Before he could officially begin his duties as head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions' football team, Bill O'Brien had to first finish his duty as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots and coach the offense during the Super Bowl. Well, we all know how that game turned out.
On Friday, the new head football coach at Penn State took time out of his busy agenda of player and coach recruiting to reflect on his time with the Patriots and what it was like to coach in the Super Bowl for his final game. While he's been negatively looked upon by many alums to this point, O'Brien saw a bit of a change in attitude in some of the Nittany Lion faithful he ran into at the Super Bowl.
"I'll tell you, it's been great. I can tell you at the Super Bowl it was excellent," O'Brien said to Penn State Sports. "When you walked out on the field for warmups at the Super Bowl there were a lot of people there that either went to Penn State or had Penn State connections and wished myself and our staff the very best." (via CSNNE)
While he already accepted the position as head coach of Penn State prior to the Super Bowl, O'Brien was still very much invested in getting the Patriots and Robert Kraft their fourth Super Bowl ring. Ultimately, the result wasn't what he wanted, but he still was very proud to be a part of the 2011 Patriots season.
"It's my second Super Bowl, so anytime you have a chance to go to the Super Bowl it's a very special team, it's a very special experience," O'Brien said. "The Giants made a few more plays than we did on that night. I guess there's a lot of decisions or plays that we would all like back -- coaches and players -- but we can't get them back. But we had a very special season, it was a team that I was very proud to be associated with, and hopefully I keep in touch with those guys for the rest of lives." (via CSNNE)
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