North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: O'Brien Headed For Homeland In Spring
8/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – Like anyone whose surname begins with O-apostrophe, NC State football coach Tom O'Brien is drawn to Ireland.
The red-headed, freckled coach made his first trip to the home country – his paternal great-grandparents emigrated from there to Cincinnati nearly a century ago – when his daughter was participating in a semester abroad program while at Boston College.
On their trip to visit her, the coach and his wife Jennifer went coach: they loaded onto a bus with some 50 other tourists in Dublin and spent a week seeing every shade of green between County Cork and Shannon.
"Being of Irish descent, it was good to go back," O'Brien said. "Jennifer's father was actually once stationed in Northern Ireland, so she had been there before. It was good for her to see it again."
While the coach is busy preparing for the 2009 football season, which begins next Thursday when the Wolfpack hosts South Carolina, the couple is also preparing for a group vacation next spring.
They will join athletics director Lee Fowler and his wife, Carol, and the Wolfpack Club on a week-long excursion to the Emerald Isle, traveling to Dublin and Kilarney, with multiple sight-seeing trips in between. The trip is slated for May 15-22, 2010, and is open to all Wolfpack alumni, donors and fans. For more information and pricing, check here.
O'Brien's first trip to Ireland went all the way to his roots, to Bunratty Castle, the traditional home of the royal and noble O'Brien Clan, which were offspring of island hero Brian Boru. (All descendants that followed were "of the house of Brian" or "O'Brien")
"We learned all about it while we were there and did a traditional medieval dinner at the castle," O'Brien said. "It was like we made a connection all the way back to the roots of the clan, nearly a century ago."
He's always enjoyed his Irish heritage, as he proved earlier this year when he served as the grand marshal of the Raleigh St. Patrick's Day Parade.
He's made several trips back to his homeland since his initial visit, primarily to play golf. He and a dozen classmates from the Naval Academy began a biennial trip abroad, shortly after their 30th class reunion in 2001. They went to Ireland in 2003 and '05, Portugal in 2007 and Scotland in 2009.
Next year's trip with the Wolfpack Club will also include three rounds of golf with O'Brien and Fowler.
"The great thing about playing some of the ocean courses in Ireland is that you can go through all four seasons in one round," O'Brien said. "It's all beautiful, but you better bring your rain gear."
This is the first time in his lengthy coaching career that O'Brien has ever made an international trip with alumni, fans and boosters, in a relaxed vacation atmosphere.
"We are looking forward to the opportunity," he said. "You can have a lot of fun in Ireland."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
