Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

[YanktonJack7]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

Can you do said things with a stadium full of your own fans booing you?

Can you do said things with forum pages saying you're worthless and that you should be replaced?

Granted, I thought maybe benching O'Brien may have been warranted, at the very least to give him a chance to get some time in on the sidelines and at the very least, get his mind re-focused. But if you had people scrutinizing every thing you did, jacks1, wouldn't you get burned out and tired of all the B.S. too?

I'm sorry he left the team. But some of the gloating on here is inexcusable. I hope people aren't this vicious to you when you screw up.

In my opinion that comes with the territory of being the starting QB for an up and coming FCS team. This is not DII anymore. Dealing with the pressure comes with the territory and he know that coming in and being the starting QB. I agree with your post though and hope people aren't gloating. I wish him the best and thank him for being a Jackrabbit

[Theee Catrabbit]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

What ever is going on in that locker room, its not going well.

Possibly. Somethings wrong in Bville.....but what? I just find it so odd that coming out of our last few years of transition we were at our strongest, and somehow we have debilitated since then? You are supposed to improve are you not? Be able to get better players every year and improve your performance. All in? That's supposed to be the mantra of this team. 1-0 every week. "It's like family" "The coaches are great" Sumner is a redshirt freshman and was a borderline FBS talent. Let him frickin' play, and don't handcuff him, as a fanbase we need to officially shut up. Because Sumner is all we got now.

[joeboo22]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

Generally I'm against quitters but there is a point where I don't blame a guy. I saw tweets from respected people making it sound like he was the sole reason they have 2 losses. There is a thread on this site that has over 100 responses with most saying similar things. Plus numerous people who live in brookings that have been bashing him and even the media. Yet the offense in general and the defense got little blame. Maybe its part of being D-I but I go back to Iowa people who bashed Coach Alford until he quit, be careful what you wish for.

I think the big problem was that Sumner is a local kid and is similar to what Tebow is in Bronco land. And the media will love the back up on a struggling team. I follow a lot of guys on Twitter and facebook and know a handful of players and they all told me that TOB gave the team the best chance to win. And these are guys who would tell me if there was a problem.

I also have somewhat of a problem with the coaches telling the media right away that he quit. Maybe its just me but I know of a lot of mid teens early 20's who get mad and quit at things only to come back the next day after they thought about it.

I hope Sumner has it, but I'll say this if the offense is only going to run the ball for 33 yards, the line give up multiple sacks and the defense continue to struggle I don't care if Dan Marino in his prime as QB it won't matter.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

so getting scolarship money and making a commitment to the team and school means little then? I know college kids change their mind and schools and majors and transfer etc, but the entire season all we heard was everyone being all in. He wasn't, but for him its probably the best to move on.

Scholarship money we used on a kid that helped lead us to our first D1 football playoffs where he helped lead an offense that put up a ton of points on the road as a freshman to watch the D get torched by a future NFL WR. That scholarship money?

[JimmyJack]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

Sad. I feel sorry for him. I hate how most of the blame got thrown on him. I hope he is happy and can enjoy the rest of his education, whatever he does. I can't even blame him; I would have quit too.

That's exactly my reaction. By all accounts, Thomas is a good kid and hard worker. We sometimes forget that these are 21-year-old kids we're talking about.

And as for scholarship money, some things are a lot more important than football. I never get mad at a student athlete who decides his or her situation needs to change. They are under a lot of pressure.

[jacks1]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

Can you do said things with a stadium full of your own fans booing you?

Can you do said things with forum pages saying you're worthless and that you should be replaced?

Granted, I thought maybe benching O'Brien may have been warranted, at the very least to give him a chance to get some time in on the sidelines and at the very least, get his mind re-focused. But if you had people scrutinizing every thing you did, jacks1, wouldn't you get burned out and tired of all the B.S. too?

I'm sorry he left the team. But some of the gloating on here is inexcusable. I hope people aren't this vicious to you when you screw up.

I get your points and they are valid...My 'quitter' tag was too harsh. 10 yrs from now, heck 2 yrs from now, none of this will matter. TOB will go on to much bigger and better things in life than Jackrabbit football...

[goon]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

Scholarship money we used on a kid that helped lead us to our first D1 football playoffs where he helped lead an offense that put up a ton of points on the road as a freshman to watch the D get torched by a future NFL WR. That scholarship money?

Or his leading us to our only losing season as being D-1. I am sure we will have more, but he didnt perform. simple as that. he owed it to the team to stick it out IMO.

[Theee Catrabbit]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

Another point is, why did the coaches not bench him earlier in games, even for a series or two? Especially when it was clear we were done. Even after the sliding-1 yard-play to end the Cal Poly half. Bench him for a series. Would that have hurt anything? If he was rattled, they just kept trotting him out there, "here ya go!".

Many questions to be answered now:

Is the defense going to actually stand up and be recognized?

Is the Oline actually going to block and open holes?

It's 5 days until game day

[JimmyJack]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

I quit a pretty good job as a teacher 10 years ago to go into broadcasting... I've had no regrets since and if anything, I would have started in broadcasting a lot sooner.

I quit a pretty good job in journalism to go to grad school and be a professor. And no, my heart wasn't in it anymore when I quit. My editor ripped me a new one, but later on, he called me when I was on the faculty at Purdue and told me he was proud of me for doing what made me happy. He had been sick and it made him see things differently. He died a couple of years ago from lung cancer.

What did I learn from that? I won't judge TOB for making this decision. It couldn't have been easy. As an educator, I'm a lot more interested in what he'll do next, and I wish him all the best.

[Theee Catrabbit]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

I quit all the time...it's the only way I can get a raise........

[jackrabit1]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

I quit every night... it's the only way I can get to sleep. :P

[bigticket1]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

I wonder if he he feels like the team and fans bailed on him, or if the team will feel like he bailed on them. What ever is going on in that locker room, its not going well.

If he has the Internet,he had to have felt like the fans bailed on him. Let's hope we don't have any injuries at the QB position,or the rest of the season could get really long.

[jackmd]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

I agree. He needs to do what is best for him. He wasn't enjoying himself. It wouldn't be fair to the team if he stayed on.

Best for both parties if what is being reported is fact. It isn't fair to the individual or the team if everyone isn't on the same page. The details may or may not be provided in the future. I wonder if Coach Stig will touch on it at the difference makers meeting?

Makes a lot of sense to me. I saw conflict between TOB and the players on the field Saturday. Watch the replay and keep your eyes on the guys, not a cohesive group. They are looking for a leader and TOB wasn't comfortable in that role. Enough with the speculation, decision made everyone goes forward from here.

[goon]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

If he has the Internet,he had to have felt like the fans bailed on him. Let's hope we don't have any injuries at the QB position,or the rest of the season could get really long.

I meant more so at the games with fans booing him or students chanting for sumner. But your probably right.

[jackmd]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

I get your points and they are valid...My 'quitter' tag was too harsh. 10 yrs from now, heck 2 yrs from now, none of this will matter. TOB will go on to much bigger and better things in life than Jackrabbit football...

If I am one of the guys laying it on the line every game, which clearly I am not, I don't want a guy who would rather be somewhere else taking the snaps. I'm not ready to place the blame on anyone but wonder how it wasn't recognized sooner. Is it because the young man was comfortable only when things were going relatively well or was he miserable the whole time? If we had figured out a way to win despite his poor play would he have stuck around? Damn, I said I didn't want to speculate but there are so many unanswered questions.