Jim O'Brien (born February 11 1952 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is the current head coach of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Previously, O'Brien was the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2004-05 NBA season. Although the 76ers made the playoffs in his one season as coach after missing the postseason the previous year, and although O'Brien had a multiyear contract, he was fired because team general manager Billy King wanted to hire Maurice Cheeks as head coach after Cheeks had been fired by the Portland Trailblazers. The Sixers have not made the playoffs since.
Coaching the 76ers was a homecoming for O'Brien, who is a Philadelphia native, attended Roman Catholic High School in his youth, and starred collegiately at St. Joseph's University. Before his stint in Philadelphia, O'Brien was the head coach of the Boston Celtics from 2001-2004, replacing Rick Pitino. He built up a once-struggling Celtics team and took them twice into the playoffs. However, during the 2003-04 NBA season, O'Brien consistently fought with Celtics' director of basketball operations Danny Ainge regarding short-term versus long-term goals. Ainge was looking to completely redo the roster, and traded Eric Williams and Tony Battie, two of O'Brien's favorite hardworking players in December, 2003. As a result of the ongoing conflicts, O'Brien shocked everyone in the Celtics community by resigning in January 2004.
O'Brien was also head coach at Wheeling Jesuit University from 1982–87 and the University of Dayton from 1989–1994. He lead the Dayton Flyers to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in his first season, after winning the Midwestern Collegiate Conference title.
He is the son-in-law of Hall of Fame coach Dr. Jack Ramsay, and was coached at Saint Joseph's by another former NBA coach, Jack McKinney.
The Indianapolis Star reported on May 31, 2007 that he is the new head coach of the Indiana Pacers. blank">http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070531/SPORTS04/70531038 He replaced Rick Carlisle, who was fired after four years as Pacers' head coach when the team failed in 2006-2007 to make the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
He also served as an analyst for _ESPN's coverage of the NBA from 2005-2007.
Jim O'Brien (born April 9 1950 in Brooklyn, New York) is a college basketball coach who has served as coach of St. Bonaventure University (1982-1986), Boston College (1986-1997), and most recently as the twelfth head coach of The Ohio State University men's basketball team (1997-2004).
O'Brien was hired as head coach on April 7, 1997 after Ohio State had fired previous coach Randy Ayers. O'Brien guided the Buckeye program to the 1999 Final Four, 2000 and 2002 Big Ten regular-season co-championships, the 2002 Big Ten Tournament Championship, four 20-win seasons and a school record four-consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (1999-2002). On June 8, 2004, then-Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger fired O'Brien for alleged NCAA rules violations.
Jim O'Brien (February 4, 1940 - September 25, 1983) was born James Oldham in Waco, Texas, and came to Philadelphia in 1970 to become a disc jockey at radio station WFIL-AM. In 1976 he joined the WPVI Channel 6 Action News team as a sports anchor. He soon became the weatherman and became a local legend with his presentation of the weather, being the only Philadelphia area weatherman to use a pointer while on the air. O'Brien eventually anchored the Noon newscast, the local edition of Dialing for Dollars and the weekend magazine show Primetime. He had two favorite hobbies, motorcycle riding and skydiving. It was the latter hobby which would lead to his early death in a skydiving accident on September 25, 1983. O'Brien died trying to rescue another skydiver whose parachute failed to open. He was the father of actors Peri Gilpin, Marc Gilpin and April Gilpin.
Jim O'Brien (born February 2, 1947 in El Paso, Texas) was a place kicker for the Baltimore Colts from 1970 to 1972 and the Detroit Lions in 1973. He also played wide receiver, catching the bulk of his career passes during the 1972 season while still performing his kicking duties. His short career was less than stellar, posting a 55.6 percentage making 60 of 108 field goal attempts. His shining moment came in Super Bowl V where he kicked a field goal with nine seconds remaining in the game to give the Baltimore Colts the victory over the Dallas Cowboys 16-13.
O'Brien attended the University of Cincinnati.
James O'Brien (born January 29, 1989 in Maplewood, Minnesota) is an American ice hockey centre who was drafted 29th overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. O'Brien played defense before switching in high-school to "play as a power-forward centre-ice man" His final Central Scouting rank was 38th.
O'Brien played in university hockey last season due to an exception; he was the youngest player in US college ice hockey, at 17 years old. He was picked by Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray because "size matters". O'Brien is a strong skater, he blocks shots and he is a penalty killer.
It is the third year in a row that the Senators have picked a US-born player. They picked Nick Foligno 28th overall during the 2006 NHL Draft, and Brian Lee ninth overall in 2005.
