“I freakin’ hate this guy.”

Penn State is close to announcing that Patriots’ assistant coach Bill O’Brien will be their next head football coach, and, according to Boston.com, a lot of Penn State alums are not happy about the decision. Former Penn State LB LaVar Arrington went so far as to say he’s “done with Penn State”, and will put all memorabilia from his alma mater in storage.

First off, THIS is what is getting the Penn State alumnus in a fuss, f’realz? But, more to the point, all this former-player hissy-fitting is because O’Brien didn’t spend an eternity at PSU before getting the job, thus making him “clueless” about what it means to be a Penn State footballer. This is so ridiculous that I’m putting a up a list of successful and/or beloved college coaches that didn’t do it the “Jo Pa”-way by assisting for 15 years before taking the head coaching gig.

Bobby Bowden: Bounced around for 22 years before leaving his 9-year tenure at West Virginia for Florida State.

Urban Meyer: Three times he was the successful toast of the town for his non-alma mater (Bowling Green, Utah State, Florida) before eventually getting a gig at Ohio State.

Nick Saban: He has been the head coach for 3 FBS schools, including both teams in the BSC championship this year. From 2000-2004 Saban coached LSU, capturing the 2003 National Championship, then took a Dolphin break before returning to the college ranks to lead LSU-rival Alabama to the 2009 National Championship.

Bo Schembechler: He is the worst offender. Before his successful head-coaching career at Michigan Schembechler was an assistant coach for the arch-rival Buckeyes for 4 seasons.