As strange as it may seem, Chadron State College Head Football Coach Bill O'Boyle says he probably wouldn't have been as successful in his profession if it wasn't for a career-ending neck injury he suffered while playing at Western Illinois. "I played offensive guard and I could have cared less what the back side tackle was supposed to do," O'Boyle remembers. "After I was hurt and couldn't play any more, I realized I had to learn the whole game." Of course, O'Boyle wouldn't wish his fate on anyone. He recalls that the injury was scary and that he is lucky to have overcome it without problems. Maybe that's why he has a soft spot when one of his players is hurt. The coach has a rule, one he used several times this fall, that an injured player will reclaim his place in the starting lineup as soon as he recovers. O'Boyle's injury occurred during his sophomore season at Western Illinois in 1983. He had become a starter late his freshman year and was back in the offensive front the next fall. He initially hurt his neck early in the season, but tried to shrug it off. "Everybody played hurt in those days. You had to be dying to come out," he remembers. "I knew things weren't right. I had 'burners' in my right arm and hand and lost some of the feeling in them. I tried to cut the guys I was supposed to block and avoid hitting with my head. I finally went out during the game at Eastern Illinois. That was the Leathernecks' eighth game. O'Boyle was taken to the Charleston Hospital, then flown by helicopter to the St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, about 100 miles away. It was determined that he had a couple of cracked vertebra and that his playing career was over. He remained hospitalized for three or four days, wore a neck brace for about six weeks and received physical therapy for nearly two years. He still has numbness in his right thumb where the nerve endings didn't completely repair. O'Boyle says he initially didn't want anything to do with football again. But he was from the wrong family to give up the sport. One of O'Boyle's proudest possessions is a print that hangs on the wall of his office in the Armstrong Building at CSC. It's a scene from the Notre Dame locker room some 80 years ago that shows his uncle, Harry O'Boyle, a player for the Fighting Irish, standing beside legendary coach Knute Rockne. Another uncle, Tom O'Boyle, was an assistant coach at Southern Illinois and Iowa State. Two of O'Boyle's brothers, Denny and Mike, are in the Illinois High School Athletic Hall of Fame after being highly succcessful coaches in that state. Another brother, Tom, is the athletic director and head football coach at Gering. A nephew, Ted O'Boyle, led his high school team to the Illinois state playoff semifinals this fall. "All the O'Boyles have either been football coaches or steamfitters," the CSC coach says. "When I thought about that after I was hurt, I decided I'd better get involved in football again. Before long, I was trying to learn as much as I could. I tried to pick up everything that was going on." O'Boyle was a student coach at Western Illinois for three years after his playing career had ended. He came to Chadron State when one of the Leathernecks' assistants, Brad Smith, was named the Eagles' head coach in 1987. O'Boyle was the Eagles' offensive line coach for three years. During that time, he earned his master's degree from Chadron State and married Susan Wickard, a Minatare native who had been a volleyball player at CSC. In 1990, O'Boyle was invited to coach the offensive line at Western Illinois. He would be working at a bigger school, would get a pay raise and acknowledges that he accepted the offer before consulting his wife. While they remained in Macomb four years, she missed western Nebraska. When there was an opening on the coaching staff at Chadron State following the 1993 season, it was an easy decision for them to return. O'Boyle primarily coached the line for several years, then began sharing the offensive design and play calling with Smith as the Eagles became a perennial contender in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. By 1999 O'Boyle was the offensive coordinator and the Eagles began employing more of the spread and one-back alignments they still use. He learned the offense from Dan Dodd, the offensive coordinator at Western Illinois in the early 1990s and now the offensive coordinator at Tulane. O'Boyle says he also learned much, particularly on how to work, from the late Bruce Craddock, the head coach at Western Illinois when he was there as a player and a coach; practice organization and how to deal with players from Bill Wilt, the defensive coordinator at Western; and Smith, whom O'Boyle still refers to often as "Coach" and is now CSC's full-time athletic director. "He did a great job. He has a good offensive mind and was a players' coach who got along well with them," O'Boyle says of Smith. "He also does a great job of dealing with the community and the people involved in the program. That (dealing with the public) was something I lacked when I became the head coach. I still don't know how I do, but it's easier when you're winning." While he was 41 and had been involved in coaching nearly 20 years when he was tabbed the Eagles' head coach on Jan. 1, 2005, O'Boyle says the reality of it was "terrifying." "I had about five million questions and was always second-guessing my decisions. After the first year, I decided not to do that any more. I would make a decision and go with it." O'Boyle, who notes that he tries to learn something new every year about the offense he still coordinates, says the key to success is recruiting players who are willing to work on improving their skills. "I love the kids who are involved in two or three sports in high school. I really like it when they have been out for track and have worked on their speed. That's why I don't mind at all when our football players want to run track in college. I also like it when they've played basketball or wrestled in high school. I also want linemen who are serious about our weight workouts. We need to get stronger in the lines if we're going to compete nationally."