How I feel about TOB’s return

Let me get this out of the way early in the week. I don’t hate TOB. But I am glad he’s someone else coach now. The media and other fans often wonder why some BC fans weren’t more upset when the old Marine left Chestnut Hill. Like any long relationship, there are a million things you could point to: coming up short in big games and the endless list of excuses and lowering of expectations in the media. Those aren’t my biggest gripes or the reason I was glad he moved on. My problem with TOB is that he never embraced BC publicly. You always got the feeling he never wanted to be here. I think he took the job as a stepping stone to get the UVA gig when Welsh retired. As we know that didn’t turn out his way. He was also the bridesmaid for jobs at Georgia Tech and Washington. This desire to move on started to show in how he interacted with fans, recruits and many of his players.

Instead of saying “we are BC” and we can win here, TOB always used what BC is and was as a reason for coming up short or to make his efforts look more heroic. He’s still doing it. Check out this quote in the Herald.

Asked if he felt at all underappreciated toward the end of his stay at BC, O’Brien paused ever so briefly before answering.

“I know this,” he said. “I know anyone in my profession and all my peers, every time I see them, quite frankly, they say how amazed they were at how things happened, the way that we played and what our staff accomplished. That’s all I care about. The people in this profession that know football know what was accomplished there in the last 10 years.”

Yet as I’ve shown, BC is a winning program. TOB did well, but he was not a miracle worker. But that mindset, whether he is spinning or really believes it, is the heart of the problem. He feels like he did great work and was never appreciated. Just look at what he said to his mouthpiece at the Sporting News.

Boston College fans won't soon forget O'Brien's departure after 10 years on The Heights. BC will get an up-close look at O'Brien on September 8, when the Wolfpack visits Boston College. So, Tom: How do you think fans will react?

"I know what they should do," he says. "But I don't know what they will do."

TOB doesn’t get it and never will. The losses were part of the problem, but TOB’s inability to open up to the fans and embrace BC was as big a problem as coming up short. How could he ever win championships at BC when he never believed BC could win it all?

Jags may never be as successful on the field as TOB, but his attitude and approach are welcome. He uses everything BC is as a selling point not a hindrance.

I don’t begrudge those BC fans who’ll give TOB a polite applause. That’s their right. In ten or so years, I am sure we’ll bring him back to honor his accomplishments in Boston. When that time comes and we’ve all moved on, I’ll give TOB the credit and applause his accomplishments earned. This Saturday I’ll boo.

[For those who don't think I am balanced on the subject of TOB, check out this series. I think it is pretty fair. Ten years or TOB: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.]