Tag: Bill O’Brien

Bill O’Brien is reuniting with former Penn State staff members at Boston College

Bill O’Brien has lured a former popular Penn State assistant to Boston College from Florida.

Former Penn State head coach [autotag]Bill O’Brien[/autotag] returned to a role as head coach last week when he was named the new head coach of the Boston College Eagles after a brief stay on the Ohio State coaching staff. As O’Brien works on assembling his staff at Boston College, he is bringing in some familiar faces from his time at Penn State.

One of the first notable names to join O’Brien at Boston College was Craig Fitzgerald as the team’s strength coach. Fitzgerald held the role of Director of Strength and Conditioning in 2012 and 2013 under O’Brien, and he was well respected in that role. Fitzgerald followed O’Brien to the NFL when O’Brien accepted a job to be the head coach of the Houston Texans. Fitxzgeerald spent four seasons with O’Brien and the Texans before returning to the college game to work in the same role for Tennessee in 2018 and 2019. He then returned to the NFL with the New York Giants from 2020 through 2023.

Fitzgerald was announced as Florida‘s Director of Football Performance in December, so his quick move to Boston College is a big hire for O’Brien.

But O’Brien may have some other staff members with ties to his time in Happy Valley.

According to FootballScoop, O’Brien is set to add Will Lawing to the Boston College staff as the offensive coordinator. Lawing has worked with O’Brien with the Texans, Alabama, and the New England Patriots. Lawing started his working relationship with O’Brien as a graduate assistant at Penn State in 2013.

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The Columbus Shuffle: Bill O’Brien leaves, Chip Kelly enters

Ohio State’s coaching staff saw some shuffling around on Friday.

It was a busy day on Friday in Columbus, Ohio, as the Ohio State Buckeyes saw the departure of offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien and hired former UCLA head Chip Kelly to be their next offensive coordinator.

O’Brien left the Buckeyes after less than two months on the job for the head coach opening at Boston College. It will be his second career head coaching job at the college level, also leading Penn State in 2011 and 2012 before spending parts of seven seasons with the NFL’s Houston Texans as head coach.

On the other hand, Kelly heads to Columbus after stepping down as UCLA’s head coach earlier on Friday. Kelly has spent the last several weeks interviewing multiple NFL offensive coordinator opportunities as he was set to enter the 2024 season on the hot seat with the Bruins.

Kelly spent six seasons in Westwood and led the program to three straight seasons of eight or more wins, including a nine-win season in 2022. Overall, Kelly was 35-34 as the Bruins’ head coach and leaves UCLA with a career record of 81-41, which includes a 46-7 record at Oregon from 2009 through 2012.

The Huskers will get a close look at Ohio State’s new-look offense under Chip Kelly next fall on October 26 when Matt Rhule takes his program on the road to Columbus.

Chip Kelly in, Bill O’Brien out: Did Ohio State get the better Big Ten offensive coordinator for 2024?

Everyone is asking this question.

Chip Kelly’s offense with Ohio State’s football talent could be a lethal combination, but we will have to wait and see just how well the new offensive coordinator works in Columbus with the Buckeyes. It is worth noting that Bill O’Brien, as an offensive coordinator with Nick Saban at Alabama, helped the Crimson Tide reach the national championship game in the 2021 season. It has been a long time since Chip Kelly coached in a national championship game. That was back in the 2010 season and January of 2011 for the Oregon Ducks against the Auburn Tigers.

It is worth asking: Who is the better Big Ten offensive coordinator and the better fit at Ohio State: Chip Kelly or Bill O’Brien?

When Bill O’Brien was offensive coordinator for Alabama in 2021, he guided Bryce Young, the Southern California product who went to Tuscaloosa to play for Saban. As it turned out, that 2021 Alabama team was the last Saban-coached team to play in a national championship game. Saban’s last Bama team in 2023 came one stop short of the title round, losing to Michigan in the playoff semifinals at the Rose Bowl.

Bill O’Brien getting to the national title is a notable achievement, but that Alabama offense in 2021 was a far cry from the 2020 Alabama offense which averaged over 48 points per game under coordinator Steve Sarkisian. Alabama wasn’t nearly as productive in 2021, averaging roughly 8.5 fewer points per contest.

Everyone will debate if Chip Kelly has lost his fastball, or if being a coordinator is exactly the job which suits him today. He won’t have to recruit. He can just call plays for Ryan Day. Is that better than Bill O’Brien? We’ll never really know, but we can say that Chip Kelly has a lot to prove at Ohio State.

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BC hires former Penn State head coach following Jeff Haley departure

Bill O’Brien is the new head coach at Boston College.

Over the last few weeks, BC football’s coaching staff has undergone significant changes. The Eagles have a new head coach in Bill O’Brien after Jeff Hafley joined the Green Bay Packers as the defensive coordinator.

While BC will be turning the page on the Hafley era after four years, it was an overall successful run. Now, there will be high expectations for O’Brien to take the program to the next level.

Most recently, O’Brien was hired last month to be offensive coordinator at Ohio State. Prior to that, he was the offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots.

With Hafley calling the shots, BC posted a 22-26 record, including a 7-6 mark this season. Under the former Rutgers assistant coach, the Eagles recorded a bowl win this year with a win over SMU in the Fenway Bowl. O’Brien will now be tasked with building on Hafley’s success.

 

In O’Brien, BC has brought in a coach with plenty of experience. During his career, he has spent some time in the NFL as the Patriots offensive coordinator. He was also the head coach of the Houston Texans from 2014-2020. After an 0-3 start in 2020, O’Brien was let go. The Texans posted a 52-48 record during his tenure and won two playoff games.

However, O’Brien is no stranger to college football and the Big Ten. He was the head coach at Penn State from 2012-2013. During his first season in Happy Valley, O’Brien was named Big Ten Coach of the Year after leading the Nittany Lions to eight wins. That was the most wins by a first-year head coach in school history. He finished with a 15-9 record before returning to the NFL.

Although O’Brien has a busy few months ahead, he brings valuable experience to Chestnut Hill.

Social media reaction to Chip Kelly leaving UCLA for vacated Ohio State offensive coordinator job

What a wild turn of events in the Pac-12… or rather, the Big Ten.

It has been the worst-kept secret in football. Chip Kelly wanted out of Westwood. He had been interviewing for every NFL offensive coordinator job that has come up in the past weeks and everyone knew his days at UCLA were numbered. Going to Ohio State, however, is not what anyone would have expected a few weeks ago.

Nobody predicted how this would all play out. Bill O’Brien was hired as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State on January 18, but he took the vacant Boston College coaching position Friday morning and the college football coaching dominoes began to fall again. Within an hour, rumors of Kelly stepping down at UCLA to take O’Brien’s place began to surface.  Later that afternoon it was confirmed that Kelly was out at UCLA and on his way to Columbus. It is a huge blow to UCLA’s athletic director, Martin Jarmond, and a proud Bruin athletic department as they enter the Big Ten for their inaugural season.

It was an inevitable end that had played out with a surprise conclusion.  Here is how social media reacted to the news:

Social media reacts: Boston College hires Bill O’Brien as their new head coach

Bill O’Brien was initially expected to be the Ohio State OC in 2024, but now he is Boston College’s head coach.

The Boston College football program landed a big name as their next head coach as former head coach Jeff Hafley departed for the NFL to become the Green Bay Packers’ new defensive coordinator.

With their vacancy at HC, the Eagles went out and landed Bill O’Brien as their program’s new leader. After just three weeks as Ohio State’s new offensive coordinator, O’Brien was back on the move and joining Boston College.

Things move fast in college football, and this was definitely one of those moments. It further added to one of the craziest off-seasons we’ve seen from the sport. The Boston native returns home.

With news like this comes reactions. Here is a look at how X (formerly known as Twitter) reacted to O’Brien joining Boston College as their HC.

Boston College officially names Bill O’Brien head coach

Bill O’Brien is taking over a Boston College program coming off a winning season and a bowl victory but faces a big test in 2024.

Former Penn State head coach [autotag]Bill O’Brien[/autotag] is back in the saddle as a head coach for a major college football program. Just over a decade after coaching his final game for the Nittany Lions, O’Brien has officially been named the next head coach of the Boston College football program, keeping him in the New England area after his brief return to the NFL’s New England Patriots this past season.

O’Brien takes over a Boston College football program that just recently lost its former head coach Jeff Hafley to a job as a defensive coordinator on the coaching staff with the Green Bay Packers. O’Brien was lined up to be the offensive coordinator for Ohio State this season but will now take on the head coaching role with the Boston College Eagles.

Boston College is coming off a 7-6 season, its first 7-win season since 2018. The Eagles won the Fenway Bowl in Boston this past season to clinch its first winning season since 2020. O’Brien will be tasked with keeping the Eagles program on the winning side of the margin and hopefully bring the program closer to competing for an ACC title shot. Boston College has not had a top-25 finish since 2007 when Matt Ryan was the quarterback and the Eagles climbed as high as no. 2 in the rankings before national title dreams came shattering down with back-to-back losses to Florida State and Maryland, and ultimately ended with a loss in the ACC Championship Game against Virginia Tech.

O’Brien’s head coaching debut for Boston College will not be an easy one. Boston College is scheduled to open the 2024 season at defending ACC champion Florida State on Monday of Labor Day weekend. O’Brien will also coach the Eagles in non-conference replay at Missouri and home against Michigan State.

O’Brien was named head coach at Penn State in 2012, at which time he took over a program in its darkest days following the unraveling of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Months later, Penn State was slammed with hefty NCAA sanctions making the job even more difficult for the first-time head coach. But O’Brien kept the program afloat and finished with back-to-back winning records in 2012 and 2013 against most odds.

O’Brien was named the 2012 Paul “Bear” Bryant National Coach of the Year and the George Munger Award winner for Coach of the Year by the Maxwell Football Club following his first season at Penn State.

At this point in time, there are no future matchups lined up between Penn State and Boston College, so we won’t be getting any James Franklin vs. Bill O’Brien battles any time soon barring any potential postseason matchups to come.

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Report: Bill O’Brien set to take over Boston College program

Bill O’Brien’s return to Boston College promising to usher in a new era of competitiveness and local pride for the Eagles.

Boston College has set its sights on Bill O’Brien, aiming to bring the Massachusetts native back home as the head coach of the Eagles. This move, as reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel, is a pivotal moment for a program looking to reestablish itself as a contender in college football.

O’Brien’s return to the Bay State is not just a professional homecoming but a deeply personal one, rooted in local ties and a storied career that spans both college and the NFL.

O’Brien clinched both the Big Ten Coach of the Year and the Bear Bryant National Coach of the Year awards, amassing a 15-9 record over two seasons at Penn State. Following his tenure there, he spent over six seasons at the helm of the Texans, guiding them to four playoff berths with a record of 52-48. He was also the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during Bryce Young’s Heisman Trophy-winning season at Alabama.

O’Brien’s mentorship of standouts like Bryce Young, Tom Brady, and Deshaun Watson highlights his exceptional knack for enhancing quarterback performance—a talent Boston College is keenly anticipating will benefit their promising yet unpolished quarterback, Thomas Castellanos.

Boston College’s decision to pursue O’Brien follows the departure of Jeff Hafley to the Green Bay Packers, leaving a void that demanded a figure of O’Brien’s caliber. O’Brien was set to call plays for the Buckeyes this year until Hafley unexpectedly left for the Packers. The Eagles, whose last brush with national prominence came in 2008 under the leadership of standouts like Justin Tuggle and Mark Herzlich, are thirsting for a resurgence.

O’Brien’s deep ties to Massachusetts, underscored by his family’s commitment to staying in the area and his wife’s Boston College legacy, weave a rich tapestry of personal and professional connections to this narrative, promising not just a new chapter for the team but a homecoming story full of potential.

Report: Boston College closing in on deal to hire Bill O’Brien as head coach

Bill O’Brien is on the move, again, and this time, it’s for a head coaching job

Bill O’Brien is on the move, again.

The former New England Patriots offensive coach joined Ohio State coach Ryan Day’s staff in January, but his time as a Buckeye could be short-lived.

Per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Boston College is working towards a deal for O’Brien to be their next head coach. The news was reported on Friday that a deal between the two sides should be expected soon.

O’Brien hasn’t served as a head coach since his run at Penn State back in 2013. This is clearly a great pick-up for Boston College for a coach that has enjoyed success both at the collegiate and professional levels.

O’Brien’s return to New England didn’t yield expected results, but then again, he didn’t have a lot to work with on the offensive roster. The season was marred with injuries and inefficiency to the point where it was unsalvageable.

O’Brien now embarks on a new journey to turn around a Boston College program that hasn’t had a winning conference record since 2009.

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Is Bill O’Brien closing in on head coaching job at Boston College?

It is looking more and moer like Bill O’Brien is going to be a college football head coach once again.

It is looking more and more as though former Penn State head coach [autotag]Bill O’Brien[/autotag] could be inching toward another chance to be a college football head coach. According to multiple reports in the last 24 hours, O’Brien has interviewed and is considered a top candidate to become the next head coach of Boston College.

O’Brien and Boston College could be closing in on a deal to make the former head coach of the Nittany Lions the next head coach of the Boston College program.

O’Brien just joined the Ohio State coaching staff as the offensive coordinator this offseason. But his stay6 in Columbus looks like it could be incredibly brief as he could be heading right back to New England. O’Brien joined the Ohio State staff after the New England Patriots underwent a signfiicant head coaching change with Bill Belichick and the franchise parting ways. O’Brien had been the offensive cooridnqtor for Belichick after spending time with Alabama as offensive coordinator.

Boston College is late to join this year’s coaching carousel after losing Jeff Hafley to a job with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. Hafley is the new defensive coordinator of the Packers, throwing Boston College into a head coaching search at one of the worst possible times of the offseason.

O’Brien was hired following the removal of former head coach Joe Paterno in the fallout from the Jerry Sandusky scandal. That scandal later led O’Brien to be burdened with hefty NCAA sanctions on top of everything else he had to deal with. O’Brien was limited in what he could do with recruiting and dealt with a number of players leaving the program with a free transfer granted by the NCAA. Despite all odds, O’Brien managed to go 15-9 in his two seasons as Penn State’s head coach.

If O’Brien does land the Boston College job, he will not make his anticipated return to Beaver Styadium this fall. Ohio State is schedueld to make a road trip to Penn State iomn the 2024 season, which would have been O’Brien’s first time in Happy Valley since leaving the program to becoem the head coach of the Texans.

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