Boston College Head Coach, Bill O'Brien, joins the show!
O'Brien: "It hits close to home"
O'Brien: "It hits close to home"
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00:00And now for the first time as the head football coach at Boston College, it's Bill O'Brien. Bill,
00:05good morning. Hey, guys. How you doing, Greg? Thanks for having me. Always great to have you
00:11on the show. No fight song, Sean? Oh, man. I know. What a miss. Come on. I love that fight song.
00:18Please play that every time. I still remember my cheer to it. You do? You remember your cheer? Yeah,
00:22I remember the whole dance. Have we set up, we had the save coaches, we had the save Wiggy's
00:28job pep rally with Brockton High School when he was the coach, and that didn't work. I don't know
00:33if you know about that, Bill, or not, but Wiggy was, are you familiar with coaches who are doing
00:38a fantastic job and then they are unceremoniously dumped from that position? Have you ever
00:44experienced that? I'm quite familiar with that scenario. Quite familiar. So have we ever set up,
00:52and if we haven't, we should right now, Courtney returning to her roots and cheering
00:57at a BC game this season. I would have to bring up the knee brace again, but yeah,
01:02no, I mean, I'm all for it. You're all for it? You don't sound all for it. Well,
01:05I could do the fight song. Other than that, I don't know. All right, well, we'll work on it.
01:10We can work on that. Bill, we're here at Fenway and this is 22 years of this event, and I know
01:17you experienced it when you were with the Patriots and that players that you were coaching experienced
01:22it. It is an incredible thing that this community comes together for every year.
01:29Yeah, it really is. I just listened to you talking about how much you've already raised
01:35in the first day and a half here, whatever you guys have been doing it, and I just think it's
01:39incredible. It's incredible what the Red Sox do. Having grown up in this area, very familiar with
01:45the Jimmy Fund for a very, very long time. I've been a Red Sox fan my whole life and
01:52just thinking about what they do to, as you guys always talk about, try to eradicate that
01:57horrendous disease by raising money for research and all the different things that go into it.
02:03We just lost a great man here at Boston College. I think two weeks ago, Jack Connors
02:10passed away to cancer, so it hits close to home for all of us.
02:14Unbelievable guy, one of the most philanthropic people in this city ever.
02:25The money that is given and the effort that is made by the doctors and the researchers and the
02:30nurses and the stories of those that are fighting it, it's hard not to think that at some point
02:38we'll get there and find a way to stop what's going on with these patients, but we can't do
02:43it without the dollars. It makes a real difference when it comes to what everybody is fighting here.
02:53No question. I just think that that's two. The other thing I think about a lot is
02:58very biased here, but what Boston is all about. People come together in times like this. There's
03:05just some great people in this city that donate to that and to the Jimmy Fund, and it's great to
03:10see. Those great people will be happy as long as you're winning. You know how it goes.
03:17You say that every time. I'm telling you we're working very hard to win, Greg. I promise you
03:23we're working very hard. We're working very hard to put a winning product on the field.
03:29To that point, Bill, I did see that you've increased intensity when it comes to practice.
03:34You weren't thrilled with the output, with the effort the guys were putting in at practice. You
03:37guys have a scrimmage today. Are you happier after increasing that intensity when it comes to
03:43the guys? I personally love it. I love having a guy out there with BC that is going to make sure
03:48that they are ready to go. Yeah, I mean, I just think there's only really one way to do it,
03:53right? I mean, you can't expect to go to a game and having not practiced properly and think that
04:00you're going to have any shot in any game. So we've definitely gotten better. These kids have
04:05worked really hard. I mean, they've put in a lot of work in the springtime, the summertime,
04:10and now this will be our 10th practice today. This is a scrimmage where we go into the stadium and
04:15kind of like a game-like scrimmage. Got coaches in the press box and got the ACC officials here
04:20and things like that. So it's a big day today here at BC. These guys, they've worked really
04:25hard. I'm very happy with where we are right now. At the start of training camp, Gerard Mayo
04:32had the fellas doing some virtual sprints. Have you been doing any of this virtually, Bill?
04:40I did not. I did not see that. I've been busy myself. I don't even know what we're
04:45talking about with virtual sprints. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
04:52Well, I mean, you know, it's kind of like a work-life balance,
04:56work-from-home kind of thing. You know how that goes, Bill?
04:58When I was in school, I did virtual studying.
05:04We've been talking a lot about Drake May. Does it surprise you when you look at that
05:12first preseason game and he's in there for one series, when you look at reps in practice with
05:17the ones and how many he is or isn't getting, does it surprise you the way they're kind of
05:23bringing him along? You know, I think that's an interesting,
05:29you know, question, Greg. I think that in preseason, first of all, preseason games,
05:35I'll just be honest with you, they don't really mean a whole lot. And the reason why I say that is
05:40that, you know, both sides of the ball in preseason aren't really doing a whole lot. Like
05:44the defense may play cover three the whole game. The offense may just be in 11 personnel the whole
05:49game, simple formation. So for that reason alone, you should probably try to get, in my opinion,
05:56you know, a rookie quarterback, a bunch of reps, because, you know, you're playing pretty vanilla
06:01offense and defense. At the same time, you know, how is the offensive line playing? Like you want
06:06to go in there and get the guy crushed because we can't block anybody. You know what I mean?
06:11So I think there's probably a fine line that they're talking about. But in the end,
06:15I always believe in reps. I know they're scrimmaging the Eagles right now. So I'm sure
06:19that, you know, that Drake's getting a bunch of reps. I don't think there's any other way to learn
06:24than by actually doing it. I don't think you learn by, you know, standing next to the coach
06:28on a sideline. I think you actually learn by going out there and experiencing it and
06:34dealing with pressures and dealing with the different things that go into getting ready for a
06:37game. Billy, just speaking for myself, there is a huge groundswell of energy back into BC football.
06:46And there is a feeling like there's someone there that, you know, maybe won't be there for 30 years,
06:52but your desire is to get it right, to get BC football back to, you know, some days where
06:59it's top 25 and competing in the ACC. And I just, with the way the Patriots are right now,
07:05I think there's going to be a lot of eyes on BC football that may not have been with the addition
07:09of you and this fall. So there's a lot of optimism for you, Billy, in the BC community.
07:14Well, first of all, I really appreciate you guys giving, you know, giving BC football a voice on
07:22your show because your show is awesome. And so I really appreciate that. I do, you guys know,
07:27you and Courtney know, I mean, this is a special place. And, you know, we can be great academically.
07:32We can be, you know, great in so many different areas. We can be good in football. You know,
07:37we can be good in football if we recruit the right way and we coach the right way and we develop
07:43players the right way. There's no doubt we can win in football. So we just have to keep
07:48chipping away. We got a lot of good people here. I love the job. You know, I'm from here. I grew
07:53up here. I have a lot of buddies that played here that take a lot of pride in Boston College
07:57football. So, you know, I look forward to coming to work every single day. I haven't been able to
08:02say that about every single job I've ever had. You know, I really enjoy getting in the car and
08:06coming to work every single day. So I'm excited for the season. I actually think we have a pretty
08:11good team. You know, I think we got a lot of guys on this team that are good football players. So,
08:15you know, we got to go do it. We have to go prove it, but I'm excited for the season.
08:20Bill, like you said, you're here about, you know, 10 practices in through fall camp.
08:26And I know that you've been in college football, but it seems like it's always evolving. What are
08:32some of the things that you're noticing just, you know, especially now that you're back into it,
08:36maybe some of the things that you like, some of the obstacles. I know the transfer portal is big.
08:42You talk about developing players and trying to build a nucleus and some of your good players
08:47jump in the portal. You're having to get players from other places. What are some of the things
08:50that you like and maybe dislike about being back in it since it's been, you know, a couple years
08:57and it's constantly evolving in college football? I think the big thing that I like, Wig, is the
09:04fact that you can, you have a lot of time with the players in college football and training camp.
09:10You know, you can really develop a player. It's very different than pro football. You know, pro
09:14football, you know, when, for instance, like when there's a day off in pro football, they're off,
09:20they're not in the building, they're gone. And a day off in college football means that,
09:24you know, really you're just not practicing. You can have a, you know, meetings, you can have an
09:29indoor walkthrough, you can do some player development, you can bring in guest speakers,
09:33you can, you know, we had Chris Heron here the other day. It was amazing, you know, talking to
09:38our team about his story. You know, so I think there's a lot of things that are really good about
09:43college football relative to the development of players. I think when it comes to the transfer
09:48portal, you know, we have 12 guys on the team right now that are, that transferred in here,
09:54and they're all, they're good players and they're good kids. I don't know if we want to live in the
09:57transfer portal at Boston College. I think it'll be difficult to do that, you know, because I think
10:02it's hard to transfer in here. You know, it's not easy to come from, you know, University of
10:06Illinois to Boston College. It's not easy to do that. So I think we have to do a great job of
10:11recruiting. You know, if there's a guy out there that we think fits in the transfer portal, we'll
10:15certainly look at it. But I just really enjoy the amount of time you get to be with the players.
10:19You know, I think that's, that's, in my opinion, that's one of the issues with the National
10:23Football League right now. After, in 2011, when the CBA changed, the development of players
10:31changed. You know, back when I started, when you played, you remember, you know, Dante would work
10:36with those linemen after practice every single day for years. That's how Stephen Neal became
10:42Dan Conley. That's how those guys became really good players because they were developed
10:46day in and day out. You just, you don't have that as much in the NFL anymore. You have it in college.
10:50Well, no, now you have guys that are narcing you out to the Players Association if you have a late
10:56meeting. Not talking about, not talking about anybody in particular that's on the phone or
11:00anything. Have you, have you, last one for me, Bill. Have you asked Bill Belichick to come speak
11:13to the fellas? You know, he's been busy. He's been, he's got a lot going on. But no, I think
11:22he'll come by. I do think he'll come by. You know, Bears is here, Bears Nigerian, and so that's
11:26been a huge thing for our program. So, you know, I haven't talked to Bill in a while, but, but I
11:32think he'll stop by. He's, you know, he goes out to the University of Washington a lot because
11:35Stephen's out there and, you know, he's, he's got his own stuff. He's got a lot going on. He's on
11:40the Manning cast, which I don't think, I think all of us can't wait to watch that. And then he's on
11:45McAfee and, you know, he's, he's a busy guy. So hopefully he'll stop by and say a few words to
11:51the team, but, but not today. We got a big scrimmage today, so. All right. Well, good luck.
11:56Thanks for taking the time. And we are looking for, I think we're going to talk to you all season
11:59long on this show. So we're looking forward to it, Bill O'Brien. Thanks for taking the time this
12:03morning. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. All right. That's Bill O'Brien. A lot of optimism when it
12:09comes to the Eagles and the double and triple Eagles, Curtis. I love him so much. I love him.
12:14You'll love him. What a great, like, just, I can't tell you the last time I felt this way about
12:19football. You're excited. We went from Jeff Halfley leaving on his own volition
12:23to bringing in that guy. What an upgrade.