A Word About Saturday / TOB Staff Coming into view (Updated 4:30pm)

General NC State Administration NCS Football Tom O'Brien78

As NC State’s Basketball team gears up for a key home game against Boston College, Tom O’Brien’s coaching staff may be come together.

* We discussed TOB’s staff in this entry earlier in the week. The N&O followed up with the following today:

Although O’Brien has not officially announced new staff additions, those from his former Boston College staff who will join him at NCSU are: associate head coach/recruiting coordinator Jerry Petercuskie, offensive coordinator Dana Bible, offensive line coach Don Horton, tight ends coach Jim Bridge, running backs coach Jason Swepson and defensive line coach Keith Willis.

* We continue to hear promising things regarding the potential for UVA’s Mike London to join the staff.

* Today, the N&O discusses another high-profile defensive coordinator who has talked with the Pack. Click here for the link to the story about Mike Archer.

Archer interviewed for the Wolfpack’s defensive coordinator position this week, Kentucky athletics spokesman Tony Neely confirmed Thursday night. Neely said Archer was in Raleigh on Wednesday and returned Thursday to Lexington, Ky.

O’Brien and Archer were on the Virginia staff of former Cavaliers coach George Welsh in 1991 and 1992. Archer went to UVa after being fired as head coach at LSU, where he led the Tigers to the 1988 Southeastern Conference title.

* We don’t think that landing London or Archer HAS to be an either/or situation. We wouldn’t be surprised to see one of the two coaches take the responsibility of defensive coordinator and see the other accept a different role on staff. We also think that landing both of these coaches would elevate the talent on what appears to be TOB’s staff exponentially. Both of these guys would be home runs.

But, regardless if TOB’s staff is complete by Saturday, we would like to see Coach O’Brien at the RBC Center for the Wolfpack’s game vs Boston College. TOB did attend the Heritage game in Reynolds, but as far as we have seen he has not yet made a Wolfpack Basketball game in the RBC. It would be very nice for him to step in and show his support for the basketball program and get public recognition from the NC State Athletics Department.

We are unclear as to the number – if any – of high school football recruits who will be taking a visit to NC State this weekend. But, if ANY kids are in town, State would be foolish to NOT to introduce and honor Coach O’Brien in such an atmosphere. It would be REALLY impactful if ‘they’ chose to introduce TOB’s new staff for the first time at the game. Maybe make an announcement to please try to stay near your seats at halftime for a special announcement and have Coach O’Brien introduce his new staff to the fans.

Both the fans and the recruits would enjoy this.

4:30pm Update
GoPack.com has announced Tom O’Brien’s offensive staff today in this article.

NC State head football coach Tom O’Brien has announced that all four of his offensive assistants from Boston College will join him in Raleigh. That group directed the Eagle offense that led the ACC in total yards in 2005 and ranked second in 2006. Boston College also led the league in passing offense this past season.

Dana Bible will serve as the Wolfpack’s offensive coordinator and will coach the quarterbacks and wide receivers.

This will mark the 31-year coaching veteran’s second stint at NC State, as he also coached the quarterbacks and wide receivers for head coach Tom Reed from 1983-85. Bible, who has spent the last eight seasons with O’Brien at BC, coached Wolfpack greats Erik Kramer, Haywood Jeffires, Naz Worthen and Danny Peebles during his earlier time in Raleigh. At BC, Bible coached Matt Ryan, who was the 2006 first-team All-ACC quarterback.

Don Horton will coach the offensive line.

Jim Bridge will coach tight ends.

Jason Swepson will coach running backs

after serving in that same position at BC for the past eight years. Under Swepson’s guidance, an Eagle back rushed for 1,000 yards in each of his first five season at the school. He has been in coaching for 15 years.

Additionally, WKYT in Kentucky is reporting that NC State has offered our defensive coordinator position to Mike Archer.

North Carolina State has offered its defensive coordinator positiion to UK’s Mike Archer. The offer could max out with incentives at $500,000 per year. Archer met with N.C. State coach Tom O Brien on Wednesday. Those two worked together previously at Virginia for two years. Rich Brooks has a previously schedule news conference set for Friday at 12:30.

Lastly, we have responded to some of the previous comments left in our comments section of this entry.

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

General NC State Administration NCS Football Tom O'Brien

78 Responses to A Word About Saturday / TOB Staff Coming into view (Updated 4:30pm)

  1. cpwolfpackfan 01/05/2007 at 4:30 PM #

    but what i am asking is, has johnson allready said he is coming here? or that he is just going to transfer??

  2. redfred2 01/05/2007 at 4:30 PM #

    In the case of Degand, we won’t really know one way or the other, for a while yet. I still say that there was a justifiable panic mode leading into this season, and that bodies on the bench were absolutely necessary for practices alone, irregardless of what any of us think their future impact may be. Some things had to done out of necessity, rather than choice. We don’t really know if we got lucky or not yet, but it’s a done deal. We’re moving forward irregardless of the number scholarships available.

  3. cpwolfpackfan 01/05/2007 at 4:46 PM #

    statefansnation, do you know if Johnson is coming here or is he just transfering?? I have heard nothing, but there is some chatter out there. Also on smith, I don’t think lowe would have recruited him as hard as he did if he didn’t think he was going to qualify

  4. cpwolfpackfan 01/05/2007 at 4:55 PM #

    I know this is off subject but Hodge is suppose to start tonight against the lakers. He is going to start at point guard. The denver coach said he wants some size in at point so they can move ai to the 2 guard. Also he said that hodge would guard kobe. I will say a prayer for the Jules tonight, but this is the shit that The jules from harlem lives for. It would not supprise me at all if he puts forth a good defensive effort against kobe. I am a kobe fan, but a bigger hodge fan. So god please let kobe have a terriable game, if not for me , at least for the jules

  5. redfred2 01/05/2007 at 5:01 PM #

    That’s great to know cpwolfpackfan. And it is exactly what JH always dreamed of. Nobody can put a lid on Kobe, the ref’s won’t allow it anyway, but I hope Julius does well and gets to stay in for most of the game, it would be great for his confidence.

  6. cpwolfpackfan 01/05/2007 at 5:04 PM #

    I have a question though. DO you think karl would put Mccants on kobe if it was his first time starting and coming back from a injury? I don’ think so, karl dosn’t like hodge and that is a know fact. I don’t hate very many things in this world, and I have respect for many of ex UNC players and coaches, But I can say that I HATE GEORGE KARL. the man is a crying little baby. I wish the nuggets would lose every game they play with him coaching, but for the jewls sake, I hope they win tonight

  7. Woof Wolf 01/05/2007 at 5:18 PM #

    http://tennessee.scout.com/2/605288.html

    The above link is to Scout’s Tennessee site. It’s about Johnson’s brief career at UT and his decision to transfer.

  8. ncsu96 01/05/2007 at 5:27 PM #

    SFN going back to the original topic…
    What’s your take on Archer? His recent stats at UK are not very exciting, do you blame this on their probation?
    any insight? A kentucky fan also said he was a ‘bend don’t break’ guy… any truth in that?

    I;m little nervous on this one but I realize the info available is basically total crap.

  9. redfred2 01/05/2007 at 5:27 PM #

    cp

    George Karl reminds me of someone who could be John Dailey’s older, and much more spiteful, brother. He just doesn’t seem to have the upbringing that a job like his requires. I have to agree with your assessment about Hodge’s assignment. It’s not one that anyone would especially want, Michael Cooper maybe, but not as a first time starter, and doubly so coming off an injury. I hope Hodge plays his skinny, shot up, ass off.

  10. Gene 01/05/2007 at 5:27 PM #

    From what I read, Johnson got some minutes earlier in the year, but his numbers aren’t too impressive. Tennessee had a starter ahead of him, who was injured and got took his minutes. He was basically 3rd on the depth chart and Pearl wanted to redshirt him.

    If we can get him, I’d be happy. This would give us four guards going into next year, otherwise our backcourt would only be Degand, Ferguson and Fells.

    Bartosz was a project, when we signed him. I hope he redshirts and can develop. I have no problem giving him a scholarship, because of his size and potential upside.

  11. Woof Wolf 01/05/2007 at 5:49 PM #

    If all the stats I have found are correct, Hodge has been in one game and played one minute all year. I wouldn’t think even George Karl would be stupid enough to start him against Kobe.

  12. RedTerror29 01/05/2007 at 5:54 PM #

    ^”A kentucky fan also said he was a ‘bend don’t break’ guy… any truth in that?”

    The stats I saw – terrible total defensive yardage but lots of turnovers forced would seem to indicate the opposite.

    Having seen Kentucky’s team for less than a half this season, I’m leaning towards giving Archer the benefit of the doubt considering the circumstances at UK (NEVER good AND coming off probation) and the fact they still made it to a bowl.

    The report from the radio station in Kentucky seems to indicate otherwise, but it would make a lot of sense that if Archer thinks he may get fired he would be willing to jump ship to a position coaching job at a better program (us).

  13. Dan 01/05/2007 at 6:13 PM #

    Wow. Bible is triple dippin’? OC/WR/QB? I really would have liked to have seen coach Dixon stay. Our young WR’s were good this year. Is this a sign that salaries are so high we cant afford a WR coach?

  14. Dan 01/05/2007 at 7:01 PM #

    SFN: He has been injured most of the year and is a candidate for a medical redshirt.

    Thanks SFN! That changes a lot.

  15. sautz 01/05/2007 at 7:05 PM #

    I was hoping for London to join the staff as DC and Archer to take another position. $500K seems a lot for Archer, too (Herring makes about $330K). O’Brien’s friends seem to be making out on this deal so far. If Cignetti isn’t retained I will be worried.

  16. Winston Wolf 01/05/2007 at 8:20 PM #

    I don’t think the entire $500k is guauranteed.

  17. Woof Wolf 01/05/2007 at 8:24 PM #

    IMHO the major problem under CTC seemed to be continuity and chemistry of the coaching staff. I think we should trust TOB to put together a staff that HE is comfortable with and can keep around for awhile.

    Archer’s offer was a max of $500K with some pretty heavy incentives from what I heard. I don’t have a problem paying him that much if we win a BCS bowl. He had three great years as DC at LSU. As head coach he won a SEC Championship before things got away from him the last two years there. He bounced around a little before coaching linebackers for Cowher for seven years. He left there to take the DC job at Kentucky

  18. ncsu96 01/05/2007 at 9:02 PM #

    Dan – no… I think Bible does double duty b/c Petercuskie is ass. head coach/recruiting coordinater/special teams. Most staffs don’t have someone focused on special teams.

  19. BorntoHowl 01/05/2007 at 11:09 PM #

    If UK can unload Archer, they are supposedly going all out for Joe Kines from Alabama. If the offer has truly been made, we will be seeing Archer here in Packland. The $$$$$ seem rediculously high for his credentials. Granted schollies were reduced, but only by five. In year 3 his defense was next to last in the NCAA giving up 458 yards per game. Is there any time left for the offense to get onto the field???? They averaged that, and I bet our O hasn’t achieved that since PR left. This is scary.

    http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/stats/byteam?cat1=defense&cat2=Total&conference=I-A_all

    If we were a Penn State known for linebackers, maybe we could run his 3-4 and easily bring in that type of talent. I frankly don’t see that, and outside of our OL, linebackers are a close second for being the weakest part of the team. This is the same talent situation he had at UK.

    TOB is taking one helluva risk going this route with the defense.

  20. bTHEredterror 01/05/2007 at 11:46 PM #

    Actually, “bend but don’t break” philosophy depends on turnovers. The premise being to make a team drive it and force more plays per score in hopes of the turnover or forcing field goals when room runs out in the red zone. I was always more partial to “blitz the hell out of ’em” myself.
    I don’t like the 3-4 either, for its hard to find the right type of player for the pass rush LB. We need 2-3 seasons of good recruiting before we can think about starting four LB’s, I’m not even sure we have enough bodies to run a solid 4-3 right now.

  21. StateFans 01/06/2007 at 12:00 AM #

    We even bolded and highlighted the part about INCENTIVES and MAXing. But, nobody seems to get it.

  22. sautz 01/06/2007 at 8:59 AM #

    I think everyone gets that the $500,000 is maxing out incentives, but that is a lot of cash for Archer. It would seem we could get someone, for the lack of a better word, else besides an old friend of O’Brien who hasn’t done much lately for this job and that money. Our defense has done great the last few years with an attacking style. We’ll wait and see. Hopefully Ky’s defensive talent = Duke’s and there was nothing Archer could possibly due but have the 2nd worst defense in the country.

  23. unknown 01/06/2007 at 9:24 AM #

    O’Brien has been to a basketball game at the RBC, maybe Mount St Mary’s but can’t remember for sure. I saw both he and Coach Portee entering the stadium before the game.

  24. TNPackFan 01/06/2007 at 11:09 AM #

    Any chance of hiring Frank Bush as DC? An NCSU alum, was linebackers coach and assistant head coach this past year for the Arizona Cardinals. He is probably available now too.

    http://www.azcardinals.com/team/staff_detail.php?PRKey=10

  25. Sw0rdf1sh 01/06/2007 at 11:10 AM #

    So what’s the word on Portee and Cignetti?

1 2 3 4

Leave a Reply