It's O'Brien

From Pack Pride:

According to NECN Television, Boston College head coach Tom O'Brien will be named the new head coach at NC State.

Uh...yeah. It's not Gary Barnett. So that's something.

Video of the report available here.

Philip had the scoop.

Update #1: ESPN.com story is up:

Boston College coach Tom O'Brien has been hired as North Carolina State's new football coach, multiple sources close to the situation said Wednesday night.

The Wolfpack chose O'Brien over Navy coach Paul Johnson, who was contacted about the job earlier this week.

Update #2: Confirmation from Dave Glenn, who was all over this (hat tip to The Buzz Blog for the link).

Update #3: N&O: O'Brien headed to Pack, report says

Dave Glenn, who is on News 14 right now, says he thinks the terms of O'Brien's contract will be something like 5-7 years at $1.2 million per.

Update #4: There is at least one person happy about the hire.

Update #5: Eagle in Atlanta says thanks, TOB. Not everyone in Boston is looking forward to a fresh start:

As fans rejoice here on the Heights, I will NOT be included among them. Tom O’Brien was one of the best coaches BC has ever seen. 6 seasons of at least 8 wins. The nation’s longest bowl winning streak at 6. A chance for a 10 win season this year.
But he never really got the respect he deserved. In 04 a late season loss kept them out of the Orange Bowl, last year UNC, and this year a loss at Wake Forest. People said he couldn’t win the big one, but what about all the games he did win? This year they were 6-2 against bowl bound teams, and beat two conference champions and two 10 win teams. I can’t say enough about how much he has meant to this program, especially one that doesn’t reload with talent every year, doesn’t red shirt often, and graduates 96% of its players. Just a class guy, will truly be missed.

Update #6: Clearly, it's not my day. Decent-but-underwhelming coaching hire. Basketball team loses. Hurricanes down 3-1 to the Oilers. White Sox trade Freddy Garcia for a pair of young arms, which isn't a bad deal, but I thought Garcia would bring back more.