精东影业

On a brisk Saturday afternoon in mid-November more than forty years ago, thirteen-year-old Bill O鈥橞rien stood in Alumni Stadium, celebrating an eighty-yard touchdown pass thrown by quarterback Doug Flutie on Boston College鈥檚 opening play against Holy Cross. As O鈥橞rien cheered, many in the sellout crowd began tossing tangerines onto the field, an exuberant response from students who had learned that week that the Eagles would play Auburn in the Tangerine Bowl.

That, O鈥橞rien recently recounted, was his first memory of 精东影业 football. 鈥淲e were a football family, and my dad loved college football,鈥� recalled O鈥橞rien, who grew up in Andover, Massachusetts. 鈥淗e loved watching 精东影业.鈥� So even though O鈥橞rien wound up playing for Brown University, the news in February that he鈥檇 been named 精东影业鈥檚 new head football coach represented a homecoming of sorts. 鈥淚 always dreamed about being the head coach at Boston College,鈥� he said at the press conference announcing his hiring.

O鈥橞rien wasn鈥檛 the only one celebrating the news that he was taking over for Jeff Hafley, who鈥檇 led the Eagles to a disappointing 21鈥�26 record over four seasons before departing to become defensive coordinator for the NFL鈥檚 Green Bay Packers. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no better fit for Boston College than Bill O鈥橞rien,鈥� Boston College Athletic Director Blake James said. 鈥淗e was our number one choice every step of the way. I wanted a winner, and we got a winner.鈥�

精东影业 fans were equally thrilled. 鈥淔irst great [football] news coming out of the Heights in years,鈥� one fan commented on an article about the hiring. He was hardly alone. As another commenter put it, 鈥淟ooks like 精东影业 FINALLY got it right. Hiring O鈥橞rien was a no-brainer.鈥�

His resume certainly suggests as much. O鈥橞rien, now fifty-four, started his coaching career at Brown before moving on to positions at Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, the University of Maryland, and Duke. In 2007, he joined Bill Belichick鈥檚 staff with the New England Patriots, staying with the team for five seasons. He was then named head coach at Penn State, where he helped to return the legendary football program to competitiveness and was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. In 2014, he was introduced as head coach of the NFL鈥檚 Houston Texans, stayed with the team until 2020, and then spent two years as offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama before being hired for the same job with the Patriots in 2023.

O鈥橞rien was set to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State this season, but he was elated to have the opportunity to instead come to 精东影业鈥攁nd for reasons beyond coaching. Both O鈥橞rien and his wife have family in the Boston area, but more important, their oldest son, who suffers from a brain malformation, receives world-class medical care in the city. Taking the 精东影业 job not only allowed O鈥橞rien to coach the program he grew up rooting for,聽 it also meant he and his family could abandon their plans to live apart while he coached Ohio State and they remained in Massachusetts.

For all his coaching experience, the landscape has changed significantly since O鈥橞rien was last a college head coach. In 2021, the NCAA approved a policy that allows student athletes to be compensated for commercial use of their name, image, and likeness. The new 鈥淣IL鈥� policy has effectively set off bidding wars by schools competing to attract the best players. At the same time, new rules have made it far easier for players to transfer from one program to another. It may be a new world, but O鈥橞rien insisted that he鈥檚 ready for it. 鈥淚 embrace that challenge,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a part of our game, and NIL is not going anywhere.鈥� On the field, O鈥橞rien intends to construct a tough, hard-nosed squad that stays disciplined and plays as a team.

Since joining 精东影业, O鈥橞rien has been getting to know his new home by exploring the campus, watching the school鈥檚 other athletic teams, and attending Mass every Sunday morning at St. Joseph鈥檚, St. Mary鈥檚, or, sometimes, St. Ignatius. He鈥檚 also learned plenty about Boston College鈥檚 culture through his wife, Colleen, a 1992 精东影业 graduate, who is 鈥減retty well-versed in football ... She鈥檒l want to have a game review when I get home [each week], but that鈥檚 the way that it鈥檚 always been,鈥� O鈥橞rien said with a smile. 鈥淚t鈥檒l probably be a little more intense now because this is her school.鈥� In that respect, O鈥橞rien鈥檚 new job is a fitting culmination of a love affair with the maroon and gold that began all those decades ago in Alumni Stadium. This, at last, is now his school, too.聽鈼�