Jim O'Brien (college basketball)

Jim O'Brien (born April 9 1950 in Brooklyn, New York) is a college basketball coach who has served as coach of St. Bonaventure University (1982-1986), Boston College (1986-1997), and most recently as the twelfth head coach of The Ohio State University men's basketball team (1997-2004).

O'Brien was hired as head coach on April 7, 1997 after Ohio State had fired previous coach Randy Ayers. O'Brien guided the Buckeye program to the 1999 Final Four, 2000 and 2002 Big Ten regular-season co-championships, the 2002 Big Ten Tournament Championship, four 20-win seasons and a school record four-consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (1999-2002). On June 8, 2004, then-Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger fired O'Brien for alleged NCAA rules violations.

Playing career

A high school honorable mention All-American at St. Francis Prep in Brooklyn, O’Brien went on to attend and then graduate from Boston College in 1971 with a degree in marketing. He was the recipient of the university's scholar-athlete award as a senior. O’Brien was a three-year Boston College letterman (1968-71) while playing for Bob Cousy and Chuck Daly and he was team captain in 1970-71. He still holds the school single-game record for assists with 18, vs. Le Moyne Dec. 16, 1970. He scored 1,273 points, a total that ranks 14th on the school's all-time scoring list. He twice won all-East honors and was the New England Player of the Year as a senior. He was elected into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1976, his first year of eligibility. He also has the unique honor of being named to two Boston College all-decade basketball teams (1960s and 1970s). Upon graduation, O'Brien played professionally for the Pittsburgh Condors (1971), the Kentucky Colonels (1972-73) and the San Diego Conquistadors (1974-75) in the American Basketball Association. He played for Wilt Chamberlain at San Diego.

Early coaching years

After his playing career was over, O'Brien jumped into coaching in 1977 as an assistant at the University of Connecticut under Dom Perno. He spent five years there, during which time the Huskies were 91-50 and made three post season appearances.

St. Bonaventure University hired O'Brien in 1982. He stayed four years as head coach before returning to his alma mater in 1986, succeeding Gary Williams who had been named head coach at The Ohio State University. He was Atlantic 10 Conference Co-Coach of the Year in 1983, when he led St. Bonaventure to a 20-10 record and a berth in the National Invitation Tournament. Basketball Times named him as its National Rookie Coach of the Year in 1983.

Head coach at Boston College

O'Brien coached for eleven seasons at Boston College. This tenure included NCAA tournament appearances in three of his last four seasons and postseason appearances in five of his last six years. O'Brien was named Big East Co-Coach of the Year honor in 1995-96, Kodak District I Coach of the Year in both 1992 and 1993, and Eastern Basketball Coach of the Year in 1994.

Head coach at Ohio State

During O'Brien's first season at Ohio State, the team won only eight of its thirty games played. The following year however, O’Brien directed the Buckeyes to the 1999 Final Four in St. Petersburg, Florida. Ohio State set numerous school, Big Ten Conference and NCAA records during the 1998-99 season on its way to the school's ninth trip to the Final Four. The 2000 Buckeyes followed that effort by sharing the Big Ten championship with Michigan State.

The 2001 edition of Ohio State basketball was picked to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten in preseason publications, however O'Brien managed to finish third in the regular season conference standings, winning 20 games and earning the school's 21st (of 24 total) NCAA tournament appearance, all this despite losing its top three scorers from the 1999-2000 season.

The 2002 Buckeyes also were not picked to produce a successful season. Again, O’Brien surprised the critics by guiding the Buckeyes to a share of the 2002 Big Ten regular-season and tournament title, 20 victories and an unprecedented fourth-consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament, a feat never before accomplished at Ohio State.

Following OSU's 1999 Final Four run, O’Brien was honored as the 1999 Clair Bee Coach of the Year. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame presents the award. This honor was one of several including: the 1999 National Coach of the Year given by the Touchdown Club of Columbus; the 1999 National Co-Coach of the Year given by the National Association of Basketball Coaches; the 1999 Big Ten Coach of the Year as selected by the Big Ten media and the 1999 U.S. Basketball Writers Association District 5 Coach of the Year. He claimed his second Big Ten Coach of the Year award in 2001 when the league media gave him the honor for the second time in three seasons. The 2001 District 10 Coach of the Year Award, given by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, followed the Big Ten honors.

Firing controversy

Ohio State fired Jim O’Brien on June 8 2004 claiming the coach had admitted to athletic director Andy Geiger that he had provided a $6,000 cash payment to one-time recruit Aleksandar Radojevic from Serbia after he had signed a national letter of intent in 1999. NCAA rules do not allow players to receive financial assistance from outside their family.

The payment came to light when Kathleen Salyers, a nanny from the Columbus suburb of Gahanna, sued Ohio State boosters Dan and Kim Roslovic. Salyers claimed the Roslovics reneged on an agreement to pay her $1,000 per month plus expenses to care for Ohio State forward Boban Savovic. Savovic couldn't live with the Roslovics due to their status as Ohio State boosters. As part of her deposition, Salyers revealed that O'Brien had made the payment to Radojevic. The NCAA ruled Radojevic couldn't play collegiately because he'd been paid for playing overseas.

O'Brien claimed the university improperly fired him and sued the University for $3.5 million in lost wages and benefits. O'Brien won the suit after a judge ruled that, though he had broken his contract by giving the loan, the error was not serious enough to warrant firing. The award, which could reach nearly $9.5 million with interest and other damages, will be determined after the case's final hearing before the Ohio Court of Claims.

The Salyers deposition also alleged that O'Brien knew Savovic was receiving improper payments and that she did much of Savovic's homework for three years because of his difficulties with English. This triggered a separate NCAA investigation. On March 10 2006, the NCAA gave Ohio State three years' probation and ordered it to pay back all tournament money earned from 1999-2002 when Boban Savovic was on the Buckeyes' roster. In addition, Ohio State was forced to vacate every game it played from 1998-99 to 2001-02, including its 1999 Final Four appearance. O'Brien was also slapped with a five-year "show-cause" order, which effectively banned him from coaching until 2011. In 2007, the NCAA reduced the term of O'Brien's show-cause order to two years. It also threw out three violations and part of a fourth on a technicality; the enforcement staff hadn't filed charges in time.

On January 31 2008, an NCAA appeals committee lifted all restrictions on O'Brien's hiring.

Family

Jim O'Brien and his late wife, Christine, had two daughters, Amy O'Brien and Mrs. Erin Wright.

References

External links

• Profile Page for Jim O'Brien
• Lawsuit reveals allegations against Ohio State basketball program
• O'Brien Fired For Rules Violations
• Ohio State must erase regular season records
• O'Brien wins NCAA appeal