Former coaches find life after Wolfpack

After former N.C. State head football coach Tom O’Brien was fired, most of the attention on State’s campus was focused on who the next head coach would be. 

Not much mind was paid to where O’Brien’s staff would continue their coaching careers. 

State has since hired former Northern Illinois boss Dave Doeren, a prospect that has excited students, fans and alumni alike. Doeren has been popular even though his first game as coach is about seven months away. During College GameDay on the morning of State’s basketball game against UNC-Chapel Hill, Doeren delighted those in attendance by playing guitar with fullback Logan Winkles along with country singer and State student Scotty McCreery.

He has also assembled a coaching staff that includes some of his assistants from Northern Illinois, as well as former Wisconsin offensive coordinator Matt Canada and former Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable. Huxtable also has ties to the University of Wisconsin, where Doeren was an assistant before taking the Northern Illinois job.

The O’Brien regime, for the most part, has scattered. Such a practice is not unusual for a coaching staff when a firing occurs. That is the nature of the beast.

O’Brien himself has landed on his feet at fellow ACC program Virginia. O’Brien is no stranger to Charlottesville, having served 14 seasons as an offensive line coach and later offensive coordinator under legendary Cavalier head coach George Welsh from 1982-96. 

This time around, O’Brien will be working under current Virginia head man Mike London as an associate head coach for offense and tight ends. Moreover, Virginia offensive coordinator Bill Lazor took a job with the Philadelphia Eagles Tuesday, leaving open the possibility that O’Brien could move to his old position.

Interestingly enough, London was actually O’Brien’s defensive line coach at Boston College from 1997-2000. He is excited about being reunited with his former assistant.

“The way that he’s pulled in so many different directions, I can take some of that load off,” O’Brien said in a press conference shortly after being hired at Virginia. “I can be a better assistant coach, he can be a better head coach.”

O’Brien is not the only former Wolfpack staff member headed to Charlottesville. The Cavaliers also hired Jon Tenuta, who coached State’s linebackers, as their defensive coordinator. Tenuta is also returning to Virginia where he was a graduate assistant from 1981-82

One O’Brien assistant who will remain in Raleigh is running backs coach Des Kitchings. Kitchings just completed his first season with the Pack and was asked to return by Doeren for 2013 and beyond. It is not unusual for a new coach to retain certain assistants from the previous staff.

Elsewhere, former offensive line coach Jim Bridge has settled into the same position at the University of Illinois. Mike Reed, who coached defensive backs under O’Brien, will return to Carter-Finley Stadium next season as a member of Clemson‘s coaching staff. Wide receivers coach Troy Walters was hired to the same position at the University of Colorado. 

On the other hand, former offensive coordinator Dana Bible, who coached the Wolfpack in the Music City Bowl, and defensive coordinator Mike Archer have yet to find new jobs. Bible was often criticized by State fans for his conservative and often inconsistent offense. He coached alongside O’Brien since 1999, coming to State from Boston College with O’Brien in 2007. 

Archer had been at State since 2007 as well, commandeering a blitz-happy defense that produced current NFL linebackers Nate Irving, Audie Cole and Terrell Manning. Both he and Bible have been relatively coy about their future plans, though it is very possible that they will be working under another coach in the near future.