Despite the firing of former Boston University men’s basketball coach Dennis Wolff and the showy introduction of first-year head coach Patrick Chambers, all is not pristine within the men’s basketball program. Reigning America East Rookie of the Year Jake O’Brien was granted his release Monday by Assistant Vice President and Director of Athletics Mike Lynch.
O’Brien – who was the third consecutive Terrier to garner Rookie of the Year honors – averaged 12.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in his first collegiate season.
‘From a basketball standpoint, I feel like I had a good enough year where I could play at a higher level,’ O’Brien said. ‘The fact that there’s a whole new coaching staff is disappointing because I came in here thinking I’m playing for coach Wolff. That was a big change, so I felt that it benefitted me to look at other options.’
In November 2006, Wolff described what had become a string of six transfers in less than two seasons as an epidemic. Following that period, Wolff lost just one more player, forward Will Creekmore, to transfer in what would end up being the final three seasons of his 15-year coaching career at BU.
There’s no hiding that the loss of talented forwards like Tony Gaffney, Etienne Brower and Ben Coblyn (all to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, though Coblyn played football) and Creekmore (Missouri State University) under Wolff’s tenure significantly damaged the program and were at least part of the reason the Terriers have not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2002.
With another forward gone, Chambers (a former associate head coach at Villanova University) is immediately forced to re-assess the framework of a veteran team that finished third in the conference last season (17-13, 11-5 AE) and lost one starter to graduation a mere week after his inaugural press conference.
BU’s administration released a single statement Tuesday.
‘Jake and his family have decided that he wants to explore other options for his education and collegiate playing career, and we have granted him permission to do so,’ Lynch said. ‘Coach Chambers and his staff continue to recruit Jake, and we would love to see him stay at BU.’
Despite Lynch’s final sentence, O’Brien made it very clear he was not planning to return to BU and is instead exploring schools in the Atlantic 10, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East and Colonial Athletic Association – conferences similar to those by which he was being recruited coming out of Boston College High School. He also said he wishes to stay local, but is not limiting his options to colleges in the Boston area.
The lanky 6-foot-8 forward asked multiple times to meet with Lynch to be granted a release, but the administration insisted he wait until a new coach was hired.
‘Coach Chambers explained to me what he wanted to do at BU the next few years and his vision for how this program will develop, what type of system we’ll run and how he saw me fitting into it,’ O’Brien said of his meeting with Chambers. ‘I had this conversation, but my mind had already been set and there wasn’t too much he could say to sway me.’
Aside from O’Brien’s promising rookie campaign, which led him to believe he could perform at a higher level, it was the firing of Wolff that acted as the primary catalyst for his decision.
‘It completely snuck up on me,’ O’Brien said of the Wolff firing. ‘I received a call from coach Wolff the day he got fired and that was the first time I heard anything. It might have been nice if [the administration] reached out to me beforehand, just because it was a big surprise. I think maybe, had they reached out to me, it would have been less of a shock and more easily handled.’
Would that contact have swayed O’Brien’s decision to leave a school at which he could have easily become a first-team all-conference player and four-year starter? Who knows. Although he’s decided to leave BU, O’Brien realizes the risk involved with possibly not becoming an impact player at a major program, even if he bulks up during his year off.
O’Brien talked to Wolff during the transition process, and Wolff advised him to do what he feels is best for his future. Wolff, who was contacted Tuesday, declined to comment.
‘My relationship with [Wolff] was good,’ O’Brien said. ‘Playing for him, I didn’t feel any negative vibe or attitude toward me.’
Unlike BU transfers in the past, O’Brien said he never endured any serious conflicts with the coaching staff or his teammates, and said the most difficult aspect of leaving BU will be not seeing his teammates every day.
O’Brien recorded a career-high 25 points on Feb. 2 against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. His breakout game was a 21-point performance against Northeastern University on Nov. 25.
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