Just when it seemed as though the college football coaching carousel was coming to a full and complete stop following late changes at Alabama and Michigan (and as a result, Washington), a new vacancy from a power conference program opened up on Wednesday. Boston College lost its head coach, Jeff Hafley, to become a defensive coordinator with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. Given the timing of the head coaching change, Boston College is in a bit of a tough spot in finding a new leader for the program.
The dream scenario for Boston College would likely be to convince Bill Belichick to stay close to home and take over the program for a year after parting ways with the New England Patriots, but this is just a fun little scenario to play with (and now I’ve convinced myself the Eagles should totally try to make that work). But could there be another coach with ties to the New England area who could be a candidate for the job? And could that benefit Penn State as a result?
Ohio State recently named former Penn State head coach [autotag]Bill O’Brien[/autotag] as its new offensive coordinator. O’Brien became available with Alabama changing up its staff following the retirement of Nick Saban, and the move seemed to be a solid one for the Buckeyes, which of course would be bad news for Penn State. But The Athletic listed O’Brien as a potential candidate for the new Boston College job, and it may make some sense to consider.
“O’Brien is a Boston native who spent six years with the New England Patriots over two stints, including this past year as offensive coordinator,” notes The Athletic. Of course, O’Brien being on this type of list could be merely a formality. There are some other coaching candidates that would probably be more desirable for Boston College even at this late stage in the game.
But O’Brien leaving Ohio State wouldn’t be a bad thing for Penn State, depending on who Ohio State replaces him with, of course. If nothing else, it would remove the awkward moment when O’Brien returns to Beaver Stadium this fall in Ohio State attire.
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