Everything that stood out from Bill O'Brien's offseason press conference
It was one of the longer press conferences I can recall on Tuesday right at noon, as Bill O’Brien stood inside the media workroom at Fish Field House.
Easily the most crowded the room has ever been.
After a 2-10 season, things already look much different both with the staff and the team. With multiple TV cameras and about 10 reporters.
Then, as we all waited inside the lobby, a bit of a bombshell came down nationally just minutes before O’Brien spoke, with offensive coordinator Will Lawing departing for the Chicago Bears.
O’Brien seemed genuinely excited for what lies ahead. For the first five minutes, he opened by listing each name – mid-year freshmen and portal additions. The only portal addition not joining the team until June is John Owens, who will finish out his degree at Holy Cross.
To save you reading time and me typing team, I won’t throw the whole list in here, the link to the full presser is at the bottom.
Here’s everything that stood out from the 31:58 (at least that was my recording time) we spent with him, I kept it to mostly all the big picture stuff:
On the portal approach
“I think the first thing is, is it a fit for Boston College? This is a special place, a place where you’re going to go to in-person classes. You’re going to participate in a lot of community activity, so you’re going to be busy. You need the right type of guy and I believe the freshmen and the transfers are going to be the right type of guys.
“I think you look at different kinds of categories of players. You look at players that are grad transfers that have played three or four years, have graduated from that school and they can come in here and play as a grad student. I think that’s a good category of guys for Boston College. Another category are guys that, maybe at a lower level that were very productive. Like a Reed Swanson. Very productive in the Patriot League and we think that translates to being productive at our level. He just did a great job there. So, that’s another category of players.
“Then, there’s guys that, maybe didn’t play a whole lot at the places they were at. Maybe they were at a bigger school, they were backup players, maybe they were on special teams. They weren’t starters, but we felt like they were good fits for us. So, there’s basically three categories of guys. That’s how we try to categorize the guys we bring in. You could probably pick somebody that might not fall into that category that was just…maybe there was a connection. Maybe one of our guys that recruited him out of high school and now, we’ve got him here at Boston College.Those are the three main categories if that answers your question.”
On what he found looking back at 2025 and what the emphasis has been early in 2026
“We turned the ball over too much. We didn’t tackle very well. I don’t think we blocked very well up front on offense. I don’t think we played the run as good as we could have on defense. So, look, there’s a lot of things we have to improve on. I think special teams – for the most part – was decent and a lot to build on there. There’s a lot to improve upon.
“But, again, that question…this is a brand new team. I just read off…they weren’t even here, right? So, I probably just read off however many guys I did. It’s a brand new team. New coaches, new team, so we’re just excited to get going with these guys.”
On the huge roster turnover being a product of the current CFB landscape
“I think it’s more the reality of what we’re in. Some guys decided to leave and I wish all those guys the best. There was not one guy that left that was what would you would say is a bad departure. We had good conversations with all those guys, wish them the best.
But, at the end of the day, they decided to leave, we had to replace them. We either had to replace them with some mid-year freshmen, or obviously try to go into the portal and try to do the best you can to get some help, some reinforcements out of the portal. So, I think it was more of a necessity relative to where we were at when the season ended.”
On how much football is using in revenue share
“Yeah, I don’t really want to get into…that’s probably a question for somebody above me. I’m not trying to avoid the question. I’m the football coach. I totally get it…we are participating in rev share. Definitely more than we have in the past. Very fair question. But, I do think that’s more of a question for Blake and somebody above me that can explain it in detail for you.
“But, yeah, there’s more than we’ve had in the past and we feel good about where we’re at. I do…again, I think it’s more than that. There’s ways to go about this other than just money. I think it’s about the school and what the school can do for you as a student athlete here. But, yes, we’re definitely participating in rev share.”
On the impact Kenyatta Watson has had in the portal
“Kenyatta’s been great. He’s done a really good job. He just knows a lot of people because he’s been in this business for a long time. In college football, but also what he did relative to Under Armour and all that. He’s been around…I would say he knows high school coaches in every state. He knows prospects and guys that he’s recruited over many, many years in every single state. So, he’s been able to connect. He knows parents. He knows the coaches, the people that are responsible for these guys.
“So, the connections that he brings our invaluable, so he does a great job. The other thing about Kenyatta, he’s a very positive guy. He just believes in Boston College. He believes it can be done here. He wanted to be here. He left Auburn to come here and they didn’t want him to leave. So, it’s just great having him here and he brings a very positive attitude.
“The other guy I need to mention is Julian Rowe-Cohen. Julian Rowe-Cohen has done an amazing job too, with Kenyatta. I would say Julian’s the assistant general manager. He does a great job of bringing people in, the logistics behind it. I think there’s other people that…these kids, it’s like speed dating. They come in, it’s a 24, maybe a 36-hour deal. Gotta get flights, they’re bringing their parents in, their families, or some of them brought the coaches with them or a coach with them…So, it’s a team effort.
“They have to get them registered, they have to get them registered for school. School started last Monday…all these people are involved in the transition. Obviously, the coaches, but it’s a very, very involved process that happens quickly…but, yeah, Kenyatta definitely did an awesome job leading the charge.”
On the pitch or ‘sale’ of BC changing during the quick portal visits
“Yeah, I think the first thing is – not necessarily in any particular oder – it’s the school. What do they want to study? I think that’s very important. Make sure we have that major here. It’s the campus. It’s the people. It’s the city of Boston. It’s the opportunity to play. These guys aren’t transferring to sit on the bench. They’re transferring to come here and play.
“It’s, ‘where do you see me?’ ‘What’s your vision for me?’ We have a vision for each guy. We’ve watched a lot of film at the end of the season. I would say even during the bye weeks and things like that to try to have an idea of what might be out there. So, we had a good idea about all of these guys. And, there were some connections.
“Some of these guys like (new DC) Ted Roof, had some connections with a couple of these guys through recruiting. He recruited them out of UCF or Oklahoma, wherever he was at. So, there were examples like that that helped us, to help us talk to a guy about the vision we have for him as a player. I think those are the main things.
“The hardest part because the calendar is screwed up, I know you’ve heard that a lot. But, our guys were on break. But, some of the local guys helped us. They came in and helped us talk to these guys about what their experience was like at BC. The football end of it, but also the school and the campus and all that, so that was a part of the process that helped these guys make the decisions to come here.”
On how much one portal window instead of two impacted things
“It was very challenging. That’s why I mentioned all the people behind the scenes that did an unbelievable job. I think from January 2nd to January 16th we brought in 45 players with their families. We visited 45 prospects in a whatever it was, 14-day period. That’s definitely new for Boston College. It’s new for me. We didn’t do that last year. That wasn’t near what we did last year. So, it was a process where it was all hands on deck and everybody had to help out. But, it’s definitely new.
“We’ll clean some things up. Another guy I need to mention is Reggie Terry. Reggie Terry did a great job of helping me and Kenyatta with agents. All these guys have agents, contracts, things like that. Reggie was instrumental in helping get these guys in here, get them transitioned here, things like that. So, yeah, it’s definitely a new process for all of us.”
On staff changes
“We’ll see what we do there (play calling) with Will (Lawing). I wish Will the best. Will’s been with me for 13 years. He was a graduate assistant with me at Penn State. I brought him to Houston, was with me all seven years in Houston. Brought him to Alabama, was with me for two years at Alabama. Brought him to the Patriots in ’23 and here. So. he’s been with me a long time. He would describe that as dog years. But, he had a great opportunity to go work for Ben (Johnson) and then obviously, the Bears are doing a great job. We wish him the best.
“We hired Ted Roof as defensive coordinator. This is my fourth stint with Ted. You guys are going to like him a lot. He’s a great guy. He’s really good with the players. He’s got a lot of great experience. He knows how to coach the defense. He played, was a great player at Georgia Tech and he’s been around a lot of great players. He knows how to scheme it up.
“Joe Dailey was with us last year kind of as a consultant. He’ll be the wide receivers coach. He’s an excellent coach. Really looking forward to working with him.
“Kurt Anderson is our new offensive line coach. Very excited to work with him. He worked with Doug Marrone in Buffalo. Doug recommended him. Doug thought he did a great job for him, then he worked at Northwestern. He worked at Arkansas and he’s done a really great job developing players. Skoronski, the guard for the Titans. Rahsawn Slater, the tackle for the Chargers. Frank Ragnow. He’s coached some really good players. He was very impressive in his interview. Played at Michigan, was a great player at Michigan. So, very fired up about working with him. Did a great job in his interview.”
On Berj Najarian’s departure
“Yeah, look, Berj did an awesome job for us. Obviously, we wish Berj the best. There were just some things we had to do and that he wanted to do in his life and his career. Berj is awesome. Can’t say enough great things about Berj. He’s a special guy and we’re going to miss him.”
On if Miami or Indiana can provide motivation or belief that BC can reach that level
“Every program’s different, but yeah, to watch that game and know that we’re in the ACC with Miami…Miami did a great job, they had an awesome year. Indiana, what they’ve done, I think everybody’s different. Every program is different. Everybody has their own challenges, their own strengths, their own weaknesses, things like that. But, yeah, no that was a great game and it was fun to watch that game.”
On the challenges of having so many new players in Year 3
“I think the big adjustment is just really diving in and getting to know these guys, connecting with these guys. When you watch the teams that are winning, you watch the game last night, that Indiana team is very connected. They know each other really well. They play for each other. I think that’s a big deal and what we’re trying to do right now. We had a team meeting this morning. It’s our second team meeting. Just, really getting to know guys.
“I think our player development group with Sean Guthrie and Maggie Barden, they’ll do a great job of that, explaining to them what BC is all about, but also learning what they’re all about. I think that’s a big part of it. Before you start teaching them football, you’ve got to really get to know the guys. I think that’s a big part of what we do this offseason.
“But yeah, because it’s a brand new team – I would say 50-60% of the team is brand new – it’s an adjustment getting to know them.”
On convincing players in the portal to go to BC despite 2-10 season
“You know, look, I don’t think these guys look at that. I think they look at it as more of an opportunity to come in here and play for a good coaching staff, go to a great school in a great city. I think every year is different. I don’t think they look at that year and say ‘ok we’re just going to base our decision all on one year.’ So, I don’t think they really looked at it that way. They said ‘hey, this is a great opportunity to come in here and try to play.”
On if he ever doubted he’s be back after talking with Blake James following the season
“No doubt. I have a 5 year contract. I have 3 years left on a 5 year contract and I’m going to work my butt off to try and get this thing right. We’ve got a lot of great people in the administration.
“Blake’s been great to work with. Reggie Terry like I said…obviously, Father Leahy has really helped us with the rev share component. Father Jack is a huge advocate for football and for sports. So, we’re looking forward to when he takes over.
“But, no. I’m here. I really love these kids and working with these guys has been awesome so far. So, really excited to get into winter conditioning then spring practice and kind of go from there.”
