Jeff Hafley explains appeal of Packers DC job over being Boston College head coach

College coaches have been leaving in favor of the NFL across the country but Jeff Hafley accepting the Green Bay Packers DC job was a surprise. He was Boston College‘s head coach and was reverting to being an assistant. Just finishing his fourth season with the Eagles, Hafley led the program to its first bowl win since 2016 to finish 7-6.

Just a day before taking the Packers DC job, Hafley spoke on the difficulty of being a college head coach these days. His roots have always been coaching defensive backs and he’s done so at multiple levels. Hafley admitted he missed that aspect of the job, something college does not have time for at the moment.

“Now, I’m also the general manager,” Hafley said via Adam Breneman and the NextUp Podcast. “And you’re trying to manage the cap that you don’t really know what the cap is. You’re fundraising. I mean, I want to coach football. I want to coach more defense this year than I did last year. And now, it’s just prioritizing — I gotta coach again, I miss it. I miss coaching DBs. But how am I going to do that?”

Hafley does have experience working in the NFL, spending seven seasons with three different organizations. All of them employed him to coach defensive backs. His stint with the San Francisco 49ers ended in 2018 before jumping back into the college game with Ohio State as the co-DC and DBs coach.

Before moving on from Boston College, On3’s Pete Nakos caught up with Hafley to discuss the issues with NIL and the NCAA transfer portal. Inside the story includes details on Boston College keeping wide receiver Zay Flowers and offensive lineman Christian Mahogany despite tampering attempts.

Hafley will not have to deal with those issues anymore, strictly getting back to coaching football. While roster management and making sure players got paid would be his issue at Boston College, the Packers front office will take care of that for Hafley moving forward.

Now, he is tasked with coaching up a defense capable of helping the Packers win the franchise another Super Bowl. Hafley is replacing Joe Barry and is bringing a whole new scheme to Green Bay. Coaching all the position groups up — not just defensive backs — will occur throughout training camp and until the season opener in September.

After all, Hafley wanted nothing more than that, even before accepting the Packers DC job.