By: Rich Fisher
Press: You’re also an alumnus of Rutgers. Everyone always said it was a sleeping giant. It never quite happened when you were there, but did you always feel that way, and what are your thoughts when you see the job Greg Schiano has done?
O’Hara: Sure, everybody has talked about Rutgers just needing to get over that hump, or whatever they wanted to call it, sleeping giant or whatever. I think one of the greatest things is to have a coach like Greg Schiano, and to have Bob Mulcahy give him the space and the time to develop the program the right way.
Too many times I think you see programs give a coach a short leash. In collegiate sports, it’s hard to turn a program around in two or three years. You really have to have that commitment from a university to turn a program around the right way. He’s been able to do that.
It’s a great thing for Rutgers, a great thing for the state of New Jersey, to be able to have a big-time collegiate football program that we call our own. College football is fun, it’s exciting, it also brings revenue to schools. All three of those factors really play a role in the excitement that Rutgers has been able to contribute.
Press: Was it a big disappointment for you to never get to that level, or was it still a great experience after having a career that culminated with you signing (with the Cleveland Browns) as a free agent and making the team?
O’Hara: I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed that I never got to play in a bowl game. I don’t feel that it defines me, but there are things that I went through at Rutgers that kind of molded me and helped me now, with some of the things I have to go through.
Looking back, when I gather with some of my Rutgers friends that I played with, we always are of the mentality that we’re extremely happy about what’s going on right now. We wish we could have been a part of it.
But, I think the great thing about every player that played at Rutgers prior to the success they’re having now, is that it feels like we have some part in the success that they’re having now. Whether it’s been helping out with the recruiting while we were there, or anything we can do up to this point. But we’re enjoying the success.
Press: Turning to the Giants, as a lineman, what will life without Tiki Barber be like for you?
O’Hara: The thing about the NFL is that nothing stays the same. Every year there’s always a new hole you have to fill. A new void somehow created whether it be through free agency, a trade, a player’s cut or retired. There’s always constant turnover in the lockerroom. We’re certainly gonna miss Tiki, we’re gonna miss his play on the field, really, his clutch ability. I said before, he was a great clutch player when we needed a big play.
As much as we’ll miss him, I’m looking forward to seeing who’s going to step up. With him leaving that definitely leaves not only an opportunity, but an opening for somebody to really step up and kind of be that new playmaker.
Press: How about the off-season. Are you happy with how the Giants draft went?
O’Hara: (laughing) When you’re a veteran, you’re always happy they don’t draft anybody at your position. That’s how I rate drafts these days.
I thought we did a good job of getting some good guys and positions of need. It’s always hard to evaluate drafts until at least one or two years into those guys playing in the NFL. It really can be a crap shoot and you just try to go for whatever talent is on the board at the time.
Press: What are your thoughts on Commissioner Roger Goodell’s crackdown on the troublemakers? Is that good, is it overdue?
O’Hara: I think it’s good. To say it’s overdue, I think, it is what it is. This is a time now, when I think we need it. And I don’t think he could have gotten the job any sooner.
I think it’s going to be good for the NFL as a whole. There’s too many good things going on with NFL players, too much community work and charity work and good deeds that are going unnoticed because they are being overshadowed by the rotten apples that are really spoiling the bunch. I think it’s good that everybody should be held accountable, and in the long run we’re all going to benefit.
Press: Unfortunately for you guys, the media loves to focus on the trouble and ignore the good stuff.
O’Hara: In addition to that, whenever anything happens in the off-season, it’s magnified times ten because everything is a little bit slower. When things go on during the season, they sort of get brushed aside because it’s such a fast paced, action packed 18 weeks. In the off-season, I think players really have to understand, with the free time we have and the down speed of the NFL season, the media has time to pick apart things. You have to be very careful about that. You can spend 10 years trying to build a reputation and one bad night can ruin it.
Press: And of course, the most important question of all…how did you shoot today?
O’Hara: The great thing is, that the pencils they gave us had erasers on them. I think we hit five, yelled four and marked down three.
