No Time For Doubters

Anyone watching closely couldn't miss the parallels between O'Brien's overwrought exits from Medford and Salem.  In both cases, O'Brien and his tactics divided a town.  He became a cult of personality.  He sacrificed just about everything else in his life, all in the name of his kids.  They, in turn, would go to battle for him.

After all, how many other adults would make themselves available at any hour, and be a rock of stability?  But in both cities, many people found something unnatural about his level of devotion.  O'Brien had no patience for doubters.  Why couldn't they see the big picture: that he was busting his tail to help these kids get ahead?  What were these critics doing on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons and Wednesday nights to help his kids get to college?

In his own life, he had paid the price for his lopsided devotion to basketball, when his lack of a college degree was used against him in his pursuit of the Medford job.  Who better to motivate kids to avoid making the same mistake?  Coaching was his calling; he had committed to it.

Pg 68