Tom O’Brien With Dave Glenn

General NCS Football Tom O'Brien17

With preseason football practice a little more than a month away, N.C. State football coach Tom O’Brien recently shared his thoughts on the offseason, Wolfpack fans, what he misses about Boston, his military background, why he often dodges questions about his personnel, his recruiting philosophy, academic standards, his strength and conditioning beliefs, and other matters.

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General NCS Football Tom O'Brien

17 Responses to Tom O’Brien With Dave Glenn

  1. sf59 06/30/2007 at 4:14 PM #

    can’t wait

  2. PAPacker 06/30/2007 at 6:40 PM #

    This sounds very comprehensive. I would be thrilled to have State play with more character and less swagger than we’ve seen over the last several years. Beat a man, shake his hand, walk off the field. Act like you’ve made a tackle or scored a touchdown before.

  3. bTHEredterror 06/30/2007 at 10:05 PM #

    /\ Agree. With both

  4. redfred2 07/01/2007 at 9:23 AM #

    Amen!!! with ending all of the silly showboating. After some of ridiculous stuff we witnessed on the football field in recent years, I had to wonder how State fans were jumping all over UNC for the dunk at the end of the ACC basketball tournament. That didn’t bother me at all, and to their credit, at least the powder blues were winning the game when they did it.

  5. choppack1 07/01/2007 at 9:47 AM #

    To me – what you can take away from this interview is that TOB isn’t going to go into much detail about the depth chart…He doesn’t believe it’s smart to do because it allows your opponent to prep for you. His experience in the marines and his previous experience w/ George Welsh has been instrumental in his philososphy to running a footbal program.

  6. ncsu_kappa 07/01/2007 at 8:57 PM #

    don’t jump all over me but I enjoy the swagger that our players show. It helps fans get into the game more and to me it shows that it means something to them. When they have respect for others and when they have good character I don’t mind seeing emotion on the field. The Barry Sanders approach is classy but I don’t see the disrespect of a Lambeau Leap, or Deion’s shananagans when he got an interception or a TD or both. I think there is a place for a swagger, like when Julius Hodge got the game winning layup and free throw against UCONN to put us in the sweet 16 and held up the “STATE” part of jersey for everyone across the country to see. I took pride in that. In the end people will say that there are better ways to do it, but I think that’s where people will have to agree to disagree

  7. RabidWolf 07/01/2007 at 10:27 PM #

    Celebrations are good….to a point. When it is interpreted as “showing up” your opponent, not so good. I grew up learning to play hard, but play within the rules…play like the other guy is your enemy, but help him up if he hits the floor…play to win, but play with respect. But that’s me…I’m a bit oldschool.

  8. packpigskinfan23 07/01/2007 at 11:19 PM #

    kappa- I agree, but I think the “swagger” these guys are talking about is the type where a LB tackles a guy who just ran 10 yards for a first down… then gets up and celebrates/barks in the guys face.

    unfortunatly a few players in red over the past few years have been known to do that.

  9. ncsu_kappa 07/02/2007 at 7:02 AM #

    Rabid and Pack…23, I’m definitely more in agreement than disagreement but I think I have a higher tolerance than most for what may be seemed as sign of disrespect and what may be seen as celebrating.
    and I emphatically agree that there is no place for the taunting that you speak of and especially after big gains.

  10. noah 07/02/2007 at 9:05 AM #

    To me, there’s nothing more disrespectful to your opponent then the LACK of celebration at the end of a play.

    Yeah, I got 15 yards…but hey, it was only against you. It’s not like I just did it against a real man.

    When I played sports and saw someone celebrating, I usually thought, “Wow, that guy must suck if he’s happy he hit a HR off me! I’m out here slinging crap. What girl scout CANT hit it out?”

    Terror is lining up against someone like Jim Brown. Richard Pryor, who was good friend’s with Brown, said when guys would get in a cheap shot or talk junk, Brown would say very quietly, “That’s going to cost you 15 yards.” And then he’d rip it off on the next play. Fifteen more yards.

    When one of Pryor’s buddies got a little heated during a card game and started talking junk to Brown, everyone was holding the guy back while he hurtled insults across the room. Brown just stood up and very quietly and calmly said, “Gentlemen…I believe if you let my man go he might be able to express himself a little better.”

    Pryor said that whole room got totally quiet and the guy being held back whispered, “Any of you MFers let me go, I will kill you. Just drag me out of the room right now.”

  11. Mike 07/02/2007 at 10:14 AM #

    I do not mind a little celebration, but the swagger is crap. My one fault with Sheridan, and I am a Sheridan era grad, was the lack of celebration at any time. Act like you have been there before, but some excitement and enthusiasm is good.

    I agree with packpigksin, the crap I hated was when we would talk smack after making a tackle after the back roared through us for 15 yards. I saw this way too often and would be pleased to never see it again. Or Blackmon getting in the face of a defender who brings him down, which I saw way too often too.

  12. haze 07/02/2007 at 12:22 PM #

    Celebration has a place within the context of the game.

    A 3rd & 8 stop is worth bringing the house down if it forces a punt in the 4th quarter of a close game. On the otherhand, a pick-6 or monster sack should be nearly silent if you’re down by 24 in the 4th quarter.

    In the end, what did the play mean with respect to actually winning the game or, at least, about the fun of the game (e.g. in the midst of a blowout win over UNC, any TD/fumble/sack/tackle/block/snap/whistle/ruffled-blade-o-grass is worth a celebration).

  13. WolftownVA81 07/02/2007 at 12:34 PM #

    “Champions in the classroom, Champions in the community, Champions on the football field.”

    To me, this was the key statement in the interview. It tells me what kind of guy TOB is and it gives me the most hope for our football program. If he and his staff live and work by this motto, we can’t go anywhere but up and we all win – but especially the players and their families.

  14. packpigskinfan23 07/02/2007 at 2:27 PM #

    Wolftown-its my understanding that this is TOB’s motto for at least this year- possibly longer. I think its something that will stick for longer then that. Expect to see it on shirts if we can make a run for the ACC championship soon.

  15. CaptainCraptacular 07/02/2007 at 7:04 PM #

    Take a stroll through your memory back to last years BC team, and how they did or did not celebrate. They celebrated when appropriate (last second win vs BYU and Clemson) and didn’t get stupid penalties celebrating or taunting at inappropriate times. I think we don’t have to worry about them showing emotion or celebrating, because they will, and we also don’t have to worry about them celebrating inappropriately, because I don’t think they will do that either, at least not more than once.

  16. noah 07/03/2007 at 9:17 AM #

    More than anything, I would like the team to show character…on and off the field.

    That’s it.

    Spiking a football doesn’t mean you do or do not have character. But do you really expect displays of character from people who get tickets for going 100 mph in a 45? And then don’t show up for court? And, oh yeah, he apparently doesn’t show up for class? And, oh yeah, he’s apparently got five kids by five different mothers and he doesn’t show up for them either?

  17. highstick 07/03/2007 at 11:58 AM #

    Speaking of tickets, any recent news on Larry Harris????

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