Penn State Football: Charles London Agrees to Become Running Backs Coach as O’Brien Starts Constructing Staff

Bill O’Brien wasted little time putting his first stamp on the Penn State football program.

O’Brien, introduced Saturday afternoon at the Nittany Lion Inn as the permanent successor to longtime coach Joe Paterno, brought aboard his first outside hire to join his staff, tabbing Titans offensive quality control assistant Charles London to coach the running backs.

The move was finalized Saturday, when O’Brien was officially introduced as Penn State’s 15th head coach in 125 years of football, according to a report by Jim Wyatt, who covers the Titans for the Tennessean.

The decision also signals the end of Galen Hall’s run as offensive coordinator and running backs coach. Hall told reporters in Dallas days before the TicketCity Bowl that he would be open to returning next season depending who was hired. Asked if he’d be open to coaching elsewhere, Hall said, ‘it would have to be someplace special. Where that is, I wouldn’t know.’

During the Penn State men’s basketball game against Indiana on Sunday, O’Brien said his coaching staff will be nearly complete in the coming days. Soon after, he told ESPN Big Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg seven coaches will be in place by Wednesday, and ‘it’s a very, very strong staff, a mixture of college and NFL experience, a mixture of great recruiting experience, national championships won.’

London called Penn State a top-5, top-10 job, providing an opportunity he couldn’t pass up, according to the report.

His boss certainly understands. That would be Titans coach Mike Munchak, the former PSU All-America offensive lineman who strongly considered filling Penn State’s coaching vacancy.

London just completed his only season on Munchak’s staff, where his main responsibilities included film study, as is the case with most quality control assistants, the collegiate equivalent to graduate assistant.

O’Brien knows London from his days at Duke in 2005-06, when O’Brien was offensive coordinator and London was a graduate assistant and running backs coach.

According to the report, Tuesday will be the first time London steps foot on Penn State’s campus. He’ll take the NCAA recruiting test and plans to hit the recruiting trail immediately, the report states.

‘Our mindset is we know there will be challenges, but a lot of the guys that were there had nothing to do with the scandal and it is a shame the university has been tarnished in that way,’ London told the Tennessean on Saturday. “But we are going to do our best to try and restore the name of Penn State football. I really had no reservations in going. I believe in Coach O’Brien, and that made it easy for me.”

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