Penn State Football: How Bill O'Brien and Staff Should Handle NCAA Sanctions

The NCAA hammer fell on Penn State on Monday.

The governing body that oversees collegiate athletics announced that Penn State will vacate all wins from 1998-2011, be fined $60 million, reduce initial scholarships by 10 to 15 each season for four years, reduce the total number of scholarships by 20 to 65 per year for four years and receive a four-year postseason ban, among other penalties.

These sanctions are a result of the Jerry Sandusky sexual-abuse scandal and subsequent cover-up by members of the athletic department.

So what does this mean for first-year head coach Bill O'Brien and the rest of the Penn State staff?

Under normal circumstances, they would have their work cut out for them stepping in for Joe Paterno.

Now that Sandusky is in prison, Paterno's legacy is tarnished and Penn State is staring massive sanctions in the face, O'Brien's job is almost impossible.

The first order of business for O'Brien is to be upfront about the situation with his players.

The NCAA sanctions allow for current Penn State players to transfer without the penalty of sitting out a season. 

O'Brien shouldn't pressure them and should hold no ill-will toward the players that decide to transfer.

Players chose to sign with the Nittany Lions for a variety of reasons, some of which have been marginalized as a result of something that was out of their control.

This should be O'Brien's approach now, but it should have been before as well.

The scholarship reductions appear massive on paper, but civil litigation was probably going to force Penn State to stop giving out free education at some point anyway, and that's something that O'Brien should be prepared for.

The second thing O'Brien should do is properly prepare the players that do stay with the program.

How does he do that? Get the message across that the players and coaches that stay on have taken on a new, very important responsibility—guiding Penn State through the most tumultuous time that any program has ever seen. That includes SMU.

The people that choose to stay won't be remembered for Big Ten titles, bowl victories or personal accolades; they will be remembered for choosing to put rebuilding Penn State ahead of their own football goals.

That means being upfront with recruits and specifically targeting players that fit this mold both athletically and mentally.

It also means that the staff can't miss on many recruits if it wants to stay competitive. That means that the coaching staff has to be examined. 

If O'Brien is the guy that leads the program through these rocky times, he needs to find coaches that are willing to work harder than any other coaches in America. That means more scouting, more scrutiny on character and more open communication with players currently on the roster.

Bill O'Brien knew what he was getting into when he agreed to become Penn State's head coach, but I'm not sure he was prepared for this.

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