BC Head Coach Bill O'Brien joins! How does O'Brien feel about deciding to come to BC? What's the future looking like?
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00:00Morning, Coach.
00:02Morning, guys. How we doing, Greg?
00:04Doing great. How are you?
00:06I'm doing good. I'm doing good.
00:08Courtney wanted first question this morning.
00:10Yeah, because, Bill, hi, good morning.
00:12Very, very hard to watch
00:14the end of that SMU game. You guys were in it
00:16the entire time, and then you left
00:18kind of banged up. Moving forward,
00:20going into UNC, how hard
00:22is it for you to balance the guys that are day-to-day
00:24with two games left on
00:26the schedule, to then
00:28also get some maybe young blood
00:30in there to see what you have moving forward?
00:32Yeah,
00:34we, on the SMU game, I mean,
00:36you know, again, it comes down to
00:38playing a full 60 minutes. I mean,
00:40the end of the first half, the end of the game,
00:42not being able to really
00:44execute in a two-minute situation
00:46on offense, so we've got
00:48to do a better job of that. But anyways,
00:50moving forward, yeah, I mean,
00:52you know, everybody's going through the same thing,
00:54right? It's that time of the year in college
00:56football where everybody's banged up.
00:58We feel like in certain positions,
01:00we have good depth, right? So we had Joe Marinaro
01:02step in at inside linebacker last week
01:04and had eight tackles.
01:06He's a special teams captain,
01:08and we're down at inside
01:10linebacker. There's an example of a guy that stepped
01:12in. We've got corners that
01:14may not be able to play on Saturday, but we've
01:16got some young corners that we think
01:18can step in and play,
01:20you know, like Ashton McShane and
01:22Ryan Turner. So,
01:24you know, look, at the end of the day, we have to do
01:26what we have to do to get guys ready.
01:28You know, we took a little bit of
01:30some of the reps off of them
01:32in practice this week, but I think
01:34these guys are ready to go, and we've got to
01:36have a good one today and go from there.
01:38Courtney mentioned a couple games
01:40left. You got off to such
01:42a hot start and
01:44have struggled a little bit of late.
01:46How are you feeling when it
01:48comes to the decision to
01:50come to BC
01:52and the future for this
01:54football team?
01:56I feel good. No, I feel good.
01:58I'm happy with my decision to come to
02:00Boston College. I love
02:02the place, and
02:04look, at the end of the day, we've had some games
02:06like I said that we
02:08haven't been able to
02:10finish, right? We've
02:12had a lot of close games
02:14where the
02:16other team has done a better job in situational
02:18football than we have, so it's
02:20when we get there, big offseason,
02:22if we win six here, if we get to our sixth
02:24win, we can go to a bowl game,
02:26which would help us a lot
02:28because we can get those extra practices for a lot
02:30of young guys. I really like the way recruiting
02:32is going, so I'm very positive about
02:34where we're at.
02:36I really see a bright future for BC.
02:38Bill, when you
02:40look at all your losses,
02:42I guess you're right where
02:44there is a little bit of feeling
02:46good because every game you lost, you
02:48basically had an opportunity to win that game. You talked
02:50about not finishing. I remember watching
02:52the Virginia Tech, you had fourth and one, and you weren't
02:54able to convert, then you had a botched
02:56snap. What do you
02:58think you have to do, especially
03:00these last two games, but really
03:02offseason, next year, moving
03:04forward about being able to
03:06finish and win those games
03:08that you have in your hands?
03:10Yeah, I think
03:12what we have to continue
03:14to do, and obviously do a better job of it,
03:16is really educate
03:18these guys on what really is important
03:20in a football game.
03:22Whether
03:24it's ball security or
03:26understanding what situation
03:28you're in, whether you're behind
03:30or you're ahead, and how
03:32important it is to execute that play.
03:34Every play has a
03:36life of its own. I think it's going to
03:38be really important for us to continue
03:40to teach these guys because we are very
03:42close. I know close doesn't count.
03:44I get it. I know where we are.
03:46I know what our record says we are, and that's
03:48what we are. We're 5-5, but
03:50I do think we're very close here. I think the
03:52other thing that we need to do is we need to continue
03:54to recruit. I think recruiting
03:56is going to be a big part of this thing, and that
03:58includes high school recruiting and
04:00supplementing in the portal, and that's what we're
04:02working hard to do as
04:04we get this team ready to play North Carolina.
04:06But I do believe
04:08that we're close.
04:10As a guy who coached in the NFL
04:12for a long time, does
04:14the struggle of
04:16Aaron Rodgers this year surprise
04:18you?
04:20Not
04:22really. I think that
04:26you can't really beat
04:28father time, Greg. You know what I mean?
04:30As you get into...
04:32Wait a minute. Is that a shot at me?
04:34No, not a shot at you.
04:36I'm only 58.
04:38I would never take a shot at you.
04:40No, I think that
04:42when you get into your late 30s
04:44and early 40s in the NFL,
04:46really there haven't been too many
04:48guys that have been able to play at a high level.
04:50Obviously, we saw one
04:52of them in Tom Brady that was able to
04:54play at a very, very high
04:56level. That's very
04:58rare, and I think it's really hard to be able
05:00to do that. He's been
05:02through injuries. The Achilles injury,
05:04that's a tough injury to come back from.
05:06I don't know exactly
05:08what's going on there with the scheme and who's
05:10surrounding him and all those different things, but
05:12I think it's really difficult
05:14to play when you're 40. I really do.
05:16Speaking of quarterbacks, how do you think
05:18Grayson looked against SMU, and what do
05:20you think he's going to be like for the
05:22future?
05:24I'm proud of Grayson.
05:26He stepped in there in a tough situation,
05:28and I thought he played well. Look,
05:30at the end of the day, he's got to
05:32obviously play better in certain situations,
05:34but this is a guy that works
05:36very hard. He's a great guy.
05:38This guy's going to be a really
05:40successful guy in life. He's
05:42a straight-A student.
05:44He really prepares hard. The
05:46team respects him. The team
05:48really has a lot
05:50of faith in this guy because of the type of guy
05:52that he is. He's very positive.
05:54He brings a great approach every day to practice.
05:56He's gotten better this week. Had a
05:58really good practice yesterday, and so
06:00looking forward to watching him play on Saturday.
06:02Bill, there's been a lot
06:04of discussion. Dan Lanning,
06:06Deion Sanders,
06:08Nick Saban obviously left
06:10with the NIL in the new form
06:12of how college football is
06:14being done and recruiting with
06:16the NIL. What
06:18would you say the biggest differences are
06:20coming back to college
06:22now after leaving Penn State, I guess
06:24maybe a decade ago?
06:26I mean, you know,
06:28the biggest differences
06:30right now are
06:32back when I was at Penn
06:34State, you couldn't
06:36just leave.
06:38Technically, at Penn State at that time, you could
06:40because we were on double-secret probation, so
06:42the kids could leave, but overall
06:44you couldn't just pack up and leave
06:46your program. That was one thing.
06:48Now you can leave whenever you
06:50really want. The portal opens on a
06:52certain day, but you can leave whenever you want.
06:54The other difference is name,
06:56image, and likeness. These guys,
06:58they're going to be compensated.
07:00It's not pay-per-play.
07:02I mean, come on now.
07:04Anyways, it's not pay-per-play,
07:06but these guys
07:08are compensated.
07:10There's big differences.
07:12At the end of the day,
07:14I think it's really, you've got to
07:16let it play out. You've got to let it play out.
07:18I do think that, and I'm
07:2055, so I'm towards the end of my
07:22career, but as you look at
07:24college football, I do think that
07:26it's going to become more of a training ground
07:28for the NFL
07:30as it relates to coaching and the general
07:32manager position and things like that
07:34because college football is very
07:36much trickling down
07:38or up towards
07:40pro football relative to salary
07:42cap and how
07:44to compensate your team, what the value
07:46of each position is, what you really
07:48want to emphasize
07:50in your program as value.
07:52I think as you move forward,
07:54you're going to see that the models are
07:56similar. I think
07:58it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.
08:00I understand it's the way business
08:02is being done, but I
08:04think I had a lead on this
08:06maybe it was earlier this week or last
08:08week, but Michigan
08:10Memory loss is the first thing to go.
08:14Michigan
08:16Why are you laughing at that, Bill? It wasn't funny.
08:18Michigan
08:22Michigan offering
08:24$1.5 million
08:26to a
08:28high school senior
08:30in the form of Bryce Underwood
08:32to flip him from LSU
08:34just seems like a ridiculous
08:36amount of money to give
08:38to an 18-year-old.
08:40Do you have any
08:42concern about that at all?
08:44Absolutely. No, that's ridiculous.
08:46That's just my opinion.
08:48These guys, look,
08:50we're going to
08:52really keep our eyes
08:54focused on what we believe
08:56is the way to do it. And look, in the end,
08:58we may fail,
09:00we may succeed, but we're going to
09:02really move forward
09:04with an earn it philosophy. You can't
09:06pay a guy who
09:08has not played a snap of football
09:10in college football, in my
09:12opinion, you can't pay
09:14that guy more than everyone else
09:16on your team or triple that amount.
09:18I just don't think you can do that because
09:20that's not life. These guys
09:22need to understand what life's all about too.
09:24Every single day
09:26you go out there, whatever
09:28job you have, you have
09:30to earn it. You're not entitled
09:32to anything. There's nothing that you're entitled
09:34to. You're just entitled to the opportunity.
09:36That's about it. I think that
09:38we're going to continue to go on that
09:40here at BC. Maybe people
09:42think, hey, you're pretty naive there, coach.
09:44I don't think so because
09:46if you pay a guy that amount of money
09:48before he's even taken a snap,
09:50it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
09:52It's such a disadvantage too.
09:54All you can offer is basically
09:56meatball in a cup for
09:58four years.
10:02I don't want to contradict
10:04what I just said, but we can offer a little bit
10:06more than meatball in a cup.
10:08Bill,
10:10let me ask that question
10:12because you look at SMU,
10:14SMU is one
10:16of the biggest teams in the ACC.
10:18They basically had said every player
10:20on scholarship is going to get $40,000
10:22a year. What is it that
10:24BC, if you want to compete
10:26as being a football school
10:28and competing for a spot
10:30in the college football playoffs,
10:32you have to spend some money, whether that's
10:34high school recruiting, but especially
10:36portal recruiting.
10:38What do you feel like BC
10:40has to do better when it comes to
10:42maybe spending some money?
10:44Do you want to see more of the alumni
10:46and boosters add more to
10:48it to be able to get some of those
10:50players, especially those portal players?
10:54I think there's a little bit of a misnomer
10:56to that, Wig. We have money here.
10:58Relative to
11:00that example
11:02you used with SMU, which I'm not sure
11:04sounds, obviously
11:06they probably do do that. We could do the
11:08same thing here.
11:10We have a collective right now that'll
11:12be in place basically
11:14until July 1st, and then on July
11:161st we'll be a part of the
11:18RevShare program.
11:20Are we going to
11:22be at the top of the food chain when it comes
11:24to the Ohio State and the Alabama
11:26and the LSU and
11:28the Texas A&M? No.
11:30That's not really where we want to be.
11:32We need to be in the middle of the pack
11:34relative to that, and that's where we will
11:36be. Then we have so much
11:38more to sell. We're not a football factory.
11:40We're a place where you can come
11:42and make some money as a football
11:44player, but also get a world
11:46renowned degree and be a part
11:48of a Boston College network of alums
11:50that, especially football players, that are going
11:52to take care of you the rest of your life. We have the
11:5440th anniversary this weekend
11:56of the 84 team, the
11:58Doug Flutie era.
12:00A lot of these guys are so
12:02successful, and they can't wait to be here.
12:04They want to meet our team, and they want to help
12:06these guys who don't
12:08go to pro football and
12:10graduate with a Boston College degree. They want to
12:12help these guys. So you don't need
12:14at BC, you don't need
12:16$22 million, but you need something
12:18and we do have that. So we'll be able
12:20to compete.
12:22We'll be in that field, and
12:24we'll be ready to go when the time is right.
12:26And if you get a blue chip that's teetering,
12:28I'll take them to Pinot's. No problem.
12:30It'll be a big day. I was going to say, I have
12:32an idea. We got a couple Eagles
12:34in the room in the form of
12:36I mean, think
12:38about that. Seriously though, Curtis,
12:40if you have a guy that is teetering,
12:42you have the greatest city
12:44in the world 15 minutes away from
12:46this campus. So you can
12:48take them to
12:50whatever you want to do restaurant
12:52wise, or take them down to the financial
12:54district and meet a bunch of
12:56BC alums that are very successful
12:58down there, or the greatest medical
13:00community. Kid wants to be a doctor?
13:02Come to BC. We got about eight
13:04hospitals around this campus that'll help you
13:06become a doctor. We'll take them out
13:08and selfie. Take them
13:10on the freedom trail.
13:12Absolutely.
13:14But could we not
13:16working in
13:18conjunction with you and the listeners
13:20of this program, see if we can raise
13:22a couple million, and then we
13:24would select a player. It would be the
13:26Greg Hillshow player.
13:28What?
13:30I mean, that's how my dad got me into school.
13:32Bill, could
13:34we not do that?
13:36What's different
13:38than the alumni paying for it?
13:40I feel like we could do that as a show.
13:42Sean will choose.
13:44I appreciate that. I'm going to check with Colin
13:46Shaper, who is our assistant athletic
13:48director in charge of compliance,
13:50before I answer that question. But I'm just
13:52going to tell you, I love that concept.
13:54Let's do it.
13:56We get $10 per listener.
13:58I'll throw in a little
14:00birdie shot, and then we go
14:02out and get somebody. We'll grab somebody out of the
14:04portal, and that will be our person.
14:06We can all decide
14:08collectively if the kid is not up
14:10to snuff, we can cut him.
14:12Hold on.
14:14What?
14:16That's the way this works.
14:18That is the way it works, Bill.
14:20No, we can't cut him.
14:22Hold on.
14:24Let us develop him a little bit
14:26before we cut him.
14:28Bill, thanks for taking the time,
14:30and we will talk to you again next week.
14:32Oh, actually, next week is Thanksgiving.
14:34I'll see you this weekend.
14:36I'll be at the game.
14:38Bill O'Brien, have an
14:40awesome Thanksgiving, and we'll
14:42talk to you again before the season ends.
14:44I think
14:46you're going to stay on with us
14:48right up and through Super Bowl,
14:50I heard, if you want to.
14:52Great. Awesome, guys.
14:54Really appreciate it.
14:56That is Bill O'Brien.