Archive for the 'Tom O’Brien' Category

Next year’s 12th football game

Published by Daily Update on 10/29/2008 in '08 Football, ACC, AD, Chuck Amato, Football, General, Stat of the Day and Tom O'Brien. 47 Comments

At the risk of over-stating the obvious - next year is a very important year for the NC State Football program and every single leader with any type of influence over the direction of the football program. Unless the Wolfpack can string together four consecutive wins to close out the 2008 season, the program is heading for a 4th losing season in the last five years - all under the ‘leadership’ of Athletics Director, Lee Fowler.

To offer some historical perspective on this - NC State has experienced four losing seasons in a five year period only three times since the formation of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953..

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Scattered Post-Game Thoughts

Published by BJD95 on 10/17/2008 in '08 Football and Tom O'Brien. 73 Comments

ncsu-spork.jpg

  • I strongly reiterate what I said after the South Florida beatdown. We are playing with house money this year, and have no right to expect anything positive. You know the old saying about bringing a knife to a gun fight? TOB and staff are bringing a spork.
  • Still, this one hurts, especially knowing that Chuck the Clown got to laugh at us again. Based on his reality-free media blitz last week, it’s clear that he’s not only a delusional narcissist (knew that already), but also a pathological liar. I had a work thing last night and couldn’t attend live, but every time I saw his face on TV, I wanted to punch him in the nose.
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Tomorrow, It’s All About Rewarding Faith

Published by BJD95 on 10/03/2008 in '08 Football and Tom O'Brien. 70 Comments

Almost 22 months ago, Tom O’Brien was on the verge a possible dream season - Matt Ryan’s (future Top 5 NFL draft pick, and Day One starter for the Atlanta Falcons) senior year, surrounded by a bevy of seasoned upperclassmen. The kind of team that wins league titles. The kind of team that, given a few good breaks, might find itself playing for the national championship.

Tom O’Brien walked away. He left the table for 2007 holding pocket aces, to play out the string with the eight-duece offsuit left by Chuck Amato. All because he believed in NC State.

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TOB - No Clarification on Pack Injuries

Published by BJD95 on 09/30/2008 in '08 Football and Tom O'Brien. 53 Comments

Per the N&O writeup, Beck is still listed as the starter for Saturday:

“We don’t know [Wilson’s status],” coach Tom O’Brien said during his weekly news conference Monday. “We’ll have to wait and see. Right now Beck is the starter, and we’re going into the week with him preparing to play.”

My biggest fear was that Evans would somehow end up starting, due to a Beck injury. Thankfully, that doesn’t look to be the case. We all know that Tom O’Brien really wants this win, and right now, my gut says that Russell Wilson will be fine and starts this game.

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TOB nailed the QB situation perfectly

Published by StateFans on 09/12/2008 in '08 Football and Tom O'Brien. 18 Comments

Less than an hour after Harrison Beck led NC State to a win over William & Mary NC State Head Coach Tom O’Brien made it clear that Russell Wilson will start under center for tomorrow’s game against Clemson. BJD ran a fantastic analysis of this last weekend.

Although few people explicitly criticized Coach O’Brien’s decision, there seemed to be some whispers questioning the decision (and its timing) from some in the media and on internet message boards. Why?

Folks, Coach O’Brien could not have handled this quarterback decision/situation any better from a (1) media-management and (2) football perspective.

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Coach O’Brien’s comments don’t fit NC State

Published by StateFans on 09/02/2008 in General, NCS Administration, Quotes of Note and Tom O'Brien. 32 Comments

Some great quotes and information came out of Coach O’Brien’s press conference yesterday and can be seen and heard by clicking here.

Fortunately for all of us - Coach O’Brien’s comments indicate that he employs a management style that in no way is consistent or congruent with the value structure with Lee Fowler’s Athletics Department or within the entire University since the departure of Bruce Poulton in the late 1980s - excluding the Marye Ann Fox years.

“McKeen played very well. He’s got a lot of pass rushing ability. I think he performed better than Markus Kuhn did. We’re a performance-based organization here so he moved up.“

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More Fun With Rankings- ACC Coaches

Published by Dr. BadgerPack on 08/07/2008 in ACC, Coaches, Football, General, Rankings / Lists and Tom O'Brien. 43 Comments

Here’s something to play with on a Thursday morning in August. Our favorite ESPN ACC blogger is at it again. (I suppose I’m using a “neutral” favorite there– neither a compliment nor in the perjorative.) Since we had so much fun with the stadium rankings, here is a ranking of the ACC coaches.

Now, these lists are rather subjective, but there are some things that are just common-freaking-sense. Like using a set of parameters to rank one coach (Cutcliffe) #4– FOUR! in the ACC and not applying the same standards to Paul Johnson. A few more of these, and I’ll dub Heather the Courtney Fells of bloggers– maddeningly inconsistent. Tom O’Brien is listed 6th in this list. While the positioning give or take (well, give) a spot or two is fine, some of the names above and below are curious.

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Audio from Tom O’Brien interview on 850 am (Updated 9:45am)

Published by Daily Update on 06/25/2008 in '08 Football, General and Tom O'Brien. 21 Comments

Coach Tom O’Brien was interviewed on Adam’s Gold radio show today. This is the first time I have ever been to 850’s blog, so I must give them credit for its content. There is a lot of good stuff over there.

Check here for the full audio.

* ECU expects to have their best team ever.

* South Florida is ranked in some people’s Top 10.

* Clemson is picked in most Top 10s and chosen by many to win

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Chip Alexander Q&A with TOB

Published by StateFans on 04/24/2008 in '08 Football, Media and Tom O'Brien. 37 Comments

LINK. Not much news, but does provide another good window into Coach O’Brien’s steady, cerebral mindset. The Dick Sheridan comparisons look more apt every day. He also says we should expect to win championships. Imagine that!

Permanent link to this post (37 words, estimated 9 secs reading time)

Coach O’Brien Keeping Pack on the Track to Coming Back (Updated with 850 Audio Link)

Published by StateFans on 04/16/2008 in '08 Football, General and Tom O'Brien. 48 Comments

The Red & White football game is approaching this weekend and Wolfpack fans are starting to look ahead to the 2008 season. (That’s what we do as NC State fans - look ahead…OR…look very far in the past).

I just had to tell you how impressed I continue to be with NC State’s Head Coach, Tom O’Brien.

About this time last year we were basking in the love of a lot of national praise for TOB. You will be interested in the entry which is accessible by clicking here.

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Breaking Down the 2008 Football Schedule

Published by BJD95 on 02/18/2008 in '08 Football, ACC and Tom O'Brien. 81 Comments

Sorry I didn’t have time to blog on this sooner, but the 2008 NC State football schedule is a very interesting one. Let’s take it game by game, and think of how the season might play out:

Aug. 28 at South Carolina (ESPN - Thurs.)

I love being in the national spotlight early. It will be easy for Coach O’Brien to get his players fired up. I particularly like playing a “nothing to lose” game - the players should be looser, and a win would have the nation talking about Tom O’Brien and NC State. Yes, I know that South Carolina had a disappointing year last year, but they are still a Spurrier-coached SEC team playing at home - they will be expected to win easily.

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ESPN.com Recruiting Rankings- NC State 20th

Published by StateFans on 02/06/2008 in ACC, Rankings / Lists, Recruiting - FBall and Tom O'Brien. 54 Comments

Florida the new No. 1, Clemson rises to No. 4

#2 Miami
#4 Clemson
#13 FSU
#16 VT
#20 NC State

No sign of BMFD as of 1:15pm

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O’Brien Gets Big Time OL Recruit: RJ Mattes

Published by StateFans on 01/20/2008 in '08 Football, Football, Recruiting - FBall and Tom O'Brien. 42 Comments

Big time. Four Star NC OL RJ Mattes has committed to NC State.

Can’t over state the importance of this. You’ve got to think that the reputation of developing NFL offensive lineman by Coach O’Brien and his staff was vital here. We couldn’t be more excited about this!

Permanent link to this post (49 words, estimated 12 secs reading time)

SFN Celebrates New Year with NC State Magazine Feature

Published by StateFans on 01/02/2008 in '06 Football, '06-07 Basketball, '07 Football, '07-08 Basketball, '08 Football, ACC, Alums, Basketball, Campus News, Chuck Amato, Coaches, Fans, Flashback, Football, Fun Stuff, General, Headscratchers, Kay Yow, Media, Multimedia, NCS Administration, Non-Revenue, On the Record, Quotes of Note, Rankings / Lists, Recruiting - BBall, Recruiting - FBall, Required Reading, Rivals, Satire & Parody, Sidney Lowe, Site News, Sports Junkies, Stat of the Day, Tom O'Brien and Tradition. 28 Comments

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This entry will remain posted near the top for a couple of days…so, if you are visiting the site for the first time or if you are a frequent visitor please don’t ignore all of the entries below. For example, VAWolf logged an awesome statistical post that follows this.

We just wanted to take a moment to draw your attention to the newest edition of the NC State Alumni Magazine that hit most homes over the last week. Starting on page 36 and ending on page 45 you will see that the magazine printed a series of articles on the impact of the internet at NC State and on the NC State community. We’d like to thank the NC State Alumni Magazine for the attention and prominence that they applied to StateFansNation in the feature piece.

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Recruiting: Incoming Wolfpack Class Impressive

Published by StateFans on 01/01/2008 in '08 Football, Recruiting - FBall and Tom O'Brien. 28 Comments

From WRAL-TV

Even if national signing day occurred tomorrow, you could go ahead and count N.C. State’s recruiting year a success.Coach Tom O’Brien and his staff have already put together an impressive class of 19 prospects with more than a month to go before the signing period begins on Feb. 6.But it’s not just the quantity at this stage of the recruiting process that is impressive about the Wolfpack’s effort.

O’Brien has firmly established himself as a major player with in-state prospects and has addressed many of the program’s primary needs with his first full recruiting class since coming from Boston College.

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O’Brien Likes Look of Pack’s Future

Published by StateFans on 11/30/2007 in '07 Football, Football and Tom O'Brien. 10 Comments
RALEIGH - N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien, the ol’ Marine, is looking for more than a few good men.”We need to sign a lot of good football players,” he emphasized at a news conference Thursday. “All our focus is on recruiting.”

O’Brien wants to beef up every position, especially in the “thin” offensive line, where only eight healthy players will be available for spring practice that begins March 18. Adding depth at linebacker is another big push.

The Pack has received 15 oral commitments for 2008, including two from elite in-state athletes — Bunn running back/defensive back Brandon Barnes and linebacker Terrell Manning of Laurinburg. Five other North Carolina prospects also said they intend to sign with State, according to Scout.com.

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850 “The Buzz” Highlights Lack of Professionalism From BC’s AD

Published by BJD95 on 11/29/2007 in '07 Football, Football, Media and Tom O'Brien. 37 Comments

Click over to their blog for good analysis and comments (well, most are good). Quote from Jackhole DeFilippo:

“We’re having fun now,” he said. “We’ve won before, but we had no fun. This is still a game, it’s not life and death. The fun is back in Boston College football. Tom did a wonderful job here, but nobody was having fun. The fun is back at Boston College.”

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Heartless End To the 2007 Football Season; Maryland 37, NC State ZERO

Published by StateFans on 11/24/2007 in '07 Football and Tom O'Brien. 79 Comments

* There is no more joking “is it basketball season yet”. It really is basketball season for the Wolfpack.

* In 2001, Maryland threw oranges on the field at the end of the game at Carter-Finley. Today, they threw statues of Mother Teresa, Gandhi and Bono on the field to celebrate their bid to the bowl that used to be the Humanitarian Bowl.

* Coach O’Brien should probably take some heat after this game. That ‘effort’ was pitiful today.

* Another Evans INT near/in the red zone changes the complection of the game.

* Will Justin Burke transfer?

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O’Brien Wants A New Field at Carter-Finley

Published by StateFans on 11/23/2007 in Fans, Football, NCS Administration and Tom O'Brien. 32 Comments

Looks like Coach O’Brien has fallen victim to the NC State ‘half-assed-renovation-plan’ at Carter-Finley. Whatever happened to all of the new bathrooms that were supposed to built? Whatever happened to the new entrance gates that were supposed to be built? Hell, you’d think that we would at least have enough gates to get our poor students into the game on time. Whatever happened to the new concession stands and general improvements on the concourses?

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NC State 31, UNC-ButchDavis 27 With Links

Published by StateFans on 11/10/2007 in '07 Football, Football and Tom O'Brien. 159 Comments

Video Highlights |
Box Score |
Recap|
N&O Photos from the game|
WRAL.com Photos|
Locker Room Report: Jamelle Eugene|
UNC Fans Blame Game on Refs|
O’Brien, Davis, Eugene Post Game PC|
UNC Selling “Butch Slapped” T-shirts|

Sunday Links:Tudor: Give O’Brien credit for Pack’s resurgence| Dascenzo: Is N.C. State the best-coached ACC football team today?|

31-27

We are having problem embedding the ESPN Video. So we closed the other thread and this will serve as the post game thoughts thread.

Permanent link to this post (82 words, 1 image, estimated 20 secs reading time)