Friday, November 26, 1999
Low-key O'Brien has Eagles rising
BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
I remember going to Blacksburg, Va. Bleaksburg, we called it. Home of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a permanent cloud cover. Virginia Tech, once the Gobblers, now the Hokies. Which nickname is worse?
I covered the Gobbler/Hokies in the mid-1980s, when Bruce Smith was rolling up on everybody. The Buffalo defensive tackle will be in the NFL Hall of Fame as soon as he is eligible, but he didn't start traumatizing quarterbacks when he became a Bill. He started at Virginia Tech, where the defenses often are as unforgiveable as the weather.
The No.2-ranked Hokies are one win away from the best Cinderella story in college football in years. Only Boston College stands between them and a Jan. 4 national title date in the Sugar Bowl with Florida State.
Necessary toughness
That's where Tom O'Brien comes in. You may not know Tom O'Brien, which is OK with him. O'Brien is just a guy. He likes it that way. With his strawberry blond hair and freckles, he looks a whole lot younger than his 51 years. Huck Finn does middle age.
He toiled as a college assistant for two decades, first at Navy, then Virginia. He was interested in the UC job when Tim Murphy left. Luckily for him, he didn't get it. He went to BC instead. In three years, O'Brien has carried the Eagles from the depths of a point-shaving scandal to an 8-2 record and a chance this afternoon to quiet all that national title noise blowing out of Blacksburg.
Did we mention that O'Brien went to St. Xavier High? Or that, behind that boyish gaze, he is one tough bud?
O'Brien was a 160-pound defensive end at St. X. His senior year, O'Brien put weights in his pockets at a preseason weigh-in, so his coaches wouldn't think he was too small to play the position. Then he won the team's Most Improved Player award. He's in the St. X Hall of Fame.
As a 215-pound defensive end at Navy, O'Brien once played several games with a broken sternum. He was a three-year starter.
Tom O'Brien is also a major in the Marine Corps. “One of the toughest kids I ever coached,” said Tom Balaban, who coached a few tough kids at St. X.
BC resurrection
O'Brien was a perfect fit for BC, a calm, no-bull leader who spent two years working 20-hour days to pull the program from the ooze. “I don't think anybody had any idea how bad it was,” O'Brien said this week. There were racial problems. There was total mistrust among coaches, administration and players. Players were encouraged to tell the truth about themselves and their teammates, with assurances that their honesty wouldn't sink their careers. In many cases, it did.
“And,” O'Brien said, “it wasn't a good football team to begin with.”
O'Brien enlisted the aid of a BC grad who specialized in motivational counseling. He spent four days with the team, stressing individual accountability.
Meanwhile, O'Brien talked to everyone who would listen. Players, faculty, administrators. He preached trust and accountability. “I just tried to be honest,” O'Brien said. “If they were loyal to me, I'd be loyal to them.”
After the counseling, the team adopted what O'Brien called a “live-it” statement. “Don't talk about it, be about it. I told them, Let's get through this, and be who we want to be, a respectable football team in every area.' ”
After two 4-7 years, the hard work, no-nonsense tack taken by Maj. Tom O'Brien, St. X Class of '66, has taken hold. “Dad, the kids are doing what we want them to do,” O'Brien told his father, Tom Sr., several weeks ago.
O'Brien even credits the academic discipline he acquired at St. X for helping him first through the Naval Academy and now Boston College. Which is ironic, because he wanted to go to Purcell, where his hero, Roger Staubach, went.
“So why did he go to St. X?” I asked Tom Sr.
“Because I told him to,” he said.
At least we know where the no-bull came from.
Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454. Fair Game, a collection of his columns, is available at local bookstores.
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