Penn State Football Can Finally Look Forward with Bill O'Brien Hire

Penn State football has a future. 

There is no telling what kind of future that will be. It can be one mired in losses or filled with titles, but finally, after months of scandal and uncertainty, they finally have a game plan. 

On Thursday night, ESPN's Chris Mortensen tweeted what is the first positive sign for Penn State football. The program that was near flat lining had a pulse. 

With that, the Nittany Lions have answered one of the biggest questions since the disgusting allegations against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky leaked out. 

Since that time, Penn State has lost no less than honor, credibility and a legendary head coach in Joe Paterno. It is time to temper expectations a bit, because O'Brien is not going to come in and answer any of those losses. 

Honor and credibility will only be restored after years of clean-cut Penn State football are once again piled on one another. That leaves the obvious fact that no coach will ever be Joe Paterno. 

The Nittany Lions may one day have another that can stand toe-to-toe on a historic level with JoePa, but that time is decades from now. 

What Penn State really needed more than anything was a head coach. They have been ambling in destructive uncertainty since Paterno was ousted. 

O'Brien comes in with a great deal of question marks as a journeyman assistant coach who has served with the Patriots since 2007 and worked his way up to offensive coordinator. 

There is no denying that if you are going to pilfer an OC, you can do a lot worse than one that leads the prolific Patriots. 

Before that, O'Brien was a college assistant coach at ACC schools Georgia Tech, Duke and Maryland before moving to the NFL ranks.

Again, we have no idea what the future holds for Penn State. O'Brien may be the worst recruiter on the planet, or he may just be a genius. 

None of this is important. Penn State needed a head coach, whether he was the right one is inconsequential as the program continues to dampen the flames that are still very much burning all over Happy Valley. 

Now there is a path that will be laid out by O'Brien. The fact that it leads beyond and asunder of the previous regime is what really matters. The old days are over and a new coaching staff is on the horizon. 

Finally, Penn State has a future. 

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