Bill O'Brien details growth as a coach since Penn State tenure, changing landscape

Bill O’Brien had a lot of growth as a coach since his Penn State days and now that he’s at Boston College, he’s ready for the new chapter.

O’Brien last coached in college in 2022 at Alabama where he spent two years as the offensive coordinator under Nick Saban. Going  back to 2012, O’Brien spent two years at Penn State as the team’s head coach in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

A lot has changed since then, but the experience gained in college and the NFL was paramount for O’Brien.

“It has been 10 years since I’ve been a head coach in college,” O’Brien said. “I did have that experience at Alabama. That meant a lot to me. I was able to learn a ton in that program obviously from Coach Saban. I think that has helped me relative to the landscape of college football now entering this time in my career at Boston College.”

Bill O’Brien ready for new chapter at Boston College

O’Brien simply wants to establish the right culture at Boston College. It seems like he’s on the right track.

“Look, I think the big thing is it comes down – and you’ll see this when these guys come up here – we have great guys that care about Boston College,” O’Brien said. “They go to class, they practice hard, they lift weights hard, they do things the right way. I think that is something that’s never changed relative to the places I’ve been at.

“When you talk about the landscape of NIL, transfer portal, all those things, yeah, those things have changed. We were able to retain our whole team at spring practice, so we feel really good about that, being able to develop these guys, build the culture that we want to build.”

O’Brien confirmed Boston College would be a player in the NIL space and work towards integrating that within the program.

“Boston College will be part of the NIL program relative to college football,” O’Brien said. “We’re looking forward to the season. We’ve had a really good summer and can’t wait to get started with training camp.”

While at Penn State, O’Brien led the Nittany Lions to a 15-9 record over two seasons before going to the Houston Texans. While in the NFL, O’Brien won four AFC South titles, went 52-48 as head coach and 2-4 in the postseason.

Now, O’Brien gets another shot at leading a program in Power Four football this fall.