Penn State Sanctions: Did Bill O'Brien Make a Mistake Accepting Penn St Job?

The NCAA released their sanctions on Penn State on Monday morning, and now, the football program has to look forward. A big part of that move forward is their brand new head coach. Bill O'Brien took the Penn State job in the midst of scandal and controversy. He was not a big-name, rock-star head coaching candidate, but he fit what Penn State was looking for: a quality candidate that would distance them from the Joe Paterno era.

At the base level, taking the job was a no-brainer. Penn State is one of a handful of "power schools" on the collegiate landscape. Certainly, the scandal muddied the waters a bit for O'Brien; but ultimately, the opportunity outweighed the negative air surrounding the football program. 

Now, with the sanctions out, hindsight comes into play. Would Bill O'Brien have taken the job if he knew this prolonged, slow death penalty was coming? More importantly, should O'Brien have taken this job, given what we know now?

The vacated wins mean more to people clinging to an image of Joe Paterno and his legacy than they do to the future of Penn State football and O'Brien. However, the postseason ban and scholarship reductions are most certainly crippling to O'Brien's cause. Operating the Penn State football program at an FCS level for four seasons, without the prospects of going to a bowl game, is a fate that will submarine even the best laid plans. The fertile recruiting grounds of Maryland, DC and of course Pennsylvania will be picked over by the Ohio State, Michigan, Pitt, West Virginia and Marylands of the world.

Winning is going to be tough. No depth. Less talent. Little margin for error.

That said, the answer is no. No, O'Brien did not make a mistake in leaving the New England Patriots for State College, Pennsylvania. The longtime assistant has been wanting to get back into the college game for quite some time, preferably as a head coach. He's had the door closed on him a time or two, unable to get into the room to interview for positions that he was interested in.

Now, with the Penn State situation, Billy O has got his shot. True, it is a long shot, but a long shot is better than no shot at all. The man who worked to revamp the Patriots offense to be more dynamic and still find a way to run the ball is now tasked with so much more. O'Brien has the coaching acumen to succeed; now we'll find out if he has the roster juggling ability to make this all work.

If he fails, no one will blame him and he can head back to the NFL or the collegiate assistant ranks. But if he succeeds, he'll be the poster boy for how to galvanize a program in the midst of the toughest sanctions the NCAA has ever handed down.