By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLUMBUS - Jim O'Brien made clear Saturday he wouldn't quit coaching because of a lingering voice problem.

The Ohio State men's basketball coach backed off his Friday night comments that suggested he might not be able to coach this season. He called athletic director Andy Geiger on Saturday to reiterate his intention to coach.

"He said he'll be coaching this year and many years into the future," OSU spokesman Steve Snapp said. "I think his comments last night were more about expressing frustration with his condition. It was kind of a heat-of-the-moment thing."

O'Brien, who had surgery on a herniated disc in his neck Oct. 1, said after OSU's exhibition game Friday that one of his two vocal cords is paralyzed as a side effect of the surgery. He said he is unsure how long it will take for the condition to improve, if it does.

"It has to get better if I'm going to continue my coaching career, quite honestly," he said Friday, in his first public comments since the surgery.

He returned to practice last Sunday, two weeks after the start of preseason workouts. OSU beat Coaches vs. Cancer 95-87 in the exhibition Friday, which O'Brien coached.

"I'm hoping that this thing is going to regenerate on its own, the nerve with the vocal cord," O'Brien said Friday. "(Doctors) tell me there's a chance that can happen. But if it doesn't, there's more surgical options to repair that.

"They don't really know. They say if it doesn't come back after about eight months, it's probably not coming back. It could come back next week; it could come back in six months. I think we have to be a little bit patient."

O'Brien is 354-289 in 21 seasons overall, including 119-72 in six seasons in Columbus.