The Dawgs Ramblings

O'Brien leaving

In O’Brien’s tenure at BC, he not only turned around the program but brought it to a level of respectability where opponents knew that they could no longer just show up and blow out BC. However, compensation did not follow his on the field success. His salary puts him 10th in the ACC amongst head coaches as of the start of this season despite fielding one of the top 3 products over the last two years. If you are O’Brien that has to be seen as a slap in the face when considering Al Groh, Chuck Amato and John Bunting all made more than he did.


The question is was O’Brien forced out or did he just take a better opportunity? If BC acts quickly and hires their new guy then I would take that as DeFilippo having a short list of candidates in hand waiting for this day. If the search takes time then it would appear that BC had no idea that this was coming.


I would be surprised if BC was caught off guard by this move. If BC has a financial threshold that it will not cross for any head coach than this institutional decision would definitely have been communicated to O’Brien in the past. With O’Brien’s recent success, DeFilippo probably knew that eventually a school would offer O’Brien a substantial increase and that O’Brien would take it. He then knew he was dealing with a fluid situation where a school had to only make O’Brien an offer before his replacement search must begin.

I also find it hard to believe that BC has a maximum amount that they will pay their football coach. If BC believed that they had the right guy and the right staff, then an increase in pay for the coach would not be tough to justify for a guy that literally took BC out of the cesspool of college football. BC and DeFilippo may have been happy with O’Brien but may have suggested some staff changes that the head coach did not concur with. (Replace Bible and you get your salary increase). If that was the case, then the AD also knew he was dealing with a short-timer. This put DeFilippo in a position where he could not replace a guy that was being praised throughout college football without BC looking bad in making that decision. O’Brien would have to look like the instigator of this breakup.


For O’Brien, who just proved that he could smash that salary barrier, why would he not leave BC? Why would he want to coach for a school at a low pay rate when his teams do not even get considered for better bowls? If he had gone 9-3 at NC St. this year then the WolfPack would have been a lock for a good bowl with their traveling capacity. His 9-3 down there would be seen as a success even if the team underachieved because the school would still receive positive exposure from an appearance in a lofty bowl. That does not even get into the facts that NC St. may be able to recruit without BC imposed restrictions and the better facilities that NC St. is reported to have. He gets to recruit in a more fertile area instead of having to recruit kids to come to Boston and play in the cold. Those factors right there are tough to ignore even if the salaries were similar.

BC’s speed in making this hire and the salary given to that newcomer will help shed some light on the backroom conversations that may have taken place.

So, on to the next coach. The names being tossed around include Jim Fassel, Bob Davie, Mark Whipple and other known names. The hot name of the college football world is Tulsa coach Steve Kragthorpe. Attached is his bio. Not sure if he is a fit but he did coach at BC as the QB coach.

http://tulsahurricane.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/kragthorpe_steve00.html

posted by oceanjay @ 11:21 AM