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Bill O’Brien Opens Spring Practice
Bill O’Brien was about halfway through his first spring practice press conference Monday afternoon when I got my turn at the mic. Changing the subject from the string of player personnel queries that understandably dominated the media questioning, I asked O’Brien if he’d had a chance to find a routine. It’s been a hectic seven weeks since he took over as Penn State’s head football coach, and I was curious how he was settling in.
“Other than the fact that I’m still in room five—well, I can’t give my room number out, but I’m on the fifth floor at the Penn Stater,” O’Brien said. “But I’m very settled in.”
The fact that he’s still living out of a suitcase speaks to how immersed O’Brien has been in his new role. That immersion goes even deeper this week as the Nittany Lions begin spring practice under their new coach, who will be getting his first live look at his players in actual football drills (winter workouts are limited to conditioning drills only). What has he learned so far, and what does he expect out of the next four weeks of practice, culminating next month with the annual Blue-White Game? Here are some highlights from Monday’s presser:
—The quarterback race is wide-open, with Matt McGloin, Rob Bolden, and Paul Jones currently sharing snaps. “There’s no starter,” O’Brien said, “and there won’t be a starter named possibly until the night before the Ohio game.” Meaning the 2012 season opener on Sept. 1.
—O’Brien hasn’t watched film of last year’s Penn State offense. “One of the things I wanted to do when I got here was start with a clean slate,” he said. “I didn’t want to make any judgments, especially offensively, not really knowing what they were doing scheme-wise. I wanted to evaluate them first on winter conditioning, then on spring practice.” I imagine he’ll learn a lot about his QBs over the next month.
—O’Brien said the team’s new strength and conditioning program, with an emphasis on free weights and the contagious intensity of new coach Craig Fitzgerald, has already paid dividends. He mentioned redshirt junior Adam Gress, a 6-foot-6, 306-pound offensive tackle, as a prime example. “He’s had a heck of a winter, and he’s already changed his body—he’s gone from looking one way to looking like a V-shape. That’s what you’re looking for.”
—Without getting specific, he also confirmed changes in the football support staff, alluding to rumors that have flown the past few weeks about some longtime secretaries, video staffers and others who are no longer with the program. “We’ve made a lot of changes there, and we’re really happy with the changes we’ve made,” he said. “One thing you’ll see with me, I like the phrase ‘less is more.’”
—The offense won’t review its own film until after spring practice. Until then, they’re watching tape of the New England Patriots’ offense, which O’Brien helped coach the past four years. “The basis of the Patriots’ offense will be run here,” O’Brien said, emphasizing that fans shouldn’t expect the Lions’ offense to be as elaborate or explosive as the Pats’ high-powered attack—at least, not right away. “Let’s be real clear: We’ll put in the core, then we’ll build on it in training camp.”
—He got specific about how the Lions will utilize their tight ends the same way the Patriots did—hopefully with a similar outcome. With O’Brien on staff, New England regularly went with two and even three tight ends, creating match-up problems for opposing defenses and leading to lots of touchdowns. “One of the things about the tight end position in our system, second to quarterback, it’s really the hardest position to learn,” O’Brien said. “You can do so many different things, but it’s all up to how those guys learn.”
—Asked about who will be running the offense from the sideline this fall, O’Brien was blunt: “Oh yeah, I’ll call the offensive plays.”
Ryan Jones, senior editor
A Sad Week for the Nittany Lion Hoops Family
Late Monday we got word that former Penn State basketball coach Dick Harter had died of cancer. Harter coached the Nittany Lions for just five seasons, from 1978–79 until 1982–83, but he posted a 79-61 record in that span and set the table for some of the more successful teams in Penn State history. Harter also worked as head coach at Oregon, Rider, and Penn before becoming a long-time NBA assistant. He was 81.
On Wednesday, rumors we’d been hearing since the weekend were confirmed: Monroe “Monnie” Brown ’92, a standout on the Lions’ early ’90s teams, was dead at 41. Brown starred for Bruce Parkhill’s squads that posted four straight 20-win seasons, a run highlighted by a trip to the 1991 NCAA tournament, where the Lions posted an unforgettable first-round upset of UCLA. Brown, who also spent a season as an assistant to Jerry Dunn in 1995-96, had battled drug problems through much of his life; Dave Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News wrote a compelling remembrance of Brown, whom he covered on those great teams.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
A Giant Comes Down
The setting seemed somehow appropriate: a cold, blustery Friday on a nearly empty campus, the timing and conditions meaning that few were there to see the tree come down. This was probably for the best.
Early Friday morning, an OPP crew began the bleak work of removing one of the two iconic American elm trees that flank the front of Old Main. Planted in 1933, the huge trees were as vulnerable as any at University Park to the spread of elm yellows, which, along with Dutch elm disease, has claimed hundreds of campus trees in recent years. Campus experts decided recently that the tree on the east side of the Old Main entrance was too far gone and no longer safe to leave standing.
No one who has spent time at University Park needs to be told of the elms’ symbolic and nostalgic value. A new one will go up in front of Old Main, eventually. But it won’t have the history. This giant will be missed.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Penn State’s Newest Turf
I was at Irving’s on Wednesday grabbing lunch when two dozen or so green-and-black clad young women came into the restaurant. Turns out it was not a small invading army but the Loyola women’s lacrosse team, in town to play Penn State that afternoon. That’s when it occurred to me that a) it was unseasonably beautiful out, and b) the game would be played at the just-completed Penn State Lacrosse Field. Just that quick, I had a plan for the afternoon.
It ended up being a pretty compelling game: The No. 12 Nittany Lions led early, trailed late, and tied it to force overtime before No. 17 Loyola escaped with a 12-10 win. Still, I’m glad I went, if for no other reason than to check out Penn State’s newest athletic facility. Open for just a week or two, it’s a no-frills set up in a very cool setting, nestled against the Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility, just below University Drive and in the shadow of the Bryce Jordan Center and Beaver Stadium. You can click on the image above to enlarge.
I’m still very much an amateur when it comes to photographing sports, but I did get one half-decent action shot:
That’s senior midfielder Theresa Zichelli defending. Love the intensity.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Tap Dancing for His Tuition
The “City Room” section of the New York Times specializes in stories that find the individual humanity amid the often faceless, fast-moving masses of New York City. Today’s story comes with a compelling Penn State angle.
Joshua Johnson is a Penn State undergrad — the story doesn’t say, but we think he might attend the Altoona campus — who, like many students, is working to pay his way through school. It’s his job that’s unusual: Johnson, a Harlem native, tap dances for tips on New York City subways. The story details Johnson’s challenging family background and includes a short video, with highlights of his subway routine. It’s absolutely worth checking out.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
A Glimpse At ‘The Joe We Know’
The premise was simple: Gather as many of Joe Paterno’s former lettermen as possible in a limited timeframe, get them in front of a camera to share their memories of playing for—and learning from—the legendary coach, and compile them in a film to be presented to Paterno on his 85th birthday.
The filmmakers’ only disappointment was that they didn’t finish it in time for Joe to see it.
Instead, The Joe We Know is a posthumous tribute, an hour-long collection of remembrances by former Nittany Lion football players. Presented last week as a birthday present for Sue Paterno, The Joe We Know was screened Saturday night in State College for an invitation-only audience, most of them former lettermen and their families. Those of us lucky enough to be in the State Theatre were treated to an hour of terrific, high-pitched Joe impersonations, anecdotes that ranged from hilarious to tear-jerking, and countless variations on a theme we’ve heard so often over the past month: former players who credit Joe Paterno’s role in helping them grow from boys to men.
Beyond this one-hour film, The Joe We Know is an ongoing project; the filmmakers hope to continue filming former player thought next spring, with additional footage compiled at thejoeweknow.org. The site is still a work in progress, but you can go there now to check out a handful of short clips. You can also sign up for email updates on the progress of the project, including when it might be made more widely available.
For those in or near Happy Valley, the film will be shown twice Sunday. As of late Saturday night, tickets were still available.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Nicely Done, Nate Stupar
Nate Stupar ’11 is no stranger to big moments at Beaver Stadium. On Monday, the Nittany Lion linebacker added a final highlight to the list when he proposed to his girlfriend, Marissa Lower ’11, on the Beaver Stadium turf. Looks like she said “yes.”
The moment was recorded by Stupar’s sister, Dyanna Joy, and you can see more photos at Dyanna’s website. Congrats, guys.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
For Billy Oliver, a Reluctant Goodbye
Billy Oliver’s best night as a Penn State basketball player came at the Jordan Center five weeks ago, when he scored a career-high 21 points in the Nittany Lions’ blowout win over Purdue. The game was memorable for being coach Patrick Chambers’ first Big Ten victory, but more so for Oliver’s stunning shooting display: all his points came on three-pointers, on which he shot 7 for 11 on the night.
Oliver won’t have any more big nights for Penn State. After the Lions’ 67-51 win Saturday over Nebraska, the redshirt junior forward announced his playing days were over. Still bothered by lingering effects from multiple concussions suffered during preseason workouts his freshman year, Oliver was emotional but certain Saturday when he told reporters he was retiring from basketball.
“It seems right for me, and more importantly, for the team,” Oliver said. “It’s selfish for me if I am not going to be able to go out there and give 100 percent with the history of my head, and I am worried about problems with that. I don’t want to do that to the team, because I know they give 100 percent. So, I am not continuing basketball.”
Oliver, who had one year of remaining eligibility, played just 58 games since arriving on campus in 2008 after a terrific high school career in Chatham, N.J. He redshirted as a freshman after twice suffering concussions in the preseason, and missed all but five games in 2009-10 while suffering from exercise-induced migraines. He played only sporadically over the past month while symptoms recurred, and after consulting with doctors and his family, made the call on his career.
The good news: Oliver will remain with the team next season on a medical scholarship, and he’s scheduled to graduate in May with a degree in finance—no surprise for a guy who earned a place on the Big Ten all-academic team. By all accounts, Oliver is a smart, personable young man who should do just fine without basketball. We’ll be rooting for him.
Beyond Oliver’s announcement, it was actually a pretty good weekend for the basketball program. There was that convincing win Saturday over Nebraska, and there was the news that Brandon Austin pledged to join the Nittany Lions next fall. Austin, a 6-foot-6 junior at Philadelphia’s Imhotep Charter High School, is rated by ESPN as the 12th-best small forward in the class of 2013.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Michael Mann Makes His Case
I approached the podium a few minutes before Michael Mann was scheduled to speak Thursday afternoon to ask him a simple question: Were all those police out front there because of him?
“Probably,” he smiled. “I think they’re probably superfluous, but it’s better to be safe.”
I’ve gone to probably a dozen Penn State Forum lunches in the past five years, and Thursday’s event at the Penn Stater Hotel was the first in which I’d seen a police presence. Three armed campus police officers—one from a K-9 unit—stood outside the packed conference room in which Mann spoke. I imagine they were there to stem any potential unrest after ads appeared on local radio this week urging people to boycott or protest Mann’s speech; I imagine those officers were aware as well that Mann has received death threats because of his work.
Mann, of course, is a climatologist, Penn State professor of meteorology and geosciences, and director of the University’s Earth Systems Science Center. If you know his name, it’s probably less because of his work—including his role in developing the iconic “hockey stick” model for measuring long-term global warming—than the reaction to it. U.S. Senators, state attorneys general, and TV pundits (among many others) have all gone after Mann in an attempt to discredit findings that show the reality and alarming rate of man-made global warming. If he’s not the favorite target of climate change deniers, he’s near the top of the list.
Mann’s speech Thursday was titled (more…)
Beverly McIver, Back in the Spotlight
It’s been a while since I met and interviewed Beverly McIver ’92g, the North Carolina-based artist and subject of the upcoming documentary Raising Renee. My profile of McIver ran in our Nov/Dec issue, timed (we thought) with the airing of Raising Renee on HBO late last year. But we never saw a firm date for the premier, and given the events of the past few months, I forgot to ever follow up.
The New York Times Style section offered an unexpected reminder Thursday with a profile of McIver, set at her Durham, N.C. home. It covers much of the same ground our story did—her path to artistic prominence, and the compelling family drama that inspired the documentary—but it offers something we didn’t: a firm date for Raising Renee. The doc is scheduled to air Wednesday, Feb. 22, on HBO. I’ve watched it a few times and highly recommend checking it out.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
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