"I knew that something horrible had happened here . . . But this is a fantastic place."
- Coach Bill O'Brien
The crowd of 90,000 people went awfully quiet as the clock ticked down. No Domhnall O’Donovan or Brian Gavin to save the day. On Saturday night at Beaver Stadium, the Penn State Nittany Lions lost 34-31 to the University of Central Florida (UCF) Knights.
That result was not in the script but, in typical American fashion, the rewrite was instantly drafted.
“Sets up the revenge match nicely, doesn’t it?” said a straw- clutching Penn State alumni. “See you in Dublin.” His business card is added to the stack.
On to the next chapter they always go. That being the Croke Park Classic on August 30th, 2014 when these giants of college football meet again.
The Next Chapter is also the fly-on-the-wall documentary Penn State commissioned as part of the rehabilitation process of their football programme and the entire community of State College following the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal.
As F Scott Fitzgerald really meant, there's always room for a second act in American lives.
Act 1:
Penn State – football giants
Joe Paterno (1926-2012) was head coach of the Nittany Lions from 1966 to 2011, leading them to 37 bowl appearances, winning 24, refusing several offers to coach NFL franchises.
Penn State won national championships in 1982 and 1986. There was five undefeated seasons under Paterno’s watch. They won three Big Ten championships, since joining in 1993, but the 2005 and 2008 titles have been erased from the NCAA records. In fact, everything Penn State captured from 1998 to 2011 no longer counts.
Act 2, Scene 1:
Saturday morning, Nittany Lions football HQ
There are 14,000 high schools in America with a football programme. There are 105 Division One schools playing college football. 85 scholarships each. Sanctions, from the Sandusky fallout, have reduced Penn State's scholarships by 40 over four years but that could change next February.
Senator George Mitchell is the NCAA independent monitor and he recently commended Penn State’s adoption of reforms to protect children from sexual predators. They’ve already paid a €60 million fine, which equates to their previous gross annual income, but playing in Bowls, for titles or silverware, is prohibited until 2016.
Coach O’Brien enters the room. The 43-year-old is in the second season of his first head coaching job. He played linebacker and defensive end for Brown University from 1990-92, becoming an assistant coach under current UCF coach George O’Leary at Georgia Tech then Notre Dame.
The New England Patriots came calling in 2007 and he was Tom Brady’s quarterback coach until 2011. Despite knowing the avalanche of sanctions were imminent, O’Brien took the Penn State job in January 2012 on a four-year deal. Paterno succumbed to lung cancer 15 days later.
“I always say this job at Penn State is one of the top 10 football jobs, regardless of NFL or college, and I am very fortunate to have it right now.”
But why now? “I had a goal my whole career of being a head coach. I had worked for some great head coaches, including the one we are playing tomorrow night, and I knew, if given the chance I thought I could help a programme and put a good staff together and coach the players the right way.
“So, at the end of the 2011 season when I was with New England, Penn State approached me. I came here, I really enjoyed the people I met, I knew the history and tradition of the programme.
“I also knew that something horrible had happened here. And so obviously my wife was heavily involved with the decision and we decided to take the job and we’ve never looked back . . .”
It was subsequently found, after an investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh, that Paterno and three others failed to protect against a child sexual predator and concealed Jerry Sandusky’s activities from the board of trustees, the university community and authorities.
Paterno’s statue was removed from in front of Beaver stadium on July 22nd, 2012. A month earlier Sandusky was found guilty of 45 counts of sexual abuse over a 15 year period and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison last October.
Last season O’Brien coached the Nittany Lions to an 8-4 win record and was voted Big Ten coach of the year by peers and the media while also being named national coach of year by ESPN. The Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles came calling. He stayed.
“These guys at Penn State are tremendous young men. They could have gone anywhere when the sanctions came out. When you make a commitment to each other, players to coaches, coaches to players, you want to follow through.”
He name-checks teenage starting quarterback Christian Hackenberg. He could’ve gone to any Division One school but he choose Penn State.
Act 2, Scene 2:
All the pieces matter
We conduct the briefest of interviews with university president Dr Rodney Erickson.
“We want to see that Penn State is recognised as a national leader in combating the problems of child abuse and all of its dimensions. . . We have made tremendous improvements in governance and operations and safety over the course of the last 22 months. Our job isn’t done. We will continue to push ahead to make sure Penn State becomes an even better institution. Penn State is a very resilient place.”
Then we meet three cogs in the Penn State football wheel: Bill Kavanagh (recruiting), Elijah Robinson (director of player development and former defensive lineman) and “Strip sack” Sean Stanley (recently retired defensive end). It’s a tutorial: “football for dummies.”
Kavanagh plucks a random attack from last season’s playbook. “You guys think football is so slow. After every play guys get in the huddle, hang out for 30 seconds, try hard for another six seconds and take another break again . . . there is a lot going on in that huddle.
“This simple play is ‘Gun-Trips-Right-64-Out-Boston-Flare.’ That’s what our quarterback says in the huddle and then the guys know exactly what they are doing.
“So, in breaking that down for you: Gun-Trips-Right is basically the formation. Gun: the quarterback is going to be in the shotgun. He is not under centre. Trips: three is going to be the formation. Trips-Right: those guys (not in the offensive line of scrimmage) know where to line up. The X receiver knows he is away from the trips. Boom. Now, everyone is lined up.
“64: is our pass attack. The blocking scheme. We are telling our five offensive linemen who exactly they are responsible for . . . And then the route, Out-Boston-Flare. That’s telling the outside receivers to run ‘out’ routes (veering towards the sideline). Boston is talking to these two guys (letters on the board) telling them what to do. And the last thing, Flare, means this guy is flaring (off to the left side).”
Easy. More information is flung at us: 115 on the roster. Travel with 70. Use 55 to 60.
Robinson and “Strip Sack,” monstrous men, perform rapid taekwondo moves. This is how Penn State teaches 250 pound machines to remove offensive lineman so they can have a “party at the quarterback.”
“Pay attention,” warns Robinson, “because one of you guys is going to perfect this before you leave here today.”
(I thank Robinson afterwards for choosing the Mayo reporter to be class guinea pig.)
Act 2, Scene 3: Tailgating
Instantly transported back up the lawn in Stradbally, the best part of the American football experience is tailgating. All that happens is you set up a gazebo behind your car, slouch in a festival chair, drink beers, devour meat and shoot the breeze.
An aeroplane flies over head with a streamer reading: “March4truth.com.”
”That’s the ‘Truthers’ or ‘Joebots’,” a local informs me.
Residue of a scandal.
Act 2, Scene 4:
Penn State 31-34 UCF
The game is an unforgettable experience. There's an Irish element with Florida kicker Seán Galvin clinging on to his Cork accent, having emigrated at 14.
“Unbelievable,” says Galvin. “Diarmuid O’Sullivan was, like, my hero growing up. I wanted to go and do it in Croke Park and now I am doing it with an American football team.”
But the night belongs to UCF quarterback Blake Bortles who completes 20 of 27 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns. Hopes of a late comeback are shattered when Zack Zwinak fumbles possession with 5.43 remaining.
“It just looked like they stripped it out,” says O’Brien. “He ran the ball hard tonight. I love that kid and we’re with him and he’s with us.”
