By Mark Blaudschun, Globe Staff | December 6, 2006
In a whirlwind courtship, which officially did not begin until Wednesday morning and could be completed by Thursday, Boston College football coach Tom O'Brien is expected to accept an offer to become the next coach at North Carolina State.
Barring any snags, the announcement could come as soon as Thursday, but might be delayed to tomorrow as final details are worked out.
According to several sources in the Atlantic Coast Conference, N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler had received permission to talk to O'Brien, and while no official offer was made, it may be only a formality of getting approval from the school's Board of Trustees.
Reached at home Wednesday night, OBrien reiterated that he had received no official offer and would only say, "Any announcement has to come out of North Carolina."
O'Brien's public interest in openings was muted as he prepared his team for its Meineke Car Care Bowl appearance against Navy Dec. 30. "I'm not a candidate for any job," said O'Brien in a prepared statement Monday when published reports named him as a candidate at Arizona State and Stanford.
O'Brien may have been playing semantics. He was not seeking jobs, but didn't deny that he would listen. Until Wednesday, no official contact had been made. The possibility of O'Brien leaving BC has reached the decision-making stage only twice in his 10 seasons. In 2002, Georgia Tech made official contact and interviewed O'Brien before naming Chan Gailey coach. In 2004, O'Brien was a finalist at Washington, before withdrawing his name. (The Huskies hired Tyrone Willingham.)
The North Carolina State situation is intriguing because it would be a move within the conference, which is rare although not unheard of.
The Wolfpack went into search mode after firing Chuck Amato following a 3-9 season, one of the wins being a last-minute victory over BC. N.C. State has state-of-the-art facilities, an admissions policy that would allow a wider range of student-athletes, and can pay its coach considerably more than the $733,626 O'Brien is making, according to a list of salaries published in USA Today citing IRS records, although BC officials say that figure is inaccurate. The Raleigh campus is also a four-hour drive from O'Brien's summer home in the Charleston, S.C., area.
O'Brien's success at BC has been steady but not spectacular. The Eagles are 9-3 this season, have not had a losing season since 1998, and have reached eight consecutive bowl games (winning the last six), including the Dec. 30 Meineke Car Care Bowl against Navy, whose coach, Paul Johnson, also has been contacted by N.C. State.
But O'Brien has not gotten the Eagles to the conference championship and BCS bowl level. In 2004, the Eagles had a chance to win the Big East title and earn a Fiesta Bowl bid, but lost their last regular-season game to Syracuse. And in each of the last two seasons, the Eagles had a good shot to reach the ACC title game but fell one win short.
There is also some feeling within BC circles that the coach has done what he can at the school and it is time for O'Brien -- who rebuilt the program and repaired its reputation after two tumultuous and losing seasons under Dan Henning, to move on to a new challenge, and time for BC to give its football program a fresh face.
While nothing is official, that should change rapidly.
Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.
In a whirlwind courtship, which officially did not begin until Wednesday morning and could be completed by Thursday, Boston College football coach Tom O'Brien is expected to accept an offer to become the next coach at North Carolina State.
Barring any snags, the announcement could come as soon as Thursday, but might be delayed to tomorrow as final details are worked out.
According to several sources in the Atlantic Coast Conference, N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler had received permission to talk to O'Brien, and while no official offer was made, it may be only a formality of getting approval from the school's Board of Trustees.
Reached at home Wednesday night, OBrien reiterated that he had received no official offer and would only say, "Any announcement has to come out of North Carolina."
O'Brien's public interest in openings was muted as he prepared his team for its Meineke Car Care Bowl appearance against Navy Dec. 30. "I'm not a candidate for any job," said O'Brien in a prepared statement Monday when published reports named him as a candidate at Arizona State and Stanford.
O'Brien may have been playing semantics. He was not seeking jobs, but didn't deny that he would listen. Until Wednesday, no official contact had been made. The possibility of O'Brien leaving BC has reached the decision-making stage only twice in his 10 seasons. In 2002, Georgia Tech made official contact and interviewed O'Brien before naming Chan Gailey coach. In 2004, O'Brien was a finalist at Washington, before withdrawing his name. (The Huskies hired Tyrone Willingham.)
The North Carolina State situation is intriguing because it would be a move within the conference, which is rare although not unheard of.
The Wolfpack went into search mode after firing Chuck Amato following a 3-9 season, one of the wins being a last-minute victory over BC. N.C. State has state-of-the-art facilities, an admissions policy that would allow a wider range of student-athletes, and can pay its coach considerably more than the $733,626 O'Brien is making, according to a list of salaries published in USA Today citing IRS records, although BC officials say that figure is inaccurate. The Raleigh campus is also a four-hour drive from O'Brien's summer home in the Charleston, S.C., area.
O'Brien's success at BC has been steady but not spectacular. The Eagles are 9-3 this season, have not had a losing season since 1998, and have reached eight consecutive bowl games (winning the last six), including the Dec. 30 Meineke Car Care Bowl against Navy, whose coach, Paul Johnson, also has been contacted by N.C. State.
But O'Brien has not gotten the Eagles to the conference championship and BCS bowl level. In 2004, the Eagles had a chance to win the Big East title and earn a Fiesta Bowl bid, but lost their last regular-season game to Syracuse. And in each of the last two seasons, the Eagles had a good shot to reach the ACC title game but fell one win short.
There is also some feeling within BC circles that the coach has done what he can at the school and it is time for O'Brien -- who rebuilt the program and repaired its reputation after two tumultuous and losing seasons under Dan Henning, to move on to a new challenge, and time for BC to give its football program a fresh face.
While nothing is official, that should change rapidly.
Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.
