HC of BC football, Bill O'Brien joins!
HC of BC football, Bill O'Brien joins!
With all the upsets, is the NCAA parody closer to the NFL? With the Portal and NIL, is this the "new age"?
With all the upsets, is the NCAA parody closer to the NFL? With the Portal and NIL, is this the "new age"?
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00:00Doing great. A texter to this program right off the jump here wants me to congratulate you
00:07on making the St. John's Prep Hall of Fame, Bill O'Brien.
00:14I appreciate that. Thank you very much. It had nothing to do with my
00:18playing ability, I can promise you that, but I appreciate it.
00:23You know, St. John's Prep is a great school and I'm honored to be in the Hall of Fame. Thank you.
00:30And so I'm guessing we had your first contact with the female sex in college,
00:34or when did you meet your first woman? No, yeah, exactly. No doubt about it.
00:45All boys school. Don't really know how to answer that question, but yes.
00:51I wanted to ask you about something Matt Rule said this week, which was essentially that
00:56when you look at some of the upsets in college football, Alabama, for instance,
01:02I think was what he was asked about. He puts it all on the portal and NIL and essentially was
01:11saying that college has become like the NFL and tends to be when it comes to parity. Do you agree
01:20with that? I tend to agree with that. I told our team on Sunday that it's a new age of college
01:31football. It's a wide open deal. Alabama lost to Vandy, which is unheard of. Tennessee lost to
01:39Arkansas. Michigan lost to Washington. Undefeated teams went down. And so I think it's going to
01:46come down to the teams that make the least amount of mistakes. The teams that understand that they
01:52have to learn how not to lose before they can understand how to win. That's what we're going
01:56through here at BC. We've got to understand in our two losses, we've turned it over. We've committed
02:03penalties that are unlike us. And so I do agree with Matt on that. I think that there is parity
02:09across college football. Bill, how do you make sure that you're able to keep these kids
02:16focused? Because ultimately, I think in the NFL, it's the playoffs that you can get to.
02:22In college football, you're trying to get to the playoffs. But losing in college football is so
02:28much more devastating. And in the NFL, when it comes to making the playoffs, how do you get them
02:33to stay focused and stay committed to saying that, OK, even though we lost a game or two games,
02:41there might still be a potential chance here for us to make the playoffs
02:45and not just be trying to get to a bowl game? Yeah, I don't think. Yeah, I know. I understand
02:52what you're saying. And it's definitely true in the NFL, right? Like, you know,
02:56having been in that league and, you know, having been around teams that were really winning and the
03:01excitement and you had a chance to go to the playoffs and then you had the teams that,
03:05you know, you're like last year at the Patriots, you know, you're like four and ten or three and
03:09ten and you got no shot like that's that's very difficult to keep guys motivated. But
03:15in college football, especially here at Boston College, it's it's, you know, new coaching staff,
03:20you know, new way of doing things. You know, this place hasn't won eight games in a season
03:24in 15 years. So, you know, I think that there's a lot of different ways that we can,
03:29you know, keep these guys engaged. We have a great, you know, group of leaders. Our six captains are,
03:36you know, good guys. They care about BC football. So, yeah, ultimately, you know, we're here. We
03:41want to win, but there's a lot more to it at BC. And, you know, we're trying to talk more about
03:46the process rather than the results. Bill, when you look back at that game on Saturday, you guys
03:52came out on the road, looked great in that first half, and then it just felt like a completely
03:57different game in the second half. Did UVA just have you guys figure it out when they came back
04:02from halftime, or what happened to let that one get away from you? Yeah, I mean, I think that,
04:09I don't think that UVA had us figured out. I think that we made mistakes that we can't make. I mean,
04:15we can't, you know, turn the ball over. We couldn't get off the field on third down,
04:21third and 10, third and 13, third and nine. We had penalties. We had a targeting penalty. We
04:27had a hands-to-the-face penalty that kept drives alive for them. You know, we had a holding call
04:33that took away a 25-yard scramble by Tommy. You know, so we've got to, like, understand, you know,
04:39it really is a small margin of error, and we've got to be on the right side of that. And I think
04:45that's something that, you know, I try to teach the team every day. The coaches try to teach the
04:50team every day, and that's, hopefully, we can really learn from that and, you know, be better
04:56the next time out. Your whole team, the New England Patriots, has decided to finally start
05:02Drake May. When it comes to a rookie quarterback stepping in at this time of the season, as he is,
05:10what, if you were his offensive coordinator, you were his head coach, what would you be,
05:15what are the important things to be telling him in advance of Sunday?
05:20I would say the first thing is understanding the operation, right? Like, you know, everything from
05:26the play call to the mic point, the setting of the run blocking, the setting of the protections,
05:34the, you know, keeping it simple, less plays. I wouldn't have 150 plays on the call sheet,
05:38I can tell you that. Less plays, plays that he really likes. You know, I was always into,
05:46you know, making sure during the week that the quarterback understood, hey,
05:50this is what we're going to do, and do you like these plays? You know, are you comfortable with
05:54these plays, and do you see them the right way? And so I think, you know, Drake May is obviously
06:00an extremely talented guy, drafted at number three, and it's at a very exciting time for the Patriots,
06:06and so you got to try to keep it simple for him and talk to him about moving the chains and not
06:11trying to, you know, win the game in one drive. Billy, I've been trying to get the answer to this,
06:17I've asked Bill Belichick, I've asked Jerron Mayo. When you look at the Patriots, and you were there
06:23briefly and then there for a longer stint prior, is there frustration among the coaches or the,
06:29you know, rank-and-file players that there isn't more spending on offense? Just look at the Patriots
06:34weapons, and you could maybe argue the Boston College Eagles have more of a deep threat. I don't,
06:40I, was that a frustration for you, and was there, does that ever explain to you why they,
06:44they don't spend at that side of the field? Yeah, that's a great question. We, you know,
06:49as assistant coaches, when we were there, you know, we, we were not, what we would do, Curtis,
06:55I'm going to try to answer this to the best of my ability, we would, we would, you know,
06:59evaluate the free agents, evaluate the draft prospects, we would go over those, those evaluations
07:06with Bill and, you know, whoever was there. I mean, back in the day, you know, you had some of
07:10the best talent evaluators in the league there, right? You had Jason Light, you had John Robinson,
07:14Nick Casario, these guys are, you know, at the top of their profession. And so then, at the end
07:19of the day, you know, those guys would make the decisions on who to draft or, you know, who to
07:24sign and all that. We were never privy, really, to that after we went over the evaluations with them,
07:29if that makes sense. So certainly, like, if we were sitting there, you know, as assistant coaches,
07:33we're all sitting there, maybe we go have a beer after work or whatever, we're like, man,
07:37wish we could have got that guy, but we didn't. So we move on and, and, and we, you know, we coach
07:42everybody that's there. So, you know, I think we, as assistant coaches with Bill, we weren't
07:47that involved in all those decisions. We just evaluated, gave them our opinion and moved on to
07:53what we were there for, which was to coach the players.
07:56Bill, when you look at, and I know Greg asked a great question about the portal and, you know,
08:01talking about parity in college football, when you're evaluating your team, I know you're focused
08:07on the season, but when you start to evaluate what maybe potentially areas you could get better
08:14in, how do you, you know, decide whether or not you're going to jump into the portal? Because it
08:20seems like, you know, with the portal allows you to get better quickly versus maybe waiting on a
08:27kid who might be coming straight out of high school, that it might take him a few years.
08:32Yeah, that's it. You know, again, that's a really, you know, great question because as a matter of
08:37fact, yesterday we had a roster meeting and basically the roster meeting had a lot to do with,
08:45you know, where, where we're at right now relative to, okay, these guys are, you know, in their fifth
08:50or sixth year, they're not going to be here next year. Okay. Who's going to be here in 26, you know,
08:55it wasn't really a talent evaluation. It was more about like, okay, we better make sure
09:00you know, a year out, two years out. That's the thing about us. We've got to make sure that we're
09:04looking ahead. We can't just like look right here to today relative to our recruiting people and
09:10myself. So, you know, there's no doubt that we've targeted some positions, you know, that we feel,
09:16hey, you know, we might want to look in the portal. The thing about Boston College Wig is,
09:21you know, we've got to be very selective about who we go into the portal to get,
09:25right. You know, grad transfers are great here. You know, they're really good. Treshawn Ward is
09:30an example of that, you know, guys that, you know, they've already graduated. They can go to grad
09:34school here, get a grad degree, which is an incredible degree. You know, when you, when you
09:39get a guy that's got three years left of eligibility, there, there was probably a problem
09:42with him at the school he's coming from, you know, relative, you know, and then now he's here and,
09:47you know, the, the credits don't transfer, things like that. It's just not really the philosophy
09:52that we want to really attack. We want to recruit high school guys and then maybe look in the portal
09:57for grad transfers. That's kind of how we're going to operate. Bill, being in the middle of a 12-day
10:02off period with a bi-week, how have you guys been using that? How do you think the guys have
10:06responded to that? Do you feel like you can use it to your advantage going into a week against Tech?
10:14Yeah, these guys, Courtney, they, you guys as grads, you'd be very proud of these guys. They
10:18work very hard. They show up. They're, they're pissed off that they lost to Virginia. We've been
10:23in, you know, full pads. We'll have a scrimmage today. We'll give them Friday, Saturday off. We'll
10:29be back to work on Sunday. We play Thursday night. Very difficult place to play Virginia Tech, but
10:34these guys, you know, there's a, there's a positive frustration, if that makes sense,
10:40because they feel like, you know, we gave the game away. Give Virginia credit. Like you said,
10:45they did some things and, you know, maybe we didn't adjust very well, but, you know, we gave
10:49them the game. We turned the ball over and these guys know they can be better than that. So these
10:52guys have shown up and, you know, they've worked very hard this week. I, I really enjoy coaching
10:57the team. You know, Bill, the guy who runs the New York Jets, Aaron Rodgers, is looking for a
11:02new head coach. I don't know if you're interested or not. Oh man, I don't know. The Jets, the Jets
11:11have struggled to get it right, you know, and, you know, but, you know, I don't know. I don't
11:15know too much about that organization and, but, you know, being in New England for the time that
11:21I was there, you know, that's a massive rivalry, obviously, and, you know, just, it's just been a
11:26struggle to get it right there. So not sure what they're doing. Speaking of it being a rivalry,
11:31would that prevent Bill from going at some point or would that encourage Bill when it comes to
11:37choosing that as a landing spot? You know, I don't know. I, it would be hard for me, you know,
11:43again, this is just my opinion. I haven't, certainly have not spoken to Bill about that,
11:47but it'd be hard for me to see, to see Bill in, you know, New York Jet green. I don't know if I
11:54was, I don't, I can't see that, but anything can happen, right? I've seen a lot over 32 years,
12:01anything can happen, but it'd be hard for me to see that, but who knows? All right,
12:05one from the professor before we go, Sean. Bill, I just, philosophically, I was curious about this
12:12because, so I don't know if you've seen, or kind of kept up with it all. Ashton Janti over at
12:17Boise State already has a thousand yards rushing after five games, but it's a guy who has gotten,
12:23only got offers from schools like Navy and Army and never really got looked at by those big
12:27division one schools, like your Bama's, your Ohio State, your Michigan's. I'm curious from
12:32your perspective, how difficult it is to see guys like this and be like, wow, how does,
12:37how do teams miss these guys with all the different video systems and, and talent evaluators
12:43everywhere? How do you miss guys that just all of a sudden blow up in a way you never would have
12:48expected? Yeah, it's frustrating. You know, you, you try to do the best you can to project guys,
12:55right? And, and you know, like there's a lot of guys, Sean, over the years that I've coached,
13:00especially in the NFL. And you'll be like, okay, where did, where did you play? And,
13:04you know, one of the best examples of all time is Julian Edelman, right? I mean, this guy was like,
13:09you know, junior college, you know, Kent State, you know, obviously guys are borderline hall
13:15of famer, right? So like, how was he missed by, you know, it's hard to, it's hard to pinpoint.
13:20And that's what I tell our coaches all the time. We have to do whatever it takes to find these
13:26guys, because in the end at Boston College, some of the best players that ever played here,
13:30I remember talking to Matt Ryan over the summer, you know, Matt Ryan was not a highly recruited
13:34guy out of high school. I mean, he had like Wisconsin and BC, I think were his two final
13:40offers. You know, he didn't have 25 offers. So we have to do a good job of finding these
13:44guys that we believe we can develop and that can become, you know, great players for us.
13:49I think that's the key to, that's the key to what we're trying to do, Sean. It's a great question.
13:54Please don't tell him it's a great question. That's all we need around here.
14:00He's a little big for his britches. Oh, he's losing weight.
14:04I'm in Shyam's camp though. I listen to you guys every now and again, and I'm on Shyam Island.
14:10I appreciate you Bill. Thank you. But telling him, don't take his betting advice.
14:14Yeah. You'll be, you'll have to be coaching over 20 years. I mean.
14:17No, we can't bet. We're not allowed to bet. Oh, that's right.
14:21Yeah. If you ever need any extra eyes to go scout or anything, Bill,
14:24you have my number. You can give me a call.
14:26Telling him, Bill, just an analogy, an analogy that you'll get telling Shyam that that was a
14:32great question is like watching the Patriots offense a couple of years ago and telling Matt
14:38Patricia that was a great play that was designed. All right. That's, that's, I can't say you could
14:44say that about last year's Patriots offense too. So I'm not going to go down that road.
14:48All right. Have a great week off and we will talk to you again next week.
14:52Thank you guys. I appreciate it. Thanks.