I'm on vacation, and I'll admit I've done a lot sleeping. And like Rip Van Winkle, I wake up to find that a name that wasn't on the radar screen when I left last Thursday looks to be N.C. State's next football coach.
According to reports, including those from our own Jeff Gravley, Boston College's Tom O'Brien will become the next football coach at N.C. State. And if that's the case, I believe he will be an excellent choice. I've always been impressed with the way he ran his program.
O'Brien is 58 years old and is 75-45 in 10 years as the head coach at Boston College. He's known as a motivator and a disciplinarian, and discipline was something State was totally lacking in last season's disastrous 3-9 record.
And how's this for irony: N.C. State's best win of this past season was the last-second comeback upset of Boston College. O'Brien saw up-close the potential of the Wolfpack's mistake-prone team.
Under O'Brien, Boston College has won nine games in four of the past five seasons. His teams have won six consecutive bowl games. He's Boston College's all time winningest football coach, but it seems that he felt he'd done about all he could do in Chestnut Hills. Boston College football is just a blip on the screen in pro-crazy Boston, and nobody knows that better than O'Brien.
B.C. is in the ACC's Siberia, and O'Brien is ready for a new challenge. He's seen State's first-class facilities. His resume says that his no-nonsense approach can mine the potential of a diamond in the rough and steer a wayward program that had seemed to have lost all focus back on course.
Also, Boston College's graduation rates of football players are as good as any in the country. O'Brien wins games and his players get their degrees.
Now, some will question whether it's ethical to raid another conference school for a head coach and I can see that point, but business is business and this is big business. N.C. State needed a football coach and Tom O'Brien was ready for a move. From what we understand not only was O'Brien ready for a fresh start but so was Boston College, despite O'Brien's success. So this was mutual.
I think State needed to hire someone who had been a head coach and had run his own program. The last two Wolfpack head coaches came from the assistant ranks, and while some assistant coaches have resumes that are appealing -- especially those from big time programs -- the right move at this time was to hire a proven head coach, and Tom O'Brien is certainly that.
On Wednesday, the Capitol Broadcasting Company, where I have worked for 35-plus years, had its annual long-term employee luncheon in the Vaughn Towers over looking Carter-Finley Stadium. I took time today to walk around the entire stadium complex, through all of Vaughn Towers and the Murphy Center and around the field. Much was put into the stadium renovations, and State's facilities are as good as they come. It's a really beautiful stadium and all Wolfpack fans should be very proud.
It's all there for N.C. State to have a winner, it really is. What the program needs without question is a hard-nosed coach who will instill discipline and who knows how to put together a staff. It needs a coach who has won at the highest level and knows what it takes to win now. History shows that Tom O'Brien has done that.
You never know until they hold the press conference, but I'll say it here -- Tom O'Brien to N.C. State would be a winner for the Wolfpack.
