Tom O'Brien Named Wolfpack Football Coach
12/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
NC State Director of Athletics Lee Fowler has announced that Tom O’Brien has been named the 33rd head coach in the 115 years of Wolfpack football. O’Brien has spent the past 10 seasons as the head coach at Boston College, where he won more games than any coach in BC history.
A 1971 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, O’Brien posted a 75-45 mark with the Eagles, engineering one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent college football history. His 2006 squad won nine games for the third consecutive season and the fourth time in five years. It marked the sixth straight year and the seventh time in eight years that BC had won at least eight games. The Eagles are preparing for their eighth consecutive bowl game under O’Brien’s tutelage and have won their last six bowl appearances - the longest active bowl game winning streak in the country.
“When you think of integrity, you think of Tom O’Brien,” said Fowler. “He is one of an elite group of coaches who have enjoyed high levels of success on the field and in the classroom. I have every confidence that he will lead NC State to national prominence in both of those areas.”
O’Brien led the 2006 Eagles to a 9-3 record, with wins over six bowl teams including Central Michigan (31-24), Clemson (34-33, double-overtime), BYU (30-23, double-overtime), Virginia Tech (22-3), Florida State (24-19) and Maryland (38-16). If the Eagles defeat Navy in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, the 2006 Eagles will become only the third team in school history to win 10 or more games in a single season and the senior class (currently 35-14) will have the most wins of any class in school history.
“Coach O’Brien has excellent experience as a head coach, a record of strong graduation rates, and the integrity and values commitment we would expect of such a visible representative of North Carolina State University,” said Chancellor James L. Oblinger, who is out of the country, but has been consulting with Fowler on a daily basis throughout the search process. “He has instilled discipline, character and community involvement in his teams and demonstrated academic success with student athletes throughout his career. I am proud to have him as the newest member of the Wolfpack athletic family.”
O’Brien, 58, was the recipient of the American Football Coaches’ Association’s 2004 Academic Achievement Award for posting a 100% graduation rate. He received Honorable Mention status seven additional times during his tenure at Boston College. BC was ranked No. 1 in the country by USA Today when that publication recently re-ordered its 2005 regular-season poll and the final 2005 football Top 25 by APR (Academic Progress Rate) score to measure a combination of athletic and academic success.
Before coming to Boston College in 1997, O’Brien served as the offensive coordinator at the University of Virginia for six seasons and had been a member of the Cavaliers’ football staff since 1982. Virginia was consistently ranked among the top offensive teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference during his tenure there. The Cavaliers scored 320 points during the 1996 regular season to become the first ACC team to score at least 300 points in eight consecutive years.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, O’Brien played at St. Xavier High School in that city. In 1987, he was inducted into the St. Xavier Athletic Hall of Fame one of the youngest graduates ever selected to join fellow alumni such as Baseball Hall-of-Famer Jim Bunning and Notre Dame All-American quarterback George Ratterman in the school’s place of honor. He later enjoyed a fine collegiate career at Navy, where he was a three-year starter at defensive end for the Midshipmen from 1968-70.
Following his graduation from the Naval Academy in 1971, O’Brien was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marines. He served as an assistant coach for Navy’s plebe (freshman) team for one season before being assigned to the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia, where he played on the last Quantico football team. He later served tours of duty in California and Japan. He attained the rank of major in the Marine Corps Reserve.
When his active duty ended, O’Brien joined the football staff at Navy, where he coached the team’s tackles and tight ends for seven years (1975-81). He was also the Mids’ recruiting coordinator, and was responsible for All-America and Hall of Fame running back Napoleon McCallum’s decision to attend the Naval Academy.
O’Brien joined the University of Virginia staff prior to the 1982 campaign. He coached the Cavaliers’ guards and centers before being promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in the spring of 1991.
Following Virginia’s 1994 season, he switched from quarterbacks coach to offensive line coach while remaining as offensive coordinator.
O’Brien was recently named to the Board of Directors of the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots Foundation and received the John F. Kennedy Memorial National Award, given to “an outstanding American of Irish descent for distinguished service to God and country” in 2005.
O’Brien and his wife, the former Jennifer Byrd of San Diego, are the parents of three children: Colleen Frances, a 2002 Boston College graduate who works for ESPN; Daniel Patrick, a 2005 BC graduate who is on the Harvard football staff; and Bridget Jean, also a 2005 BC graduate who recently finished a year-long mission with the Rostro de Cristo program in Ecuador.
O’Brien’s contract will be for seven years. His compensation will include a salary of $240,000, and a total base income of $1.1 million, as well as incentive bonuses.
THE O’BRIEN FILE
Coaching Experience
1997-2006 Head Coach, Boston College
1994-1996 Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach,
University of Virginia
1991-1994 Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach,
University of Virginia
1982-1990 Guards/Centers Coach, University of Virginia
1975-1981 Tackles/Tight Ends Coach,
U.S. Naval Academy
Bowl Games as a Coach
Boston College (6-1)
√ 2006 Meineke Car Care Bowl
√ 2005 MPC Computers Bowl (Boston College 27, Boise State 21)
√ 2004 Continental Tire Bowl (Boston College 37, North Carolina 24)
√ 2003 Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl (Boston College 35, Colorado State 21)
√ 2002 Motor City Bowl (Boston College 51, Toledo 25)
√ 2001 Music City Bowl (Boston College 20, Georgia 16)
√ 2000 Aloha Bowl (Boston College 31, Arizona State 17)
√ 1999 Insight.com Bowl (Colorado 62, Boston College 28)
Virginia (4-5)
√ 1996 Carquest Bowl (Miami 31, Virginia 21)
√ 1995 Peach Bowl (Virginia 34, Georgia 27)
√ 1994 Independence Bowl (Virginia 20, Texas Christian 10)
√ 1993 Carquest Bowl (Boston College 31, Virginia 13)
√ 1992 Gator Bowl (Oklahoma 48, Virginia 14)
√ 1991 USF&G Sugar Bowl (Tennessee 23, Virginia 22)
√ 1990 Florida Citrus Bowl (Illinois 31, Virginia 21)
√ 1987 All-American Bowl (Virginia 22, Brigham Young 16)
√ 1984 Peach Bowl (Virginia 27, Purdue 24)
Navy (1-2)
√ 1981 Liberty Bowl (Ohio State 31, Navy 28)
√ 1980 Garden State Bowl (Houston 35, Navy 0)
√ 1978 Holiday Bowl (Navy 23, Brigham Young 16)
Head Coaching Record (all at Boston College)
Year Rec. Notes
1997 4-7
1998 4-7
1999 8-4 Engineered third-best turnaround in Division I college football.
Posted consecutive wins over Syracuse, West Virginia and Notre Dame and made first bowl appearance since 1994.
2000 7-5 Defeated Arizona State, 31-17, in Aloha Bowl
2001 8-4 Upset #16 Georgia in the Music City Bowl, finished ranked in both major polls for first time in seven years.
2002 9-4 Defeated previously undefeated and fourth-ranked Notre Dame on the road.
2003 8-5 Notched road wins over #25 Penn State and #12 Virginia Tech
2004 9-3 Claimed a share of BC’s first-ever Big East football title.
Defeated #24 Notre Dame and # 10 West Virginia, both on the road
2005 9-3 First BC team since 1984 to be ranked in the top 25 in at least one of the two major polls from start to finish.
Finished ranked 18th in AP
2006 9-3 Posted wins over six bowl teams. Could become third team in school history to win 10 or more games in a season.
TOTALS 75-45