BC HC Bill O'Brien joins! What does O'Brien think is the major difference between Mayo and Vrabel? Does O'Brien think Vrabel would be a good pick for the Patriots
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00:00Sincerity though, Billy, is there any way that you could envision Bill Belichick coaching
00:05for a team that Tom Brady is a minority owner for?
00:08Hey, Curtis, Bill Belichick's at the University of North Carolina, so I think we can envision
00:14anything.
00:15That's true.
00:16Yeah.
00:17You can, I mean, nothing, nothing shocks me in football and, you know, you just, you just
00:22never know.
00:23And Bill said at the best when we used to, when we worked for him, he would, before every
00:27game, he would always say like, you know, expect the unexpected, you know, you prepare,
00:31you prepare, but in the end you got to be able to adjust during the game.
00:34That's kind of like the football coaching profession, expect the unexpected.
00:39Bill, when you look at Belichick yourself, how much of an advantage, and I think Belichick
00:46and yourself have a great advantage when it comes to recruiting, because you talk about
00:50recruiting, whether it's through the portal or into high school, but how much of an advantage
00:55does coaching in the NFL, having that connection to the NFL, because 99.9% of these kids are
01:03all thinking, Hey coach, how can, if I come to your school, how can you help me accomplish
01:08my goal of getting to the NFL?
01:10Yeah, that's a great question, Wig, and I always, I really try to be careful because
01:15I do not want to sound condescending at all, but when you, when you rise to the level of
01:22being able to, you know, to, to be fortunate enough to coach the incredible players in
01:27the National Football League, you learn a lot from those players, you know, you know,
01:33you coach them, no question, you worked hard to coach them, but you know, like whether
01:37it was Tom Brady or, you know, JJ Watt or Rob Gronkowski or DeAndre Hopkins, or, you
01:43know, while all these guys that I coached, I learned a lot from them.
01:46So I try to, I try to impart my wisdom from what I learned from them on the guys that
01:51I coach at Boston college with film, with stories, with, you know, different, different
01:57things that, that, that can help these guys get better.
02:00Because in the end we have to use that we have 86 years of experience, the NFL experience
02:05on our staff here at Boston college.
02:07And that's a big, that's a big thing for us.
02:09You know, we can help you get to that next level.
02:12We know what it looks like.
02:13We know what it takes.
02:14And, uh, you know, we, we try to sell that as part of our recruiting vision for BC.
02:19Mike Vrabel interviews with the Patriots today.
02:21You were talking to us last week about your relationship with him.
02:25I just want to ask you in general terms, the, you know, what would be in your mind, the
02:32difference between Mike Vrabel, the major differences between Mike, Mike Vrabel and
02:37somebody like Gerard Mayo when it comes to coaching this football team?
02:41I mean, you know, look, I, I only worked with, uh, Gerard for one season and, you know, it
02:48was definitely a, you know, it was separated, right.
02:51They were on defense and I was on offense and we were, you know, quite obviously having
02:56our major struggles offensively.
02:58So it'd be hard for me to comment on just to compare those two, but Mike Vrabel, uh,
03:03worked for me.
03:04I tried to get Mike to come with me to Penn state.
03:07Uh, he stayed at Ohio state when I got the Texans job, he's one of the first guys I hired.
03:12He was the linebacker coach.
03:14I would say to give you some examples, he was instrumental, instrumental in developing
03:19guys like Whitney Merciless, Jadavion Clowney, because he connected with them.
03:24He was a very, very demanding coach, a tough coach, but he knew a lot about them as people.
03:29So he had an ability to connect with them and he was a no BS guy, like no BS.
03:33Like when he stood up in front of his position group, like they knew that he was telling
03:38them the truth.
03:39Uh, he became the coordinator.
03:41We struggled the year he was the coordinator.
03:43We just, you know, we just weren't very good.
03:44We had injuries and, but, but again, in 2018, he got the Tennessee Titans job and he took
03:50a, he took a team in the Titans, uh, to the AFC championship game.
03:55We won four AFC South titles in Houston and we didn't get to the AFC championship game.
04:00We got close, not, not good enough, but he took them to the AFC championship game and
04:04then, you know, whatever happened at the end happened.
04:06But no, Mike, Mike is a, an excellent football coach, very smart, great people person.
04:12Um, there's somebody that I really, you know, I, I, I really enjoy my friendship with Mike
04:17and, uh, you know, hopefully the Patriots, you know, go that, go down that road.
04:21It sounds like they're probably gonna according to, you know, where everybody's, what everybody's
04:25saying, but he's a, he's a hell of a football coach.
04:28When you, when you were coaching with the Texans, you ever go back, go to the back of
04:31the plane and play some cards with the fellas?
04:34Nope, nobody, nobody on the Texans would ever invite me to a card playing.
04:42I mean, I had some great relationships, but nobody was saying, Hey, Obi, come back here
04:50and play some cards with us.
04:52No, that wasn't happening.
04:53Bill, when you, that's a one-eyed Jack.
04:59But when you look at that story of, you know, reports of Mayo playing cards with the guys,
05:04I, I think just from my time in playing and being around coaches that were very good,
05:11very successful, like Parcells and Belichick, and it seems like you're cut from their cloth
05:15the same as Vrabel.
05:17How do you, cause I think the biggest thing that Mayo might've made the mistake is blurring
05:23the lines of the relationship between the coach and the player, where it became too
05:29much of a friendship.
05:30How do you, you know, even at the, yeah, even at the college level, how do you make sure
05:35that line is not blurred when it comes to that?
05:39Yeah, I think that's, again, especially when you're a younger coach, like, so, you know,
05:45again, for, for Gerard, you know, he, he had only finished playing a few years ago, right?
05:50He'd been coaching for five years.
05:51And so, you know, and he was a hell of a, he was a hell of a player.
05:55And so, you know, a lot of his mentality came from being a player.
05:58And I think when you're young and you're put in that position, it's very, very difficult
06:02to separate yourself from what it was as a player or even as an assistant coach.
06:08And so, I think one of the things that you learn right away is that, you know, you have
06:12to be upfront with these guys and say, look, I have a, I care about you guys.
06:17I want you to get better.
06:18I want to see improvement in all areas of your life, but I'm the coach and you're the
06:21player and we're not friends.
06:23And maybe, you know, 15 years from now, we can go out and have a beer, beer and talk
06:27about what it was like to, you know, to play and all those different things and to coach.
06:31But right now, like, it's my job to get the most out of you as a player.
06:35And there's going to be times where you don't agree with what I'm telling you, but you're
06:38going to respect what I'm telling you because I'm telling you the truth.
06:41And so, I think there's a line there that you have to walk.
06:45But for me, it's fair.
06:46I'm 55 years old.
06:47I've been doing this 32 years, so it's pretty easy for me to walk that line.
06:50I don't, you know, look, I'll listen to the player to a certain extent, but at the end
06:53of the day, I'm the coach, you're the player, you're going to do it, you know, the way we
06:57believe in doing it.
06:58And if you don't like it, there's the door, you know what I mean?
07:01So we kind of, you know, we have to, we walk the line, but there is a line.
07:06You don't look it.
07:07Like me.
07:08You don't look it.
07:09You look like 47, 48.
07:10Something like that, Bill.
07:11Yeah.
07:12Right.
07:13Right.
07:14Why are you always like, I mean, that's patronizing.
07:17I know I look like I'm 75, I have, you know, I'm a little overweight.
07:21I have no hair.
07:22So, yeah.
07:23Embrace it.
07:24That's what I've done for years.
07:25We just have to embrace it.
07:26You're not embracing it.
07:27You're doing dry January and on a diet.
07:31I am.
07:32I'm one weekend on dry January and I'm, and I'm making sourdough bread at home.
07:36Bill.
07:37Have you ever, are you a bread?
07:38Huh?
07:39Well, I was listening to you.
07:40I was listening to you guys coming in to work and, uh, I heard about like your, it was kale
07:45with apples and cranberry and that might be the worst meal I've ever, I mean, is somebody
07:52torturing you?
07:53Would you be tortured?
07:54I mean, it tasted like dirt.
07:55Quite frankly, it didn't.
07:56Yeah.
07:57His girlfriend's tortured.
07:58Are you trying to like go back to relive the caveman days or what?
08:01Like what is going on?
08:02Wow.
08:03Did you have a rock with that?
08:04Did you chew on a rock?
08:05Bill O'Brien.
08:06It is.
08:07It is always a pleasure.
08:08And we will.
08:09That's what happens when you date younger.
08:10Are you going to die yet?
08:11Eat some kale.
08:12Okay.
08:13We don't need to get into that.
08:14All right, Bill O'Brien.
08:15It's always a pleasure.
08:16Thank you guys.
08:17We'll talk to you again.
08:18Bye.
08:19Bye.
08:20Bye.
08:21Bye.
08:22Bye.
08:23Thank you guys.
08:24We'll talk to you again next week.
08:25All right.
08:26Yes, sir.
08:27Thank you guys.
08:28There he is.
08:29The great Bill O'Brien, head coach, Boston College.