Bill O’Brien tells Baylor issues are bigger than just football
By Randy Gurzi
Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien talks about dealing with the issues surrounding the Baylor football program and says it’s bigger than just football
Bill O’Brien has a unique perspective on the sad situation happening in Waco, Texas currently as the school is undergoing a cleaning of the house amidst a sexual assault scandal and cover up. O’Brien knows how hard it will be for head coach Jim Grobe and his staff to move forward because he too took over a program that was affected by off-field issues that were bigger than the game itself.
After Penn State University dealt with the aftermath of Jerry Sandusky, O’Brien left his job as offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots and took on the tough task of running the Nittany Lions program. The coach did enough to secure himself an NFL job after going 8-4 and 7-5 despite some seriously strict NCAA sanctions.
With that in mind, it makes sense that O’Brien now would reflect on his time in Penn State while offering a reminder to the people at Baylor that what is going on there now is much more important than the game itself.
"“We didn’t try to distance ourselves from child sexual abuse,” O’Brien said per John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. “I think, most importantly, in any situation that involves some things that are hard to talk about, you have to face it and think about the victims. The first thing you have to do – in addition to putting your staff together and connecting with your players – is tomake sure people know there are things a lot more important than football. Whenever I spoke to our team, especially that first year, you couldn’t forget about what had happened. You have to express how important and how much bigger sexual violence is than football.”"
O’Brien also discussed how when he went on recruiting trips he answered all questions openly and honestly. He understood he was taking on a big task for Penn State and also knows that Baylor is about to go through the same.
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He also was smart enough to say that what these programs have and will face is nothing in comparison to what has been suffered by the victims of the heinous crimes and the pain caused by the disgusting cover ups that followed.