O'Brien's Spring Thing Is 'Back to Basics' for Pack

Tom O’Brien is not Chuck Amato. As a matter of fact, he’s the complete opposite—and that’s a good thing for N.C. State football.

The flamboyant Amato’s faults could be overlooked somewhat when quarterback Philip Rivers was taking the Wolfpack to bowl games. But when Rivers departed and mistakes and losses mounted, Amato had to go. His outsized personality, which was unique and fun in the beginning, turned out to be his downfall in the end—that and a team that made errors in bunches and lost games in the most agonizing of ways.

He had almost no support last November when his seven-year tenure concluded with a season-ending firing after a woeful 3-9 record.

As O’Brien’s leads his first State team through spring drills, you won’t see oversized sun glasses or the red shoes. He won’t wow with clever comments. That’s just not him. He answers questions as they are asked. No histrionics.

He is what he is, and that is straight-laced and straightforward, thorough and, yes, disciplined. That’s what this ex-Marine is, and that’s what he expects his football teams to be. They were at Boston College, and I expect they will be at N.C. State.

O’Brien and his staff this spring are trying to turn a team that made silly mistakes and costly penalties their trademark into something different. Although he won’t say so publicly, it’s not easy and it will take time. You bet O’Brien wants discipline. That’s what he’s about. Always has been, always will be.

He says it’s a growing process this spring, but it’s going to be the difference between winning and losing football games. He knows changing old and sloppy habits is not easy.

“It’s going to take concentration,” O’Brien said after practice this week. “It’s going to take a lot of repetitions. Until we get that going, we’re still going to make a lot of those silly mistakes.”

O’Brien and his staff are spending a lot of time of trying to change the losing mentality that engulfed Pack football in 2006. There’s no question he believes that stressing the fundamentals of football will be key to this. He sees improvement. He says small steps will come first, then—hopefully—bigger ones.

“As long as we can get them and show them what they’re supposed to do, they find themselves doing what they’re supposed to do. Then we reinforce those things.”

Returning quarterback Daniel Evans says the coaches have made sure this football team knows exactly what is to be accomplished this spring.

“Getting back to the fundamentals, that’s what he said spring ball is going to be about—each individual player getting better, fundamentally especially.”

State is not without talent. The cupboard is certainly not bare, and O’Brien says that it’s up to the coaching staff to find the best ways to utilize that talent.

“A lot of these kids we would have recruited at Boston College, so you know they fit into what we want to do. Now they have to learn what we want to do.”

State didn’t have many great moments in 2006, but one was on that cool September night at Carter-Finley Stadium when young Daniel Evans, making his first start, threw the last-second touchdown pass to John Dunlap to upset Tom O’Brien’s Eagles 17-15.

“I can remember after the game, it was like a dream-type situation,” Evans recalled. “I was going out to the middle of the field, and I remember specifically Coach O’Brien coming up and seeking me out and telling me, ‘Good game, Daniel.’ And I remember that meant a lot, and so when we eventually found out who our new coach was going to be, that’s the first thing I remembered about him…being gracious in defeat.”

O’Brien says that he won’t make a decision about who will start at quarterback this spring. He says that Evans has the experience edge over Justin Burke and Harrison Beck, but that all three are competing hard. Evans, too, says they’re all even.

This spring is about O’Brien learning about his team and his team learning about him and his staff. He does like several things that he sees.

“I think their work ethic and how they’re attacking and their intensity and how their working hard—that’s what I like best,” says O’Brien. “If they continue to do that, then it’s up to us to coach them and get them into a position to win.”

O’Brien won at Boston College and he graduated his players. He expects to do the same at N.C. State. His style’s not flashy, but it’s successful.

State fans are begging for a winner. O’Brien’s track record says the results will be there—maybe slowly, but surely.