O’Brien ushers in PSU’s new era with Blue-White game

Associated Press

state college, pa.

Penn State’s new coach draped a whistle around his neck, wore a headset and anxiously paced the Beaver Stadium sideline in blue and gray sweats.

Indeed, it is a new era in Happy Valley.

Nearly four months after taking the Nittany Lions job, Bill O’Brien made his sideline debut as Penn State closed out spring practice with the annual Blue-White game Saturday.

It was the most visible step forward so far for a football program transitioning from the 46-year tenure of O’Brien’s predecessor, the late Joe Paterno.

“It’s a great place ... and it was really neat to run out with that team,” O’Brien said afterward. “It was a fun day for me to coach a spring game in Beaver Stadium.”

But emotions were mixed among many of the 60,000 fans who showed up on a cloudy afternoon.

Some came to the life-sized, bronzed statue of Paterno outside the stadium to share stories about the Hall of Famer and leave flowers. The game Saturday was the first event at the stadium since Paterno died in January at age 85 of lung cancer.

The day started with a local florist delivering 409 bouquets of blue and white carnations to the statue — one for each of Paterno’s career victories. Some fans are still upset after Paterno was ousted by school trustees in the aftermath of child sexual abuse charges against retired defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

Jay Paterno hugged well-wishers and spoke with former Penn State running back Franco Harris, an ardent supporter of the Paterno family, after the flowers were delivered.

“Thanks so much to all the people leaving flowers at the statue today. It was very moving this morning,” Paterno’s son and former quarterbacks coach, Jay Paterno, said on Twitter.

Inside the stadium, there was no apparent mention of Joe Paterno’s name over the sound system, and no apparent display of Paterno’s image on stadium scoreboards.