The hiring of New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien as the next head coach of Penn State last week was met with a good deal of criticism and second-guessing, but one high profile Nittany Lion is asking his Penn State brethren to give O’Brien--a man most famous, to this point anyway, for getting into a shouting match with Tom Brady on the Pats’ sideline this season--a chance.
Cowboys’ linebacker Sean Lee, who led Dallas in tackles in his second year in the NFL this season, released a statement this week offering his support of O’Brien and the embattled Penn State football program.
"Many former Penn State players, including myself, had hoped an assistant coach from the prior staff would be appointed as the next head coach because we felt it would help preserve the tradition built by Coach Paterno," Lee said, per the Dallas Morning News. "The University has chosen to move in a different direction by hiring Coach O'Brien, and as of today, we need to consider him a Penn Stater.
"Alumni, current players and students need to rally around him and try to help him be as successful as possible. If you have reservations on whether Coach O'Brien embodies the Penn State tradition, instead of turning our backs on him, we need to embrace him and help him understand the Penn State way. The best thing for Penn State right now is to support Coach O'Brien and that is what I intend to do.”
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