Briggs: Mike O'Brien survived and thrived at Toledo

Maybe it was the luck of the Irish.

Or maybe it was because he was very good at his job.

I’ll go with the latter but, either way, Mike O’Brien achieved the rarest of feats as the athletic director at the University of Toledo.

For two decades — the equivalent of two lifetimes in the politically treacherous sphere of major college athletics — the 68-year-old O’Brien stayed ahead of the posse.

Now, he’ll retire on his terms, announcing Thursday that he will step down next April at the conclusion of his term on the NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee.

Job well done.

If his tenure in Toledo was flecked with the occasional scandal — most prominently the point-shaving case that rocked the…