"I want our players to be champions in the classroom, champions in the community, and champions on the football field."
That's the goal of new N.C. State football coach Tom O'Brien, who was introduced Saturday as the 33rd football coach in Wolfpack history. He accomplished much at Boston College -- can he do that now at N.C. State?
As I was watching O'Brien's introductory press conference, I was thinking that his hire as State's football coach is every bit as impressive as Carolina's earlier home-run hiring of Butch Davis. Some may not agree, but that's what I think. We'll see. Maybe soon a State-UNC game will actually mean something outside the borders of North Carolina.
Now, O'Brien won't knock your socks off with personality, but what he will do is impress you with a quiet confidence. He gives the impression that he knows what he's doing, that he has a well-thought-out plan, and his record says that impression is absolutely right on.
Yes, Tom O'Brien is a proven winner. He leaves Boston College as that school's all-time winningest football coach. His 10 year record at B.C. was 75-45, and four times in the last five years his teams have won nine games. His Eagles also won six consecutive bowl games. His reputation is that of a no-nonsense motivator who will instill discipline in a program that is badly in need of it. (I don't think his players will be calling him Tom as Amato let them call him Chuck.)
O'Brien won a lot of games at Boston College, and he did it at a school with tough academic requirements. He truly won with student-athletes, graduating over 90 percent of his football players.
Since it came out Wednesday that O'Brien would be named the Wolfpack football coach, there has been a lot of mixed reaction from State fans. I'm not exactly sure what they were expecting, but I'm pretty sure that Pete Carroll wasn't coming. Neither was Jim Tressel or Charlie Weis or any other so-called big name coach. But let me say this -- since I arrived at WRAL in 1971, N.C. State has not hired a football coach with the proven credentials of Tom O'Brien. To be sure they've hired some good coaches, but none came to State having accomplished what Tom O'Brien has accomplished with a major college program. State wanted to hire a head coach with a track record of success, and that they did.
Everything about O'Brien says this is a football coach who will come to Raleigh and wake up a sleeping giant. He won't do it with flash (and hasn't the Wolfpack gone that route before?) That's not his personality. But the record says he'll do it with organization and hard work, by bringing in an experienced staff and giving direction to a group of athletes badly in need of it. He will stress fundamentals. O'Brien believes that the first thing a team does is take care of the little things, because that leads to taking care of the bigger things.
Sure, he had his detractors at Boston College. It does appear that after 10 years, he may have been tiring of them and they of him, and that happens in coaching, and for that matter, it happens in just about everything else after a long period of time. He's been said to be aloof. But his record speaks for itself, and what State fan wouldn't relish four nine-win seasons in the last five?
The 58-year-old O'Brien didn't make any bold predictions, and you wouldn't expect him to. That's not his style. But everything in his background -- from his days as a Naval Academy graduate, to his service as a major in the Marine Corps, to serving for 15 years on George Welsh's staff at Virginia, to his 10 years as head coach at Boston College -- point to success and stability. State needs consistency in its' football program, and that's Tom O'Brien.
It's all in place at N.C. State: Excellent facilities, and a supportive and rabid fan base. N.C. State fans are begging for a consistent winner. That last ACC Championship won way back in 1979 is fading further and further into the past. There is much potential in Wolfpack land, and State fans have every right to think they can compete with anybody in the ACC. Why not?
At times, State football seems ready to climb the summit, almost getting there, reaching out only to fall back. Inches, as some would say.
Maybe they need the toughness and steadfastness of an ex-Marine to get them there. Time will tell.
