BC begins preparing for life after O'Brien
Program's direction questioned by trustee
By Michael Vega, Globe Staff | December 8, 2006
Amid swirling rumors yesterday Tom O'Brien was asked to clear out his desk and vacate his third-floor corner office at the Yawkey Athletic Center, Boston College's stunned football team found itself in a state of limbo after learning of 0'Brien's imminent departure to North Carolina State.
Though there was no official word out of Raleigh, N.C., of O'Brien's hiring, BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo met with the football team at 3 p.m. yesterday to share what little information he could about the situation and to gird himself to make his first major appointment at the school.
Meanwhile, an immensely disappointed school trustee, Greg Barber, expressed his dismay with the situation and openly questioned whether enough was done to keep BC's winningest football coach from leaving for another job within the Atlantic Coast Conference's Atlantic Division, suggesting O'Brien's departure may not have been of his own doing.
"Someone wanted him gone," said Barber, who eight years ago endowed the program's head football coaching position as a way to send a message that the school was committed to fielding a competitive football program. It was also a way, Barber said, to ensure O'Brien's salary remained competitive, though it reportedly lagged among the bottom third in comparison to the rest of the ACC's 11 other coaches.
"One of the reasons I'm disappointed is that [$3.5 million endowment] provides funds to prevent this from happening," Barber said. "It's to make a statement that BC has the resources to play at the highest level in college football, and if it costs a lot of money to hire a coach, then that endowment is there for that purpose.
"I'm worried that the football world is going to question our commitment because we let him go," Barber added. "It's a lot easier to keep people than go find new ones, especially when you have a good guy."
As part of its study on college coaches' salaries, USA Today recently reported O'Brien's annual compensation package to be worth $733,626, based upon tax returns filed by the school. BC officials, however, have disputed the figure as being inaccurate.
"I'd have to say that BC, somewhere in the administration, someone was ambivalent about whether he stayed or whether he left," Barber said. "They made no effort to extend his contract. They made no effort to change his compensation, and that was supposed to come after the season? Now it's too late. He's accepted a deal with N.C. State and it's their gain and our loss."
N.C. State's board of trustees is expected to convene a conference call of its personnel committee today at 5 p.m., at which time O'Brien's hiring as Chuck Amato's successor will be formalized, according to athletic department sources at the school.
"Any announcement of anything has to come out of North Carolina State," said DeFilippo, who declined any further comment on the matter or whether the school had made any effort to try and retain O'Brien.
DeFilippo, who declined to comment on whether O'Brien would remain as coach for BC's Meineke Car Care Bowl appearance opposite Navy Dec. 30 in Charlotte, N.C., said he met with the football team yesterday because he "just wanted to spend some time with them," he said.
Asked what message he conveyed to the team, DeFilippo replied, "That's between them and I."
According to a team source, O'Brien was not present at the meeting.
Senior cornerback Larry Anam and junior defensive tackle B.J. Raji, approached outside the Yawkey Center yesterday before the team's meeting, expressed some bitterness over the way they learned about O'Brien's expected career move _ through news reports.
"I was kind of hurt a little bit, because he didn't tell us the right way," Raji said. "I mean, we had practice two days ago and we didn't hear anything. As far as his decision, I can't be mad at him for that, because he has to do what's best for him. But I wish he would've told us a little sooner, because I heard about it just like I was a normal student at Boston College _ a news flash, breaking news on NESN, that Coach O'Brien was hired at N.C. State. It was shocking to me, of course."
Said Anam, "I couldn't believe it. You hear all the speculation. Last year, you hear about Coach O'Brien going here. Then I heard it on the news on ESPN and I didn't really want to believe it, until everybody started calling me. I was like, no, because he hadn't told us anything.
"Right now, I still don't want to believe it."
Asked if he would be hurt if O'Brien didn't coach the bowl game, Anam said, "Of course, but like I said, it's all speculation. I came here five years ago and the only reason I did was because of Coach O'Brien, so it's going to be devastating. I'm leaving after this year, but I just feel bad for my teammates _ that's if he's not going to coach us."
Raji stopped short of saying O'Brien owed the team an apology, especially after he released a statement Tuesday saying he was "not a candidate for any job" and was "focused on preparing Boston College to face Navy on Dec. 30" after his name surfaced among the list of candidates for the Pac-10 vacancies at Arizona State and Stanford.
"I wouldn't call for an apology, because he's a grown man, so he doesn't have to apologize for anything," Raji said. "I wish him all the best, because he did all he could really do here at Boston College."
Once N.C. State makes its official announcement, DeFilippo is expected to spring into action in search of O'Brien's successor, which could come from a wide range of candidates from the college and pro ranks and, quite possibly, the ABC/ESPN TV booth where color commentator Bob Davie, the former Notre Dame coach who played for DeFilippo at Youngstown State, and studio analyst Doug Flutie, BC's celebrated Heisman Trophy winner, were considered to be among the potential list of candidates.
Davie did not return phone calls placed by the Globe yesterday while Flutie, through ESPN spokesman Josh Kruelwitz, declined to comment on his potential interest, though one high-ranking BC official speculated Flutie's reconnection with BC football (even in the role as an offensive coordinator) could immeasurably boost sagging interest in the program.
"I'm sure Gene's very capable of going out and finding a good football coach," Barber said. "But to go out and find a name football coach, well, we already had one who was well-respected in the profession, so we didn't have to go through this process, but we'll go through it and we'll make the best of it."
http://www.boston.com/sports/colleg...08/bc_begins_preparing_for_life_after_obrien/
