Char Morett has been speaking to groups of Penn State alumni for 25 years. Patrick Chambers has been at for about 11 months.
After meeting with players one-on-one last week, Bill O'Brien turned his attention to alumni.
Bill O'Brien? He hasn't yet coached at game in Beaver Stadium. Against another team, that is.
But that's the point of Penn State's Coaches Caravan, which began Monday -- get O'Brien comfortable with the school's massive alumni base and get that base comfortable with its first new football coach in 46 years.
"I feel like I'm no longer an outsider," O'Brien told a group of about 250 alumni in a ballroom at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Philadelphia during the first leg of 18 stops in seven states in 17 days.
Morett, Penn State's longtime field hockey coach, and Chambers, who will complete his first full year as the men's basketball coach in June, accompanied O'Brien on the initial leg of the journey. He'll also be joined by several other Penn State coaches, including Russ Rose and Coquese Washington, at different points in the trip, which concludes May 16 in Buffalo, N.Y.
Major gifts director John Nitardy and other administrators, working with various alumni groups, helped coordinate the trip, but Chambers said Monday it was O'Brien's baby from the start.
"This is just something we all decided was going to be a fun event and give us a chance to get out there and meet the fans and alums and all the people that support Penn State football and Penn State athletics," O'Brien told reporters shortly before the luncheon.
After a spring during which he "threw everything" at his players, O'Brien is starting to get a better feel for the roster, and said he and his coaches will use much of June (after they return from recruiting) to try to identify the top 55-60 players.
"I have a much better understanding of our team and our skill set at different positions," he said, "of what things we're gonna be pretty good at and what things we'll need to work at."
O'Brien met with each of his players individually last week. His hope is to get to know Penn State's numerous followers as well. He posed for pictures for a line of alumni and fans that stayed about 10 deep shortly before the speaking portion of the luncheon.
"I want them to know that myself and our staff and going to work extremely hard to continue our tradition of winning football games and graduating players," he said.
O'Brien also hopes to use the caravan as an opportunity to develop bonds with Penn State's other coaches.
"Why wouldn't we get together and trade ideas?" he said. "We're all on one team."
Those coaches might be able to help give O'Brien and his new staff the lay of the land in State College, but they know the drawing power of the football team around the country can be an asset to their respective programs as well.
"He's a busy guy," Chambers said. "To be on the same undercard or scorecard as him is great."
