It was only a matter of time.

Only Kevin O’Neill knew when he actually made the decision to leave Northwestern. The official day of reckoning came on Sept. 1, when he accepted a post as a New York Knicks assistant coach.

O’Neill’s in-your-face coaching tactics triggered various reactions. A total of seven NU players quit the team in the last year.

But O’Neill’s departure hasn’t surprised his players, who knew his eyes were on the NBA.

“I think the hints were there that he was looking around,” said senior Jeff Eschmeyer, referring to an ESPN The Magazine article in which O’Neill acknowledged last spring that he was weary of the college game. “He’s jumped around a lot (three schools in the past seven years) and he knew he wasn’t going to settle down any place.”

Added the Wildcats’ leading scorer Ben Johnson: “I knew his goal was to make it to the pros and it was just a matter of time before he made the move.”

Even those who were heavily recruited by O’Neill, and yet, did not get a chance to play for him don’t hold grudges.

“I don’t blame him if that’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and he took it,” said freshman Jitim Young. “It was shocking at first, but I thought about it — it’s life. Sometimes things like that happen in life, and you just have to deal with it.”

Eschmeyer, who after last season quit the team to concentrate on academics, said O’Neill’s personality conflicted with some players.

Remember Sean Wink, who quit the team after his sophomore year?

“Those two … I mean, it wasn’t so much a style that was bad. It was that it was so opposing to Sean’s personality,” said Eschmeyer, who also added that his decision to quit had nothing to do with O’Neill’s coaching style. “(O’Neill was) just a very in-your-face, yelling, screaming kind of guy. Some people came here and decided that that’s not how they want to be coached. That’s their choice.

“It affected certain players. For a certain kind of player, that (style) is fine — that drives them more and more. For others, it doesn’t. But Kevin didn’t necessarily have to change his style for them.”

Accordingly, some of O’Neill’s top prospects left the program. Highly touted forward Steve Lepore and guard David Newman quit last spring and transferred to Wake Forest and Drake, respectively. Wink and center Aron Molnar quit the team last fall.

Wink declined an interview with The Daily, but did say he does not have plans to return to the team, despite the coaching change.

A Wake Forest spokesman said Lepore was declining all interview requests regarding O’Neill.

Two freshmen, Adam Robinson and Brody Deren, also left the team in the spring. The Cats were one of the youngest teams in the nation last year, and that seemingly had an effect on the two, according to Eschmeyer.

“Every NCAA Division I program has a turnover,” Eschmeyer said. “If you’re going to bring in six freshmen, you’re going to lose two or three just because there’s not enough playing time going around.”

Sophomore center Aaron Jennings said he does not expect any more players to transfer.

“I think everybody’s on the same page right now,” Jennings said. “And I’m sure we’re all staying on the team.”

As suddenly as he departed Evanston, however, O’Neill rarely showed signs last season that he would abandon a team that went 5-25 overall and 0-16 in the Big Ten.

O’Neill constantly demanded practice and improvement. A sit-down chat with his players to discuss his future did not suit O’Neill’s style.

“There might have been hints that were there, but as a team, we never picked up on it,” Eschmeyer said. “He might have known he would be gone, I don’t know. But he’s the kind of guy who would work so hard, he’s not going to let himself stop at his job.”

Asked what he will best remember about O’Neill, Jennings said simply: “His intensity. He always wanted everyone to work hard. You’ve got to want to work hard to be a good team.”

NU hired former Princeton coach Bill Carmody within a week of O’Neill’s departure. Carmody will head into the season with a gaggle of O’Neill recruits.

The Cats are unfazed. They understood O’Neill might head for the pros; the resignation just happened to come this summer.

“He did everything he could before he left,” Eschmeyer said. “He took care of the recruiting class. … I mean, he’s just the kind of guy who’s not going to stop in the middle of something.

“He’s going to carry stuff out. That’s the kind of guy he is.”