Right Man For The Job
March 18, 2012 - Arena Football League (AFL)
New Orleans VooDoo News Release
NEW ORLEANS (March 18, 2012) - It is safe to say that Pat O'Hara's journey to being named the head coach of the VooDoo probably didn't go the way he thought it would, with a dismissal from the 11-7 Orlando Predators last season after a playoff loss to the ArenaBowl XXIV Champion Jacksonville Sharks.
O'Hara was shocked and unemployed - but not for long.
"I remember walking to my office after I got let go by Orlando, sitting down in my chair in disbelief," said O'Hara. "I would say 10 minutes went by and VooDoo owner Dan Newman called me to offer me the VooDoo position. After talking with my wife and children, I accepted the next morning. I like a challenge."
O'Hara does indeed inherit a challenge with the VooDoo - a franchise that was a league worst 3-15 last season. But the ensuing mission for O'Hara to resurrect the VooDoo is not as daunting of a task to a man that has already been through so much as a person.
O'Hara, 43, was born in Santa Monica, Calif. and given up for adoption as an infant. Still to this day, O'Hara has had no contact with his biological parents.
"I was blessed to be adopted by William and Patricia O'Hara when I was 4 months old and they raised me as their own," said O'Hara. "Being adopted makes me love appreciate my wife and two sons greatly, especially because my sons are the only two blood relatives I know of on this planet."
As a young child, O'Hara developed an interest in football and by the time he was a junior in high school, he was the starting quarterback at Santa Monica High School and a blue-chip athlete. He went on to sign with USC, putting on his beloved Cardinal Red and Gold with NFL dreams on the horizon.
O'Hara redshirted his freshman season, and then sat in waiting for two years behind 1988 Heisman Trophy Finalist Rodney Peete. With Peete graduating, O'Hara's chance at starting was now within reach.
However, a week before the team's 1989 season opener against Illinois, all of that hard work and dedication came to a screeching halt. During a non-contact team drill, O'Hara was hit by a scout-team defender, suffering two torn ligaments in his right knee and a fractured right tibia.
O'Hara's injury hospitalized him for three weeks and required multiple surgeries that included a bone graft from his hip. Consequently, O'Hara lost 35 pounds and his junior season.
After vigorous rehabbing, O'Hara made it back to the Trojans' sideline as a senior, only to find himself buried on the depth chart once again; this time it was behind freshman phenom Todd Marinovich.
"I was 20 years old when I got injured. It was definitely a character builder, teaching me not to take anything or anyone for granted," said O'Hara. "I learned a lot about people. I carry that experience with me now, especially when it comes to recruiting players. Everyone has a story, and everyone deserves a second chance."
Still, O'Hara remained determined and finished out his career at USC; however, his professional football dreams once so bright and colorful were diminished to a black and white after thought - or so O'Hara thought.
At USC's Pro Day in 1990, some of the NFL Scouts stopped looking at the receivers running routes and catching passes and started asking who was throwing them the ball - the passer was none other than O'Hara.
"A few NFL scouts showed interest, and James Harris of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers told me 'they are going to think I'm crazy, but I am going to but you up on our board'," said O'Hara. "On the second day of the draft, my roommate and I had just got back from turning in our final papers to graduate and the phone rang. My roommate answered and said 'it's for you; it's Tampa Bay!'"
O'Hara was a 10th round selection by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1991 NFL Draft, having never started a college game. He would remain with the team for the entire season, making his way to the San Diego Chargers (1992-93), and Washington Redskins (1994) before the hourglass ran out on him in the NFL.
Out of work and without a place to call home, O'Hara was awaiting a phone call from a team - any team - and the silence was broken with a letter in the mail. It was former Predators offensive coordinator and current Jacksonville Sharks head coach Les Moss. The rest is AFL history - winning ArenaBowls XII, XIV, and XVII.
His on-field success followed him as he went into coaching and other endeavors. As an assistant coach, O'Hara studied under AFL Legendary coach Tim Marcum and in the off-season became a movie consultant for classics like The Waterboy, Any Given Sunday, Invincible, The Longest Yard, and We Are Marshall to name a few.
Bottom line: not too many have overcome adverse situations in life as well as O'Hara, making him the right man to lead the VooDoo out of the depths of the AFL.
"Pat is like a son to me. You will not find a human being who is more appreciative and more of a class act than Pat. New Orleans has no idea how lucky it is to have landed him," said Marcum, AFL's winningest coach of all-time and newly appointed VooDoo assistant coach.
Arena Football League Stories from March 18, 2012
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- VooDoo Fall in Nail-Biter to Soul, 63-62 - New Orleans VooDoo
- Right Man For The Job - New Orleans VooDoo
- Rattlers Win Home Opener On St. Patty's Day - Arizona Rattlers
- Mustangs Fall Short in Snake Pit, 71-65 - Milwaukee Mustangs
- Bighorns Fall Behind Early, Lose to Wizards - Arizona Rattlers
- Defense Ignites in Win Over Barnstormers - Utah Blaze
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- Spokane Earns "Team Win" Over Talons, 63-60 - Spokane Shock
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