Bill O’Brien Goes to Penn State To Replace Joe Paterno

It’s hard to replace a legend, but Bill O’Brien has agreed to try and do just that. The current New England Patriots offensive coordinator will become the next head coach at Penn State, following the school’s firing of Joe Paterno amid the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.

O’Brien was born 3 years after JoePa became the university’s head coach in 1966. He held various coaching positions in the ACC at Georgia Tech, Maryland, and Duke before joining the Patriots in 2007 and working under Bill Belichick.

He has no ties to Penn State, which has caused some discord among players and fans that may have wanted the job to go to someone already within the Nittany Lion family.

O’Brien will finish out the NFL postseason with the Patriots before supplanting PSU interim coach Tom Bradley, and attempting to fill the shoes of the winningest coach in Division I football history.