DATE: Saturday, October 11, 1997            TAG: 9710110496

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   67 lines

TECH WILL SEE A LITTLE U.VA. IN BC EAGLES' FIRST-YEAR COACH IS A FORMER CAVALIER ASSISTANT.

Tom O'Brien has run out of the visiting locker room and onto the turf at Lane Stadium many times, but today will be a bit different.

For years O'Brien was there as a Virginia assistant. Today, he'll be the head coach when Boston College visits Virginia Tech for a Big East matchup (noon, WPEN). But the remnants of his Cavalier days will be there as well.

``You can tell this is a Tom O'Brien offense, no question,'' Hokies coach Frank Beamer said. ``Same basic philosophy and plays, same basic things we've seen from Virginia for a while.''

Every once in a while, there are other things from Virginia that crop up at BC. Sometimes O'Brien opens his mouth and finds George Welsh's words mysteriously slipping past his lips.

``That's happened,'' said O'Brien, who spent 22 years as Welsh's assistant, first at Navy and then at Virginia, where he was the offensive coordinator before being hired at Boston College last December.

Just as O'Brien's offenses at Virginia always excelled, the Eagles are putting up decent numbers. They lead the league in total offense and rank 29th nationally (413.8 yards per game), although they're only scoring a modest 21.4 points, which ranks fifth in the league and 72nd nationally.

``The tempo of the offense reminds me of Virginia,'' Tech rover Pierson Prioleau said. ``Lots of fast pace, lots of toss sweeps and outside runs. And it's a quick-strike offense. Virginia always had a quick-strike offense that could hurt you with one play. It probably is O'Brien's mentality - he likes the explosive offense, he likes to get on the board quick.''

The first head coaching job did not come quickly for O'Brien, 49. He said every time he had an opportunity it had to meet two criteria before he was interested: first, would he and his family be comfortable there, and did he have a chance to be successful there.

``Boston College provided that,'' O'Brien said.

There is no reason he can't succeed at BC. Despite last year's gambling scandal and a sub-par start, the Eagles (2-3) are drawing 89 percent of capacity in three home games, second in the league to Virginia Tech. And BC may be unrivaled in terms of television exposure. Today's game will be its third on the Big East regional package. The Eagles have been on ESPN and ESPN2 once each, have two games on CBS and another on NBC. Two other late-season games are potential TV appearances.

``We have a lot of exposure,'' O'Brien said. But not enough talent. He said the most frustrating thing about this season is that the Eagles lack the talent and depth to be more competitive.

BC assistant head coach Jerry Petercuskie, who was with O'Brien at Virginia, said O'Brien has embraced most of the philosophies of Welsh but has remained his own person. O'Brien and Welsh were known to have verbal flare-ups on the sidelines, but O'Brien attributed much of what he's been able to do to Welsh. The two men spent time together this summer, discussing how spring practice went and preparations for the upcoming season. O'Brien said there were no parting words of wisdom from the man he had been with for over two decades, but he had no trouble identifying the most important lesson he learned from Welsh.

``You try to work as hard and be as intense as he is and everything is football related,'' O'Brien said. ``Everything is for the football team and every decision is made for the football team. That's the best things I can take from him.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

Coach Tom O'Brien said the most frustrating thing about his first

season at Boston College is that the 2-3 Eagles aren't more

competitive.

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