Nobody has defended Tom O’Brien like myself — even in the bad times of the past three seasons.
He inherited a genuine mess when he replaced Chuck Amato in 2007 and did a tremendous job in restoring a floundering program going nowhere.
However, in recent weeks, some glaring questions have arisen concerning the direction of the program which TOB must certainly address.
Number one is number of continuing injuries the team is collecting going into the third season. One bad year can be written off, and two can be explained as a stroke of bad luck. But when it comes down to three successive seasons, something is terribly out of whack. That cannot continue to occur season after season.
Secondly, the defensive side of the ball is the worst in Wolfpack history. Injuries certainly contribute to the demise, but the overall effectiveness of the defense cannot be totally attributed to injuries.
It appears that the players are confused as to assignments. The defensive front hasn’t been nearly as efficient as was predicted in the pre-season. The Wolfpack cannot stop opponents on critical third down situations. All of this responsibility comes down to the defensive coordinator.
O’Brien has, quite naturally, defended Mike Archer in public print. However, in this reporter’s opinion, Archer should resign immediately after the season and O’Brien should bring in the best defensive coordinator available.
As Lou Holtz once said, “A head coach is only as good as his staff.”
It is now evident that half of Tom O’Brien’s successful run at Boston College has to be attributed to his defensive coordinator and now BC head coach, Frank Spanziana. It is a must that he put in place in Raleigh someone comparable to the Eagles’ head mentor.
Everybody is getting on their bully pulpit concerning the clock management issue in the Florida State game. And rightfully so to a certain degree because it was “atrocious” as the folks at statefansnation.com have underscored.
It was botched rather well. State had three timeouts with 30 seconds left to play in the first half with the ball on FSU’s 38-yard line. Russell Wilson finally called a timeout at the seven second mark after a penalty was called for an illegal shift.
O’Brien was busy talking with offensive coordinator Dana Bible when the clock started running from 30 seconds down and got the play into Wilson at the 22-second mark. That is inexcusable with three timeouts hanging on your sideline.
This wasn’t the only time this season when clock managment became an issue. But a field goal at the end of the half COULD POSSIBLY have dictated a different outcome.
O’Brien has become somewhat arrogant at accepting blame lately. Everyone makes mistakes and the best way to correct them is not to throw anyone else under the bus, tell everyone you made one, and go forward to correct them.
Next season is critical for the direction of the Wolfpack program. Tom O’Brien needs to thoroughly evaluate the program, make the necessary changes and move forward.
It may be painful. But that’s what he is getting paid big bucks to do.
As of now, his team sits at the bottom of the Atlantic Division not having one an ACC game. That should indicate to the head mentor that changes are going to have to be made for 2010.
My confidence in TOB has been shaken a little, but I still believe he is the man for the job. We seem to be a program not getting many breaks and there are no short cuts to success. The league is not great so we are not far away, but you have to at least be decent on both sides of the ball to give yourself a chance to win. You can not outscore teams every week. The offense may be ready to finish on a tear. Somehow we have to slow down other teams and keep the score in the lower 20s-30s. If State can beat Maryland for Homecoming maybe the monkey will be off their backs and they can compete the rest of the season.