850 The Blog was reporting earlier today that things were heating up between Paul Johnson and NC State. Later, they updated it to say that now things were cooling and that maybe Tom O’Brien was leading the pack (get it?). The O’Brien thing strikes me as funny because despite having things rolling pretty nicely in Boston, he sure seems to be trying hard to get out. Evidently he lobbied for the Carolina job and now State.
As for Johnson, I’ve gone back and forth about whether I think he’d be good. I think I’m on the “no” side again. While I think he’d do well in the short term, I wonder how he could recruit against Butch Davis (and others) with that offense. Sure, he’d probably throw more at State than he does at Navy, but a leopard doesn’t change his spots. You can win with run-based offense, but if recruits get the idea that what you’re doing won’t translate to the NFL, you’re going to fight an uphill battle.
Frankly, I’m not overwhelmed by O’Brien either. He’s proven to be a very good coach, sure, but he’s pretty clearly defined his ceiling. BC is always good, but never the best. If you hire him, you can be sure your team will compete, but you can be pretty sure that you won’t dominate. On the other hand, he’s never had quite as much talent at BC as State has had. Maybe he’d win more with their talent. Or maybe the talent will start going to Chapel Hill instead.
We’ll see …