Tom O’Brien
Tom O’Brien went 115–80 as a head coach, 1997–2012, at Boston College and NC State. Share
- Record
- 115–80 career
- Seasons
- 16
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 2005 9–3, No. 18
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Boston College | 4–7 | T–5th | |||
| 1998 | Boston College | 4–7 | 5th | |||
| 1999 | Boston College | 8–4 | 3rd | Insight.com Bowl L | ||
| 2000 | Boston College | 7–5 | T–5th | Aloha Bowl W | ||
| 2001 | Boston College | 8–4 | T–3rd | Music City Bowl W | 21 | |
| 2002 | Boston College | 9–4 | T–4th | Motor City Bowl W | ||
| 2003 | Boston College | 8–5 | 5th | San Francisco Bowl W | ||
| 2004 | Boston College | 9–3 | T–1st | Continental Tire Bowl W | 21 | |
| 2005 | Boston College | 9–3 | T–1st (Atlantic) | MPC Computers Bowl W | 18 | |
| 2006 | Boston College | 9–3 | T–2nd (Atlantic) | Meineke Car Care (not coached) | ||
| 2007 | NC State | 5–7 | T–5th (Atlantic) | |||
| 2008 | NC State | 6–7 | T–3rd (Atlantic) | PapaJohns.com Bowl L | ||
| 2009 | NC State | 5–7 | 5th (Atlantic) | |||
| 2010 | NC State | 9–4 | T–2nd (Atlantic) | Champs Sports Bowl W | 25 | |
| 2011 | NC State | 8–5 | 4th (Atlantic) | Belk Bowl W | ||
| 2012 | NC State | 7–5 | 3rd (Atlantic) | Music City (not coached) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
William GreenConsensus All‑American, 2001- Mike CloudConsensus All‑American, 1998
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 43 | 16–27 | 37% |
| Against top-10 teams | 13 | 3–10 | 23% |
| Against rivals | 51 | 25–26 | 49% |
| Conference games | 119 | 59–60 | 50% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 10 | 8–2 | 80% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 71 | 41–30 | 58% |
| At home | 101 | 71–30 | 70% |
| On the road | 83 | 36–47 | 43% |
| At neutral sites | 11 | 8–3 | 73% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 107 | 78–29 | 73% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 88 | 37–51 | 42% |
His own 195 games on file, 1997–2012, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Beamer 1997–2010 | 2–9 | Virginia Tech | 11 | |
| Jim Grobe 2003–2012 | 4–6 | Wake Forest | 10 | |
| Paul Pasqualoni 1997–2012 | 4–5 | Syracuse, UConn | 9 | |
| Butch Davis 1997–2010 | 4–4 | Miami, North Carolina | 8 | |
| Walt Harris 1997–2004 | 4–4 | Pittsburgh | 8 | |
| Bobby Wallace 1998–2004 | 6–1 | Temple | 7 | |
| Randy Edsall 2000–2012 | 6–0 | UConn, Maryland | 6 | |
| Ralph Friedgen 2005–2010 | 3–3 | Maryland | 6 | |
| Greg Schiano 2001–2008 | 4–1 | Rutgers | 5 | |
| Bob Davie 1997–2001 | 2–3 | Notre Dame | 5 |
Tom O’Brien’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia Techseries | 11 | 2–9 |
| Miamiseries | 11 | 2–9 |
| Wake Forestseries | 10 | 4–6 |
| Rutgersseries | 9 | 8–1 |
| Pittsburghseries | 9 | 5–4 |
| West Virginiaseries | 9 | 5–4 |
| North Carolinaseries | 8 | 6–2 |
| Templeseries | 8 | 6–2 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975–81 | Navy | Offensive tackles and tight ends coach | |
| 1982–96 | Virginia | Offensive line coach and offensive coordinator | |
| 1997–2006 | Boston College | Head coach | |
| 2007–12 | NC State | Head coach | |
| 2013–14 | Virginia | AHC-O and tight ends coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- George WelshNavy, Virginia
- Mike LondonVirginia
Assistants who became head coaches
- Al GoldenTemple, Miami
- Don TreadwellMichigan State, Miami (OH), Arkansas–Pine Bluff
- Frank SpazianiBoston College
- Jeff JagodzinskiBoston College, Omaha Nighthawks
- Mike LondonVirginia, Richmond, Howard, William & Mary
- Tim RoseMiami (OH)
- Bob ShoopColumbia
- Dana BibleNC State
- Ryan DayOhio State
- Andy McCollumMiddle Tennessee, Sewanee
- Mike ArcherLSU
- Paul PetersonSnow, Utah Tech
- and 1 more
Worked under (2)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Welsh | Navy | 1975–81 | Offensive tackles and tight ends coach | |
| George Welsh | Virginia | 1982–96 | Offensive line coach and offensive coordinator | |
| Mike London | Virginia | 2013–14 | AHC-O and tight ends coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (13)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al Golden | Boston College, 1997–99: linebackers coach | Temple, Miami | |
| Don Treadwell | Boston College, 1997–98: passing game coordinator | Michigan State, Miami (OH), Arkansas–Pine Bluff | |
| Frank Spaziani | Boston College, 1997–98: running backs coach; 1999–2006: defensive coordinator | Boston College | |
| Jeff Jagodzinski | Boston College, 1997–98: offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | Boston College, Omaha Nighthawks | |
| Mike London | Boston College, 1997–2000: defensive line coach | Virginia, Richmond, Howard, William & Mary | |
| Tim Rose | Boston College, 1997–98: defensive coordinator | Miami (OH) | |
| Bob Shoop | Boston College, 1999–2002: defensive backs coach | Columbia | |
| Dana Bible | Boston College, 1999–2006: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks and wide receivers coach; NC State, 2007–11: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks and wide receivers coach; 2012: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | NC State | |
| Ryan Day | Boston College, 2003–04: graduate assistant | Ohio State | |
| Andy McCollum | NC State, 2007–09: linebackers coach | Middle Tennessee, Sewanee | |
| Mike Archer | NC State, 2007–12: defensive coordinator | LSU | |
| Paul Peterson | NC State, 2007: graduate assistant | Snow, Utah Tech | |
| Jon Tenuta | NC State, 2010–11: linebackers coach; 2012: assistant head coach and linebackers coach | Georgia Tech |
Other assistants under him (3)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Bill McGovern | Boston College, 2000–06: linebackers coach | |
| Desmond Kitchings | NC State, 2012: running backs and tight ends coach | |
| Troy Walters | NC State, 2012: wide receivers coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | NC State | head coachbonuses up to $1,110,000 | $1,936,225 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2011 | NC State | head coachbonuses up to $750,000 | $1,877,950 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2010 | NC State | head coachbonuses up to $750,000 | $1,520,450 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2009 | NC State | head coachbonuses up to $700,000 | $1,200,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2008 | NC State | head coach | $1,100,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2007 | NC State | head coachbonuses up to $850,000 | $1,100,000 USA Today via Leeds |
The same USA Today database for 2006–16, from Michael Leeds’ replication data on Harvard Dataverse (CC0): the season’s contract pay.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
O’Brien’s teams went for it on 20% of fourth downs and on 36% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 55% of plays and took 23.6 seconds a play, 2004–2012.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 12 g | Boston College | 24 of 106 23% | 49% | 51% | 21.7 | −0.07 | |
| 2005 12 g | Boston College | 12 of 93 13% | 24% | 49% | 23.8 | −0.01 | |
| 2006 13 g | Boston College | 21 of 100 21% | 42% | 54% | 26.1 | −0.09 | |
| 2007 12 g | NC State | 19 of 106 18% | 30% | 62% | 22.8 | −0.18 | |
| 2008 13 g | NC State | 16 of 96 17% | 32% | 50% | 26.7 | −0.06 | |
| 2009 12 g | NC State | 19 of 77 25% | 31% | 54% | 24.4 | +0.05 | |
| 2010 13 g | NC State | 20 of 108 19% | 38% | 58% | 22.1 | −0.04 | |
| 2011 13 g | NC State | 22 of 107 21% | 39% | 55% | 24.3 | −0.09 | |
| 2012 13 g | NC State | 28 of 124 23% | 39% | 58% | 20.8 | −0.07 | |
| All 113 g | 181 of 917 20% | 36% | 55% | 23.6 | −0.06 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.