http://www.wralsportsfan.com/pressure-on-o-brien-to-close-out-season-strong/11712957/

Reading some "fans" comments is worse than listening to a bunch of women talk about who should win Project Runway.

10/29/2012 10:39:02 AM

You can't fire a coach after 8/9 win seasons unless you're a perennial national title contender...which we definitely aren't.

He'll coach out his contract through the end of next season and retire.

Our next football coaching hire should be VERY interesting.

10/29/2012 10:56:04 AM

Honestly I will be beyond shocked if we don't shut the bed against one of UVA, WF, or BC. If we win those 3 and lose to Clemson it would be really hard to justify firing him. Even if we should.

10/29/2012 11:12:45 AM

I dont think you can fire him just because he has set us up to suck so bad the next two years. It'll put the next coach in a hole just like the start of TOBs tenure

Of course, I'm not sure that firing him after we go 4-8 next year is going to help the next coach any either...

10/29/2012 11:15:18 AM

weren't some people predicting 4-8 or worse this year?

10/29/2012 11:16:48 AM

No.

10/29/2012 11:17:31 AM

Quote :

"Regardless of where you stand, know this -- it would be difficult to sell NC State to prospective coaches after firing a guy who potentially wins 9 games with a bowl victory and tripped up once against the rival."

Haha, this part sounds really damned familiar...

10/29/2012 11:18:35 AM

To who? Don't say it because it isn't true.

10/29/2012 11:22:14 AM

Roll Damn TOB

10/29/2012 11:28:11 AM

Quote :

"Haha, this part sounds really damned familiar..."

Difference is....we've never been shit in football. Our last conference championship was over 30 fucking years ago. Sad to say, but TOB has our program above average for NC State standards. We're a 6-5 program that makes a bowl every other year.

In basketball we have a history of national championships, a decent amount of conference championships, and facilities that can rival anyone in the country.

In football we don't have the championships, our facilities are middle of the road, and we play in a shit conference that nobody gives a fuck about.

It will be very interesting to see who our next coach is in a couple years and whether or not they'll be able to recruit like everyone thinks we're capable of it (and provide the coaching to match...which Amato wasn't able to do).

10/29/2012 11:56:21 AM

And you forgot about he who shall not be named couldn't beat his rival AT ALL.

10/29/2012 11:58:47 AM

James Curle (of the RnR podcast) blog on this:

http://realtailgate.com/whether-you-like-it-or-not-obrien-not-going-anywhere/

10/29/2012 12:01:29 PM

lol We're getting dangerously close to 30 years since our last ACC Championship in basketball as well; though we've at least played in several title games.

And playing in such a crappy conference is part of the frustration. Ie it doesn't take as much to win, but yeah all the good coaches/recruits are going to go to the good schools/conferences.

My biggest frustration is consistency. On some drives we look unstoppable, in others we look like a high school. Beat a #3 FSU one week, try to win "least retarded" in a game against an ACC cellar dweller the next. I guess it's as everyone says, the best to hope for/aspire to is to finish just under middle of the pack in football each year.

[Edited on October 29, 2012 at 12:13 PM. Reason : -]

10/29/2012 12:11:30 PM

Quote :

" On some drives we look unstoppable, in others we look like a high school. Beat a #3 FSU one week, try to win "least retarded" in a game against an ACC bottom feeder the next."

No offense, but you can probably say that for the majority of football teams in the country. You're either awesome and top 10, you suck badly, or you're in between with us. UNC got beat by the same Wake team that FSU just crushed, that we beat. No transitive property in sports.

10/29/2012 12:13:34 PM

Yeah.

10/29/2012 12:14:32 PM

^^ yep. hell, you even see it in the top ten teams. Oklahoma got bitchmade at home by a notre dame team that squeaked by a mediocre BYU team in South Bend last week.


That said, I still question the "prevent offense" in the last 10 minutes or so of the game and the play for overtime plan starting with the FG attempt by UNC till fucking losing.

10/29/2012 12:48:50 PM

Whoa some realistic people on page 64.

Dick Sheridan beat UNC and won 7, 8, 9 games a year and was a God here.

TOB does the same, FIRE HIS UNEMOTIONAL ASS.

10/29/2012 2:42:09 PM

I blame Amato a little bit. He did have one really good season but also blew a lot of smoke up everyone's asses and had us thinking championships. We signed a couple five stars, won a few big games...but we still didn't amount to much overall.

Unfortunately, it got a lot of the old geezers excited (the Packpride population) and a lot of the users here were students during the Amato years and somehow thought it was easy to be a "contender" in Raleigh.

I'm not against having high expectations and I think its possible for us to get to there....but it's going to be extremely difficult and we're going to have to get lucky and have a lot of things "fall into place" for that to happen. The main thing is getting the right coach in here and I don't know if that's possible. Even if we get a really good one, there's always going to be a good probability that he'll leave for a bigger program once he succeeds here.

I'm not completely happy with TOB, but I think he's definitely underappreciated by the majority of the fanbase.

10/29/2012 2:56:30 PM

The people that jump to conclusions about our fanbase just days after a gut wrenching loss to UNC are just as idiotic. The average moron needs time to vent.

10/29/2012 3:02:17 PM

^ Ah...I think the sentiment being expressed after the game is pretty much spot on with what everyone has been thinking the past two years. Maybe a couple fans have been swayed with the loss to UNC, but not many.

10/29/2012 3:03:43 PM

I agree with your entire post except for the last sentence. We win 8-9 games this year and the majority of the fanbase will be upset with how the UNC game ended, but not with TOB in general. Of course there will always be the vocal minority who think BCS bowl games are our entitlement.

10/29/2012 3:10:17 PM

you shouldn't judge people by what they're thinking, you should judge them by what they choose to say publicly (in times not immediately following a horrible, horrible loss to unc).

10/29/2012 3:11:15 PM

^
thank you

10/29/2012 3:12:08 PM

Quote :

"We've been spoiled by 9 years of elite QB play."

I know. If there's one word I would use to describe Jay Davis, Marcus Stone, Daniel Evans, and Harrison "Grip It And Rip It" Beck, it's "elite"

10/30/2012 10:41:34 PM

i didnt say consecutive years.

people already forgot about Dre Stone.

10/30/2012 10:45:42 PM

pretty sure the word consecutive wasnt in that post

[Edited on October 30, 2012 at 10:47 PM. Reason : ^what he said, stupid slow computer]

10/30/2012 10:47:32 PM

Quote :

" He did have one really good season"

Actually, it was the best season in the program's history

10/30/2012 10:52:02 PM

Quote :

"Actually, it was the best season in the program's history"

It was still an overrated season. We feasted on mediocre opponents, lost to good ones, then beat a pretty shitty Notre Dame in the bowl.

We were not a #12 team.

10/31/2012 1:22:53 AM

The TOB era has been about missed opportunities. In his first year we start horrible, get things turned around and then lose at Wake and home vs Maryland with a chance to go to a bowl game year 1. Next season is 6-6 and RW is coming on strong. A rough start to the season but things are looking up for the program. 2009 is just an awful year that is semi saved by a nice win vs UNC to salvage a 5-7 record. 2010 is the painful year. Lose a big lead at home to VT, lose at ECU, punt away the game at Clemson, and epically lose at Maryland with a chance to win the division. 2011 is the loss of RW, a terrible nationally televised loss to Cincinnati,loss at BC, loss at Wake, near disaster against Maryland. This season we blew opportunities at Miami and UNC and were saved by an upright.

That's why many are done with TOB, not because of one loss to UNC. Just constant missed opportunities.

10/31/2012 6:57:43 AM

^

10/31/2012 8:37:17 AM

Quote :

"Which Coach Would you not fire? Here are your choices: Frank Spaziani (Boston College) Dabo Swinney (Clemson) Jimbo Fisher (Florida State) Randy Edsall (Maryland) Tom O'Brien (NC State) Jim Grobe (Wake Forest) David Cutcliffe (Duke) Paul Johnson (Georgia Tech) Al Golden (Miami) Larry Fedora (North Carolina) Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech) Mike London (Virginia) (Hint, only 3 coaches on here have better records than TOB over last 3 years.) "

[Edited on October 31, 2012 at 8:52 AM. Reason : ]

10/31/2012 8:52:22 AM

^^^ and disastrous recruiting

^ Fun fact - the ACC is terrible and getting worse

10/31/2012 9:17:22 AM

So...lets just dismiss the fact that TOB is one of the better coaches in the conference b/c it doesn't fit with your narrative.

That's convenient.

10/31/2012 10:06:24 AM

We're entitled to be the best!

10/31/2012 10:11:13 AM

Quote :

"2009 is just an awful year that is semi saved by a nice win vs UNC to salvage a 5-7 record."

This was the year we were the most injured team in the country.

And people are still complaining about the Clemson punt? We had a chance to win the game. It WAS the right call.

10/31/2012 10:22:24 AM

^You can take that game out and we still blew chances home vs Vt and at Maryland. And regardless of the punt call that was a game we should have won.

10/31/2012 11:05:58 AM

Injuries again? Really?

After some of the bone-headed decisions made by this coaching staff, and we're still talking about injuries?

10/31/2012 11:14:48 AM

Sigh...the last three years we have been relatively healthy and full of TOB's players.

We have gone 9-4, 8-5, 5-3 and are looking at 8-4 possibly 9-3 with a decent bowl.

But by all means let's do what the vocal minority want and fire a coach after 3 8+ win seasons.

[Edited on October 31, 2012 at 11:24 AM. Reason : What about games we shouldn't have won like Clemson and FSU twice?]

10/31/2012 11:22:20 AM

What about games we shouldn't have lost like BC and Wake Forest?

10/31/2012 11:30:34 AM

^So FSU should fire Fisher since they "should" have went undefeated?

Without looking it up, take a guess at the last time we won 8+ games in three consecutive seasons?

10/31/2012 11:34:02 AM

should have went

10/31/2012 11:39:45 AM

FWIW, if we win 9 games this year, that'll be 26 wins over a three year stretch. that ties for the winningest three year stretch in program history.

that shows how mediocre we've been historically, as well as bolsters the point that TOB is one of the better coaches we've had historically in terms of wins, despite the obvious faults.

[Edited on October 31, 2012 at 11:40 AM. Reason : .]

10/31/2012 11:40:03 AM

^^^You're right. Let's just be happy little campers. Nevermind the agony from week to week. Just shrug it off!

And for the record, I never said fire him. I just don't get the sunshine squad shit you spew endlessly.

[Edited on October 31, 2012 at 11:44 AM. Reason : ^^^]

10/31/2012 11:43:26 AM

^^^^&^^ The Lou Holtz era

[Edited on October 31, 2012 at 11:44 AM. Reason : ^'s]

10/31/2012 11:43:37 AM

On a side note, I think it's interesting to see David Cutcliffe turn the corner after several years of people saying that he was reshaping Duke, but in his first four years he went 4-8, 5-7, 3-9, and 3-9. Even during those years, people were saying he was doing good things, but the results weren't coming.

I can't say for sure whether TOB should stay or go, but it is interesting that with a lot of things these days, the patience just isn't there to really develop. This is TOB's sixth year. The first three he had losing records. Assuming nothing goes haywire, these last three will all be winning records with 8+ wins. It's very feasible that this is the next stage in his progression, and that it will take him another year or two to get us to be competing for the Conference title regularly and possibly beyond.

When he was with B.C., his first few years were not great, but after that he won 9 games four of his last five years, with a share of the conference title one year and the division title another.

10/31/2012 11:45:22 AM

It is a bit depressing. TOB leaves a lot to be desired but should in no way be fired (assuming we don't completely collapse this year). Unfortunately we are an also-ran team in an also-ran conference which is still better than our historical average.

10/31/2012 11:53:35 AM

We all know TOB is not being fired after this season nor should he be. Next season is the make or break year for him. TOB and his coaches have shown an ability to develop QBs the past decade or so and let's hope they can do the same with Pete Thomas or Stocker.

Like many, I am worried about us regressing next year, but until we actually do start regressing, we cannot justify firing TOB.

It seems like all we do as State fans is argue about which coach should be fired in either basketball or football. Shit has been going on for 15+ years now.




[Edited on October 31, 2012 at 12:15 PM. Reason : gh]

10/31/2012 12:14:36 PM

yup.

In my opinion, the best long term strategy is let TOB finish out until he retires, assuming that he maintains/increases results. We will be unlikely to win the conference or compete nationally, but it will build a longer-term foundation of not only winning more than losing, but being just on the cusp of competing for conference championships and being nationally relevant.

That will set the stage for attracting a significant upgrade in coaching once TOB retires.

10/31/2012 12:17:37 PM

clock management -10
in-game decisions -100

but still credible! Hope we get better by the end of the season and NO WE ARE NOT GOING TO FIRE TOB!

10/31/2012 12:19:18 PM

i just lol'ed at my desk seeing packboozie saying we could end up 9-3

how about this, if we end up 9-3 I'll buy TWW and rename it to the TOBweb.

10/31/2012 12:22:57 PM