Nittany Lions  

Penn State's new football coach is exactly like Joe Paterno in that he has no time for recruiting gurus and their rankings.

"I could care less about rankings," Bill O'Brien said in a teleconference with media Wednesday. "I care about getting players that are the right fit for Penn State."

Refe...

First, it seems appropriate to make absolutely clear what this is not meant to be:

(A) Some kind of apology on behalf of all the reporters and columnists whose work regarding Joe Paterno and Penn State in recent months was not, shall we say, well received;

(B) Yet another attempt to convince a...

Last week's tribute to Joe Paterno, which figures to continue indefinitely, actually began before it began.
His former players were informed that a viewing for their late coach, who died a week ago today at the age of 85, would be held on Penn State's campus this past Tuesday at 11 a.m.
"We all knew...

 

As a practical matter, the Bill O'Brien Era may have begun last weekend.
Seven recruits were visiting Penn State.
By early last week, all seven, including a few previously undecideds, were verbal commitments.
All this while O'Brien was in Massachusetts, getting ready for last Sunday's AFC ...

In 1997, my grandfather, Bill Fisher, introduced me to something that would change my life forever. A writer for the Sunday News, my grandfather allowed me to join him on the two-hour trek up Route 322 to witness a Penn State football game at Beaver Stadium.
I remember driving past the pastures for ...

The line of mourners was more than a quarter-mile long.

At the front of it was Joe Paterno's family. Immediately following were Penn State's current and former football players.

The current team rode to a public viewing of Paterno in the same blue school buses it uses to travel from its hotel ...

 

Every time I'm in this part of the world, I think, with awe, of George Washington's Army and the heroism with which it spent a vicious winter here in 1777-78.
Tough times, but when it comes to feeling put-upon, the revolutionary troops had nothing on Penn State alumni.
A crowd of 650 or so...

 

Bill O'Brien signed on as head of a divided family here Saturday.
The New England Patriots' offensive coordinator was introduced as Penn State's 15th head football coach at a press conference at the Nittany Lion Inn.
He looked out at a crowd of perhaps 300 national and local media members,...

 

Keith Greiner started emailing friends and alumni late Thursday night. By Friday morning he was on the telephone venting his frustrations to two Penn State organizations — the alumni association and customer relations for Penn State athletics.
The 1987 Penn State graduate is upset wi...

Tom Bradley was emotional, perhaps surprisingly so, in talking to the media after Penn State's 30-14 loss to Houston in the TicketCity Bowl here Monday.

But one topic did draw obvious passion.

"They can do what they want to me," he said. "But I want our players to know that the coaches, traine...