Since many seem to like O'Brien as new Head Coach, I will state some facts and rumors regarding his connections with GT. He was an offensive graduate assistant coach at Tech in 1995-1997; the Tech records for those three years were 6-5, 5-6, and 7-5. He was the Running Back Coach under Ralph Friegden for years 1998-2000; The record for Tech under Friegden for those years were 10-2, 8-4, and 9-3.
He was the Offensive Coordinator and QB Coach for years 2001-2002; the Tech record for those two years were 8-5 and 7-6. He was also the assistant HC for 2002. He was the Running Back Coach at Maryland for 2003-2004; The record at Maryland were 10-3 and 5-6 under OC Ralph Friegden. He was the Offensive Coordinator for Duke in 2005-2006; Dukes record for those two years were 5-6 and 9-4.
He is presently the OC at Alabama and knows Batt very well. He was also a coach at GT when Brent Key played for Tech. There was a rumor that the prominent candidate has ties to GT. There is also the rumor that O'Leary has made comments of O'Brien's popularity as the new Tech Head Coach.
It is very likely O'Brien knows most of the officers and money backers from his stints at GT. Now, I still think he will be named the new Head Coach even though I dislike the choice. Saban probably does not want a change at present since he has an outside chance of being in the playoffs. However, if he loses to LSU Saturday, Alabama is definitely out of that picture; there are also rumors that Alabama fans are not happy with O'Briens performance. We may know on Monday the new Head Coach.