POCATELLO, Idaho- Idaho State Director of Athletics Jeff Tingey has announced that men’s basketball coach Joe O’Brien is stepping down as head coach of the Idaho State men’s basketball team.
“I appreciate all that Joe has done for Idaho State Athletics over his six years as head coach,” Tingey said. “His team’s played hard on the court and continually took part in various community activities here in the Pocatello community. I wish him the best of luck in his future.”
Assistant coach Deane Martin will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
“In coaching you need to know when it is time to walk way,” O’Brien said. “I know it is time. For a number of reasons in my life it is time. This basketball team has a chance and they have proven they can compete with people. A different voice will make a difference in this program. It is time for me to do something different.”
O’Brien has been head coach of the Bengals since 2006 and in his first three years he led the Bengals to the Big Sky Tournament and a fourth place finish in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. For his career at Idaho State he finished with a 56-105 record and 33-46 in Big Sky play.
O'Brien carried with him a tremendous background to Idaho State. One of the junior college ranks' most successful coaches, O'Brien owned a career head junior college coaching mark of 313-117, a .728 winning percentage.
He earned his first collegiate head coaching job at Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois, where he led the Lynx to four straight 20-win seasons, including a 25-6 mark in 1993-94. While at Lincoln, O'Brien amassed a 100-53 record over his five seasons, before taking over at Southeastern Community College in 1996, where he led the BlackHawks to unprecedented success. During his eight seasons at SEICC, O'Brien had eight winning seasons, including four 20-win seasons, and three other 30-win seasons.
In 1999-2000, the BlackHawks went 32-4 in winning their first NJCAA national championship. The following two seasons saw the BlackHawks go 25-8 and 25-10 with a Region XI Championship. In 2002-03 and 2003-04, the BlackHawks won back-to-back national titles, going 37-1 in 02-03, and 32-4 in 03-04. In his eight seasons with SEICC, the BlackHawks went 213-64. With his third title, O'Brien joined Ronnie Arrow and Allen Bradfield as the only coaches with three national titles at that level. Overall, O'Brien is one of only 11 people to have three national titles either at the JC or the NCAA level. In 2008, he received the ultimate honor, as he was inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame.
O'Brien got his start in coaching at the collegiate level in 1982-83, when he spent the first of two seasons at Southeastern Louisiana University. He then served as an assistant coach at Central Missouri State for five years, helping CMS to three 20-win seasons and two NCAA Tournament appearances before moving on to Lincoln College. O'Brien spent the 2004-05 season as an assistant at Florida International, helping the Golden Panthers to go from 13-43 over the previous two seasons to a 13-17 mark, FIU's best record in the previous six seasons.
O'Brien has earned six national Coach of the Year honors, two each in 2000, 2003, and 2004, plus three District XI Coach of the Year honors. Joe has also spent time in the prep ranks as an assistant coach at Jonesboro-Hodge and Natchitoches High Schools in Louisiana, and as the head coach at Episcopal High School for one season, 1981-82.