A Letter From Gene Chizik to Bill O'Brien

9/4/12

Dear Bill,

First let me say how sorry I was to hear that Penn State lost to Ohio on Saturday. Note that I said “sorry” and not “surprised”. Before you get offended by that statement, let me get to the point of this letter.

THANK YOU. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for hiring Ted Roof away from us. I know that he “resigned” (I fired him. High five) and initially took a job with Central Florida before you hired him as your defensive coordinator. In my gut I feel like you hired him away from us, and I’ve got to give credit where credit is due: That took balls.

 When I watched your Nittany Lions give up 499 total yards of offense to the Ohio Whatevers, I saw a defense that brought a chill to the very depths of my soul. It was as pure of a Ted Roof defense as has ever been fielded. The man is truly on his game in rural Pennsylvania. The pass rush? Nonexistent. Blitzing? What’s that? Creating turnovers? That would be mean.

Now you might be saying to yourself, “Didn’t Auburn give up 528 total yards of offense to Clemson?” And the answer is “sure”, but Clemson is no Ohio, and stop changing the subject, jerk.

In closing, thanks again for taking our anchor and tying it to your ship, and good luck with all THAT.

Sincerely,
Eugene Chizik VII