850 the Buzz is citing a New England Cable News report out of Boston that Boston College head coach Tom O'Brien will succeed Chuck Amato at NC State. David Glenn has confirmed the report which means, yeah, it's true.
This concludes what has been a strange 24 hours in Raleigh. As everyone was turning on their Christmas lights last night it appeared that Navy's Paul Johnson was the odds on favorite to coach NC State. As of this morning LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher had his interview canceled which I would characterize as one of the funniest things I have seen considering Fisher's lobbying efforts. 850 was also reporting that the love for Johnson had cooled for reasons that were not immediately clear and O'Brien had moved to the top of the list. I would be interested to hear what happened in the course of NC State's discussions with Johnson that soured that deal or if the report that two Navy players were suspended last season for using steroids had a role.
Whatever the case, I agree with Joe Ovies, this raises numerous questions about coaches jumping within the conference as well as money. Having lived in the Boston area I can safely say that Boston College football is about 37th on the list of things Boston sports fans care about. In Raleigh, Wolfpack football is around 2nd or 3rd.