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INDIANAPOLIS — It was a very big day for Billy O’Brien. At least that’s what a lot of people were telling him.
The 42-year-old O'Brien is the departing offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots and also the new head coach of Penn State University.
Wednesday was National Signing Day, the first day high school recruits officially announce their college preference.
Was he making last-minute calls to those recruits on the fence? Was he getting updates from his staff back in College Park on who’s going where?
Well, being that Wednesday is the most important practice day in an NFL week and the fact that this is the most watched football game of the year worldwide, the guess here is: no chance.
“I am here to help the Patriots prepare for a game on Sunday. That’s my No. 1 focus,” said O’Brien. “We have people back at Penn State taking care of everything until I get there."
One of the first things O’Brien after he accepted the job at Penn State was meet with Patriots coach Bill Belichick to talk about his dilemma.
Belichick had gone through the same routine with Charlie Weis seven years earlier when Weis agreed to take over at Notre Dame before the Patriots played in the Super Bowl. Apparently, Belichick couldn’t have been nicer or more accommodating.
“Bill has been tremendous with his advice to me,” said O’Brien. “He’s been tremendous, assigning a couple of people to help me with Penn State things as they roll, like emails and phone calls.”
As difficult as O’Brien’s month has been serving two masters, he says his wife Colleen’s month has been tougher.
“We have two boys and one with special needs,” said O’Brien. “That’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I couldn’t do this if she wasn’t so incredible. That’s real life. I owe her a lot.”
The recruiting issue brought up an opportunity for O’Brien to address the process of college recruiting and National Signing Day.
“Recruiting services do a great job supplying information, but as far as (ranking players) four and five stars, how many stars do you think Wes Welker had, how many stars did Julian Edelman have coming out of high school?” said O’Brien.
“You’ve got to look at the recruiting class two years forward, and say to yourself, ‘Did we do a good job recruiting this class? Are they playing now? Are they going to class?'
“No one really knows that right now. So whether we’re ranked the 50th recruiting class or the No. 1 recruiting class, I really couldn’t care less.”
As for Sunday's Super Bowl, O'Brien said Belichick and the other coaches have worked out a game plan, but that it "usually gets tweaked a bit every day all the way up to the kickoff.”
Since this will be O’Brien’s last game as a play-caller with the Patriots, will he be dipping into his little-used trick-play arsenal and go out with all guns blazing?
“No, no,” said O’Brien, breaking out in laughter. “I’ll be sticking with the game plan.”
