’em out there after a win and let them see what that’s about. Kind of like shaving your head with a cheese grater is what I told him — just kidding.”
Special Teams:
- “I thought it was collectively a good team effort. We did a lot of different things, we quick-kicked, went for it on fourth down twice. Although I will disclose there, the first time we went for it, I thought we got the first down on the previous play. It was like (John) Belushi in “Animal House” “just let him go,” like “when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.”
On Winning:
- “Like you said, winning is the most important thing, and we won the football game. It’s like saltwater; it cures everything. And you’re from Pennsylvania so you don’t even know about saltwater, but I’m from the Cape.”
Reporter: The breaking news is Cory (Giger) is from Arkansas.
- Is he? I didn’t know that, I thought he was from Altoona.
Reporter: We’ve adopted him.
- OB: I’m sorry, I have a line there but I won’t use it.
