Joe O'Brien (born November 6, 1972) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former lineman. He is the associate head coach and defensive coordinator for

Montana State University–Northern Montana State University–Northern (MSU–Northern or Northern) is a public college in Havre, Montana. It is part of the Montana University System and was Northern Montana College prior to the restructuring of Montana's public university syste ...

, positions he has held since 2022. He also played in the WLAF, AFL, and the NFL from 1995 to 1998. He later went on to coach at the collegiate level.

College career

O'Brien played college football at Boise State University in Idaho from 1991 to 1994. He

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

in his final two years and in 1994 was named

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eig ...

defensive player of the year.

Professional career

Joe O'Brien was signed to a two-year contract as an undrafted rookie free agent by the Minnesota Vikings after the 1995 NFL draft but was cut before the 1995 regular season began. He was then signed by the San Jose Sabercats of the Arena Football League in 1996. He played only 2 games for San Jose before being chosen in the 19th round of the World League of American Football draft by the Scottish Claymores, where he played 10 games, starting 6 of them. The Claymores defeated the Frankfort Galaxy on June 23, 1996, to become the 1996 World Bowl champions. The following year, he was signed as a free agent by the New Orleans Saints during the offseason but again was cut before the 1997 regular season began. In 1998, he returned to the AFL and the San Jose Sabrecats, playing 11 games on both the offensive and defensive lines.

External links

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Former Boise State star, Montana State coach shares story of addiction
'' Farcountry Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Brien, Joe 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Pittsburg, California Players of American football from Contra Costa County, California Boise State Broncos football players San Jose SaberCats players Scottish Claymores players