North Carolina State University Athletics
O'Brien's Coaching Tree Grows
2/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 2, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. – Thirty minutes after Virginia offensive coordinator Tom O’Brien was named the head football coach at Boston College in December of 1996, he hired the first member of his first staff, a young graduate assistant at Virginia named Al Golden.
“You could tell that he was going to be somebody special in this profession,” O’Brien says. “I accepted the job on a Friday morning at 10 o’clock and hired him by 10:30 and we both headed to Boston. By Monday, we were in the office, trying to find players in the last week of December recruiting.”
Soon afterwards, he hired old friend Jeff Jagodzinski as his offensive coordinator. On the recommendation of long-time friend Dana Bible, he hired Don Treadwell to be his quarterbacks coach, hired Virginia graduate assistant Don Horton to be his tight ends coach and another old friend Frank Spaziani to coach his running backs.
On the other side of the ball, he hired Tim Rose as his defensive coordinator. He hired Mike London, whom he had known since recruiting his younger brother to Virginia, as defensive line coach. He eventually named Golden as his linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator, Jerry Rosburg as defensive backs coach and Jerry Petercuskie as special teams coordinator.
Horton and Petercuskie are still with O’Brien at NC State, but six of his first hires as assistant coaches are or have been Division I head coaches. Former Wolfpack running backs coach Jason Swepson was named head coach at Elon a few weeks ago, shortly after former BC assistant Don Treadwell was named head coach at Miami of Ohio, they became the sixth and seventh branches on one of the most impressive coaching trees in college football.
Including O’Brien himself, one-third of all ACC coaches have roots in his system. Golden was recently hired from Temple as the head coach at Miami. London is beginning his second season at Virginia, the school where he first met O’Brien, who was George Welsh’s offensive coordinator at the time. And Spaziani is about to begin his third season at Boston College, after taking over for Jagodzinski, who followed O’Brien as the head coach of the Eagles.
| Tom O'Brien coaching tree | ||
| Name | School, years | Years under O'Brien |
| Al Golden |
Temple, 2006-10 |
1997-99 (LBs) |
| Jeff Jagodzinski | Boston College, 2007-08 | 1997-98 (OC) |
| Mike London | Richmond, 2008-09 Virginia, 2010-pres. |
1997-2000 (DLs) |
| Bob Shoop | Columbia, 2003-05 | 1999-2002 (DBs) |
| Frank Spaziani | Boston College, 2009-pres. | 1997-2006 (DC) |
| Don Treadwell | Miami of Ohio, 1st season | 1997-98 (OC) |
| Jason Swepson | Elon, 1st season | 1999-2010 (RBs) |
Former BC assistant Bob Shoop was the head coach at Columbia for three seasons.
“It’s kind of taken me a little bit aback, once I sat down and started counting up the guys,” O’Brien says. “I’ve only hired 21 assistants in 14 years as a head coach. Seven of them have become head coaches, which amazes me.
“I don’t know how … how it happened. I’ve been able to surround myself with a lot of great quality, character people who believe in the mantra we established the first day I was hired at Boston College, which is to be champions in the classroom, champions in the community and champions on the field.”
O’Brien doesn’t have his own version of the Wonderlic test or the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator that he gives to prospective candidates. Certainly, his Naval Academy education and Marine leadership training have helped him recognize the qualities he’s looking for.
Mainly, however, he looks for two things: guys he believes are better coaches than he is and people of strong character who he believes are capable and willing to buy into his coaching philosophy.
“I’ve always tried to hire guys who I thought would be a better coach than me,” O’Brien says. “That makes me work harder and be challenged.
“I think everyone who has ever been part of my staff has bought into [our philosophy]. They have in some way, shape or form understood that it is all about the kids, it’s all about family and it’s all about doing what is right off the field in order to have success on the field.”
He’s nearly doubled the output of his own mentor, former Navy and Virginia head coach George Welsh, who developed O’Brien, Spaziani, Joe Krivak and Gary Tranquill into head coaches.
And he’s looking to improve his record against his former pupils. So far, he’s only faced only his Boston College successors, Spaziani (0-1) and Jagodzinski (1-2). But with Virginia coming onto the schedule this season, and Miami in the future, he’s sure to go against his former coaches more frequently in coming years.
He doesn’t mind.
“It’s competitive once the games begin,” O’Brien says. “You can be friendly all you want, but once the game starts, you want to win.”
But he holds each of his former and current assistants in high regard, because they still exhibit the same traits he saw when he hired each of them.
“Mainly, I think they’re all excellent people,” he says. “They have great values morally and ethically. It’s a tough profession, but doing it the right way and not taking shortcuts is important to them. You can’t cheat and do anything like that or take any shortcuts.
“I looked for people who would do the right things off the field to make sure they have long-term success on the field. That’s what I learned from Coach Welsh.”
In the coming weeks, O’Brien will hire his second new assistant in as many years. Last year, he replaced linebackers coach Andy McCollum, who was hired at Georgia Tech, with Jon Tenuta. Now, he must find a replacement for Swepson.
His criteria has changed little over the years, but the process has been tweaked a little. His prospective candidates will have to impress more than just O’Brien.
“Everybody on the staff and in this building has a hand in identifying who we’ll hire,” O’Brien said. “They’ll all spend some amount of time with the individuals we bring in to interview. I seek input from everybody else, though in the end I do have more votes than everybody else.”
But, who knows, he might just find the next branch for the tree he has carefully nurtured in his 14 years as a head coach.
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
