Animosity must take a back seat
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At the start of August, Bill O’Brien was asked if he would recruit players from another school under NCAA sanctions. The question was barely out when the Penn State coach fired back his response.
“Hell no.”
That was in July. Now that the Nittany Lions are days away from facing Illinois – one of the programs that sent coaches to State College for the purpose of recruiting – the coach has to be a bit more diplomatic.
“I certainly understand the (questions). I do,” O’Brien said Tuesday. “But at the same time, the biggest thing is that this is our first Big Ten game. Our players are very focused on the Big Ten schedule. … They’re not concerned with anything other than playing a tough road game in Champaign against a good Illinois team.
“The motivation is it’s our first Big Ten game.”
Understandably, a good portion of O’Brien’s weekly press conference dealt with lingering emotions from July, when the NCAA declared that Penn State players were free to transfer without penalty, lifting the usual contact restrictions in the process.
New Illinois coach Tim Beckman sent the majority of his staff to Centre County, where those assistants set up shop off of campus and contacted Penn State players to let them know they were there.
One player – redshirt freshman offensive lineman Ryan Nowicki – ultimately transferred to Illinois.
Asked this week if he would do anything differently in the situation, given the backlash from fellow Big Ten coaches and media, Beckman did a little tap dancing of his own around the issue.
“Again, I stated what we believed in, what the NCAA allowed us to do. We were contacted previously, prior to any of this (sanctions) stuff happening, by a young man,” Beckman said, referring to Nowicki. “We pursued it. We did not go and chase him.”
But Nowicki wasn’t the only one the Illini touched base with, according to Penn State players. After starting out his answer discussing just Nowicki, Beckman finished by shifting to plurals.
“We told them that we would be off-campus and, if they’d like to, they could (come by),” Beckman said. “And if they didn’t like to, then we wouldn’t pursue them any further.
“Again, this game was developed for opportunity, I believe. … I mean, I think that’s what college football’s about. And I regret that it ended up being this much and it’s still talked about. But it did give a young man an opportunity to make his decision on what he wanted to do.”
Over the summer O’Brien was particularly peeved at coaches who did not contact him directly about recruiting his players. The NCAA mandated only that schools send written notice to Penn State about who they were targeting, but O’Brien said he appreciated the courtesy of a phone call.
Needless to say, Beckman was not one of those who gave him a personal heads-up. The two spoke for the first time a day after the incident while in Chicago at Big Ten Media Days.
“Yeah, we spoke,” Beckman said without elaborating.
The next day, O’Brien said he socialized with his fellow Big Ten coaches at a cocktail hour that was arranged out in Chicago. When asked if that included Illinois, he smiled.
“I didn’t say I socialized with everybody,” he replied.
That was two months ago. If O’Brien is harboring a grudge, he isn’t letting it become a distraction by hinting at it.
Beckman said he hopes there are no hard feelings going forward.
“I hope so,” he said. “But this game’s about the players and about playing it on the field. I know they’ll be prepared and I believe coach O’Brien does a great job getting his players prepared and ready. And I think he’s done a fabulous job with that program.”
NEXT GAME
Penn State at Illinois
TV: Noon Saturday, ESPN
Where: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, Ill.
Last Meeting: PSU defeated Illinois 10-7 on Oct. 29, 2011.
