Transcript from Live Chat with Tom O’Brien

'12 Football ACC & Other NCS Football Tom O'Brien45

Lots of good stuff here from GoPack.

QUESTION: Coach, after a successful 2010 season and a healthy beginning roster to start the 2011 season. What message are you and your staff going trying to send to the players and NC State community to build off the recent success and how has Glennon began take over that role of leader which Russell left behind?

O’Brien: In our initial meeting when we came back in January, we stressed the fact that 2010 was over and that day was the first day of the 2011 season. We accomplished great things by being ranked 25th in the country and winning the bowl game BUT we understand how difficult it is to move forward. My message to the team was that whatever they did last year in preparation for 2010 will not be good enough in preparation for 2011. We as a coaching staff, as a strength and conditioning staff and as a football team all have to be better. THAT has been the emphasis since the first workout in January and will continue to be until the last game of the 2011 season.

'12 Football ACC & Other NCS Football Tom O'Brien

45 Responses to Transcript from Live Chat with Tom O’Brien

  1. STLPack01 03/09/2011 at 4:51 PM #

    @thekind

    I agree that RW is the better qb.

    I think the whole point though is that TOB does not expect RW to come back, so they are moving on with MG as they have to. IF, as you say, RW were to come back, I would anticipate that he would be the starter. As you say, it would be crazy not to start him. But there are very serious doubts as to whether that will happen.

  2. baxter 03/09/2011 at 5:24 PM #

    STL,

    Not disagreeing that a benchmark of top 25 was set by DY.

    But sorry man, I’m just not buying that strong leadership by setting a top 25 benchmark is what got the results from TOB. Its absurd to think that under Fowler TOB was essentially going through the motions because he wasn’t being held to a benchmark of performing well and just was going at it half ass. I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell never got that impression from listening to him after each season.

    DY’s arrival had no impact on TOB’s ability to coach and get more out of his guys than the other teams. If he needed DY to come in and say “Tom, I expect you to win games and compete with the best in the nation and by the end of the season be top 25” then he might as well have been fired. Finishing top 25 is probably in his bonus clause for one, because we know winning ten games and going to the ACCCG is there. If those reasons weren’t enough for him to want to win here and perform at another level then what the hell would DY coming in and chatting up TOB with her expectations be good for?

    Being held accountable is BS and is not a motivator for TOB. You don’t coach as long and well as he has to need THAT as what gets you out of bed on Saturdays. And the reason he keeps bringing up Top 25 is because its the benchmark held against every team in the country, its a recruiting tool and it says to everyone around here in NC there was only one bad boy in this state. Claiming your program that everyone has ragged on for 4 years as one of the best in the country by all the pundits is totally brag worthy. I hope he says it over and over again.

    We sure as hell haven’t heard it lately.

  3. Texpack 03/09/2011 at 5:34 PM #

    TOB is trying to nip a possible “Brett Favre” situation in the bud. The program has to move on with the assumption that RW isn’t going to play football this year. QB is a position where you definitely don’t want the team wondering if the guy they are practicing with is really going to play or not come the Fall. TOB is right on target with this approach. 2011 prediction 11-1 or 10-2.

    I loved watching Russell Wilson play football for State. He is absolutely one of the best 3-4 offensive weapons ever to play for the Wolfpack. My wife even wanted him to play QB for her Longhorns this past season.

  4. hball57 03/09/2011 at 5:40 PM #

    For the last comment, if all it took was to set a specific parameter to make coaches achieve, then everyone would do it.

    And kind, regarding RW, as much as I love him, he would not, IMHO, be able to beat out Glennon if he shows up in August. And if you paid attention to TOB last year, RW was not “clearly” better than Glennon coming out of camp. He said it was closer than anyone would imagine and if RW didn’t have the starting experience, he might not have been the QB.

    So with RW not being in off season workouts and Spring Practice he may not show up better that Glennon.

  5. hball57 03/09/2011 at 5:41 PM #

    And from an African-American, there are plenty of true examples of racism. This is no way one of them.

  6. bradleyb123 03/09/2011 at 5:42 PM #

    No need to judge TOB for this. We all know he WILL play the best QB available. If Russell returns, and is better than Glennon (“better” meaning not just the better player, but also READY to play), then he will start. Otherwise, Glennon will start.

    And someone suggested racism? *sigh*

    It is my hope that one day people will eventually be able to have a serious conversation and express their very VALID opinions (that have nothing to do with race) about someone of another race, and people will NOT play the race card on it.

  7. whitefang 03/09/2011 at 6:02 PM #

    Russell Wilson, who I believe was one of the best qb’s to play in the ACC is DEFINTELY not the best QB on State’s team now. As has been said he is not on the team. But not only this, Div 1 college football does not end after the bowl game. The QB is the team leader. I sort of think TOB needs a leader to get ready for next season. The team is already preparing every day even if they are not practicing. They are working out on their own, throwing on their own. Sure Wilson was playing baseball last year, but everybody believed he would be back. Wilson is NO LONGER THE TEAM LEADER now.
    Could he earn it back? Probably given the time and the desire. And if you think TOB bases decisions like that on how much melanin is in someone’s skin, then you are an idiot. I suspect RW would think your “racist” comment was even stupider than I thought it was.

  8. OldEnough 03/09/2011 at 8:08 PM #

    Phillip Rivers is the better quarterback. If Phillip and Russell both come back Phillip is better.

  9. Wolfman 9806 03/09/2011 at 9:30 PM #

    The simple fact is that RW is not on the team, so comparing him to MG is a stupid argument. You simply cannot allow a player to come and go as he pleases and still retain the starting job.

    Now as far as RW being as good as PR statement goes. Kind, you really are a dumdass.

  10. Old MacDonald 03/09/2011 at 10:26 PM #

    I can’t comprehend this. Are there really people expecting TOB to name a QB as the starter who is not currently on the team and who likely won’t be here in the fall? He should name the Easter Bunny as a starting DE while he is at it. Maybe the Tooth Fairy to take Nate’s old spot.

  11. LRM 03/09/2011 at 11:05 PM #

    If Philip Rivers comes back this fall then he should start, hands down.

  12. turfpack 03/09/2011 at 11:31 PM #

    Yes,RW is a very good QB……I have seen MG in practice a few times the last two years. He is a good looking QB with a differet skill set….typical Prostyle QB…tall 6’6″, more athletic than I thought he would be and a damn cannon for a arm.The offense will be altered to fit his ability.

  13. PackerInRussia 03/10/2011 at 2:01 AM #

    thekind,
    I think it is more complicated than just letting Wilson take over if he comes back in the fall. In the interview, TOB said, “We have to re-do the whole passing game.” So, by the time autumn rolls around, it will be Glennon’s offense, his team, his leadership that has been present the whole time. How do you just throw Wilson into that without some major problems? I have said it before, that I think this is THE BEST decision that could be made simply because the offense will have to be re-worked for Glennon (not to mention the other intangibles) just as it was done for Wilson. They are two very different styles of QB and not completely interchangeable.

  14. PoppaJohn 03/10/2011 at 4:53 AM #

    Wow, this is a funny thread!
    It’s almost like someone at SFN pays somebody like ‘thekind’ to pitch a few bombs just to get responders. Or maybe ‘thekind’ doesn’t exist at all, and Daily Update debates himself to draw us in and then just sits back and laughs at us.

    Racism???? Debating RW/MG in March when RW hasn’t expressed any interest in coming back??? Hilarious!

    Least we aren’t talking about Sendek again.

  15. wolfonthehill 03/10/2011 at 7:07 AM #

    thekind – After a few games last season, I was ready for Glennon to get a chance… Russell was not playing well by any means, and the rust cost us a game or two. I believed at that point that he may not have been the best QB on our team… and I believe the same will be true this fall after another 6 months away from the game.

    So there’s one person who’s saying it clearly – I believe it’s entirely possible that Glennon will be a better QB than Russell in August. And we won’t know unless we let him – you know – PLAY. So we’re going to let him play. I’m behind it 100%.

  16. Packfan28 03/10/2011 at 7:12 AM #

    the “borderline racist” guy has taken a good topic and turned it into borderline stupid. I take that back. All the way stupid.

  17. albunde6 03/10/2011 at 9:25 AM #

    “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail”. Glennon is the QB going into spring practice. More energy should be focused on who will be the number 2. With more pocket type passer, would expect more pressure on the line to protect. Offense will change, that is the only given for next season.

  18. NSFwolf37 03/10/2011 at 12:18 PM #

    I don’t understand why some people aren’t ready for MG to start playing. I think that we need to get as much out of MG as possible. It’s hard to see such talent go to waste. RW is not the best QB on the team. He was the best play maker and he was able to keep drives alive because of his running ability.

  19. Bowlpack 03/10/2011 at 6:14 PM #

    @alunde6:

    You’re right on. Not only about the protection needing to improve but the offense changing. We will need to develop another dimension and that equates to an effective run game. We will be more dangerous on “non-passing” downs if we can better sell a play action. I’d love to see a metric of the passing success rate of RW out of play action versus RW out of the gun. I would say that he was better out of shotgun as the defense was already pretty certain about what we were going to try. That said, I really like Mustafa’s potential and hope that Barnes can live up to his pre-injury billing. Again, the production out of the run game comes out of how well the line is able to hold up. TOB seems to feel good about what we’ve got in the backfield (I thought Creecy was recruited to play WR) which is mildly reassuring.

  20. albunde6 03/10/2011 at 8:48 PM #

    If Glennon has accuracy to go with arm strength, then this should be a good year for offense. Just as I felt last year, offense will have ability to score points.

    Big question is will we see improvement from he defense?

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