NCAA sanctions trigger four-year extension for Penn State coach Bill O'Brien

It's going to take Penn State a long time to get past the sanctions leveed against them by the NCAA earlier this week, but it looks as though coach Bill O'Brien will be there through the end.

According to the Centre Daily Times, in the wake of the penalties, O'Brien received a four-year contract extension through the 2020 season. As for the reason behind the extension, it turns out that this was part of O'Brien's contract when accepting the Penn State job.

The agreement, signed by O'Brien and interim athletics director David Joyner, reads: "Any sanction by the NCAA of a) loss of scholarships or b) bowl eligibility due to the actions of the previous staff or lack of institutional control prior to 2012 will immediately result in an automatic extension of coach's contract at 2016 total compensation and bonus package in years equal to the number of years of the sanctions."

In other words, had Penn State been banned from the postseason for five years, O'Brien would have received a five-year extension.

So life isn't all bad for O'Brien in Happy Valley right now, and frankly it's only fair. Taking over at Penn State was already a tough proposition for O'Brien before the NCAA penalties, and now the job gets even tougher. It only makes sense that he has the job security to know that he'll get time to try and steer Penn State through all of this.

O'Brien will make about $2.3 million a year under the terms of the deal.