Scoggins: Dan O’Brien has crossed both lines in intense Tommies-Johnnies rivalry

COLLEGEVILLE, MINN. — Dan O’Brien felt something hitting his legs as he stood in the end zone. His mind was focused on preventing St. John’s from scoring a touchdown, but he kept getting pelted by objects being thrown at him.

It was his senior season as an all-conference defensive back for St. Thomas in the late 1980s. The Tommies-Johnnies clash had its usual intensity — on and off the field — with spectators crammed into every inch possible.

Before the snap, O’Brien turned to see what was hitting his backside.

His brother Joe, a St. John’s student, was standing on the edge of the end zone.

“He’s throwing peanut M&Ms at me,” O’Brien recalled.

Hey, family bonds get put on hold in that rivalry.

O’Brien was a team captain and Tommie to his core, which meant he owned a healthy disdain for the Johnnies.

“Heck yeah I hated them,” he said.

Imagine the reaction of his former teammates and friend group when, in April, they saw O’Brien standing in the middle of the St. John’s football field, smiling and wearing Johnnies colors, as the school announced his hiring as interim athletic director.

They refer to that as a heel turn in professional wrestling.

Even O’Brien expressed reservations when school leaders contacted him “out of absolute nowhere” about the job.

He recalled one conversation with a prominent donor:

O’Brien: Do you know where I graduated from?

Donor: You wore the dreaded purple.

O’Brien: How are people going to feel about that?

Donor: Our umbrella is large. We’ll welcome everyone.

And so there O’Brien was Monday afternoon, wearing a red polo shirt in an office overlooking the leafy campus.

“I’m getting used to the red,” he said with a chuckle.

The job itself is a perfect fit.

His expansive career as a college administrator and high school football coach has earned him a legion of admirers. Known throughout the Twin Cities simply as “OB,” O’Brien has brought a winning touch to different schools while maintaining remarkable strength in supporting son Casey through his 12-year cancer battle.

“I’ve been Division I, Division II and Division III, and I’ve never moved,” he said. “There’s nobody in the country that can say that.”

That includes stints as athletic director at Hamline and Concordia (St. Paul), followed by nearly a decade with the Gophers split between football operations, athletic administration and secondary coach on Tracy Claeys’ staff.

More recently, he took St. Thomas Academy to two Prep Bowl appearances in five seasons as head coach and then won 15 games with a state tournament appearance in two years at Holy Family after that program failed to win a game in two seasons before his arrival.

He stepped down in January after Casey’s cancer returned for an eighth time, requiring a monthlong stay at Mayo Clinic.

St. John’s football coach Gary Fasching had previously offered him a job on his staff, and by springtime, O’Brien made plans to accept. However, a university executive called with a different proposal after athletic director Bob Alpers announced his retirement in April.

The school didn’t want to rush into hiring a new AD. Leadership asked O’Brien to serve as interim until a replacement is hired sometime next year.

O’Brien was pleased to hear that his bosses didn’t hire him to babysit the department. College athletics are experiencing transformational change at every level. No school can afford to sit idly for a year.

“We’re going to put our foot on the gas and try to look at things from an outside perspective,” he said. “That was attractive to me. I didn’t want to just come in and manage it, sit in a chair and say, ‘Well, how did we do it last year? OK, good enough.’ ”

O’Brien didn’t rule out extending his stay beyond interim.

“We’ll evaluate it at six months,” he said. “We’ll both have a better feel for if I’m the right fit for St. John’s and if this is still the right fit for me and my family. But right now I’m having a blast.”

He loves the rural setting and the alumni support of athletics. He doesn’t mind his 77-minute commute to campus because he leaves early enough to avoid traffic, and the drive home is spent on the phone.

“I talk to my mom every single day,” he said.

The news on Casey’s treatment is encouraging. He has made incremental progress after taking part in new clinical trials at Mayo and in Chicago. He has endured 40-plus surgeries over a decade-plus as a cancer patient, many to his lungs.

“The hard part about it is there’s nobody like him in the world,” his dad said. “There is no research or data on somebody who has had it as many times as he’s had cancer and the number of surgeries he’s had on his lungs. He’s like a human experiment.”

Casey has improved enough that he spends afternoons going into his office as a financial adviser. Now 26, the former holder on the Gophers football team spearheaded a fundraising initiative that raised more than $1 million to upgrade amenities on the pediatric oncology floor at M Fairview Health Masonic Children’s Hospital.

“He’s had an incredible impact on a lot of people,” his dad said. “Way more than he even realizes.”

Minnesota continues to root for Casey in his recovery. That remains his dad’s top priority as he embarks on a new job in an unexpected place. He’s wearing new colors proudly, though he admits he still has some purple attire hanging in his closet.