NCAA Football Week 1 Tailgate: Day 3

Give O'Brien More Time

N.C. State fans are all tired of being told to “be patient” and to give our football program “time to improve.” If you have truly had it with hearing these sayings, hear this out, one last time.

In his first three seasons in Raleigh, Tom O’Brien has a 16-21 record in three losing seasons. The Pack has made it to one bowl game, a loss to Rutgers in the 2008 Papajohns.com Bowl. His 9-15 record against the Atlantic Coast Conference shows very little to be proud of- with the exception of a 3-0 record against rival North Carolina. With the inclusion of Chuck Amato’s final season, State is one of only six BCS conference schools to post four straight losing seasons (Duke is the only other ACC school on the list).

One might ask, where is the bright side? It lies within O’Brien’s experience at Boston College. In his first three seasons in Chestnut Hill, the Eagles went 16-18 with one bowl appearance, a loss in the 1999 Insight Bowl. He followed those first three seasons by going 59-27, leading the Eagles to seven bowl games, and an ACC Atlantic Division title.

Give him more time, if only for just one more season. It is apparent from the progress made over the summer that his players have now started to buy into his system. The Pack will sport a potent offense being known as “the perfect storm,” led by All-ACC quarterback Russell Wilson and an experienced receiving group, a defense that returns arguably the scariest linebacker in the ACC in Nate Irving after a year out from injuries, and a secondary that if nothing else, now has a year of experience under its belt. Not to mention a new linebackers coach, who was the associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech and Notre Dame, John Tenuta.

Last but not least, there is a new Athletic Director in Raleigh in Debbie Yow who has vowed to not accept mediocrity anymore. Her concerns are your concerns, no more blind hires following coaches who were around two and three seasons too long. If O’Brien and Yow can stay on the same page, there should be an improvement in Pack football coming soon.